I’m constantly trying to fall in love with salads. But I constantly find myself eating everything else in the salad except for the lettuce. I love arugula and I love cooked greens, but raw, tasteless greens do nothing for me. But they seem to do something for other people because salads are always super popular. So you know what I do? I keep making you guys salads! And margaritas, even though tequila makes me gag! I do these things because I love you. We’re, like, best friends, right?
It’s so close to leaving for Vegas! I talked yesterday about how I’m not in the mood to drink while we are hanging out all day at the pool and many of you told me to just drink soda water and lime. Which is great in theory but that doesn’t make up for the fact that I’m the sober one around alllllll drunk people, allllll day. Please solve that one for me. Thank you.
Our Vegas trip is based all around seeing DJ’s. We get in early in the morning and we are going straight to a pool party to see a DJ then at night we go to a club to see a DJ then do it all over the next day. DJalldayerrrrrrday. I’m gonna dance so hard. And pack snacks so hard. The main thing I’ve been thinking about is snacks instead of what I’m wearing. What the hell am I gonna wear. I need to get on it! I’ve only been to Vegas in the winter and I didn’t wear itty bitty outfits. But it’s probably about 1 million degrees out so that’s definitely going to be different this time around.
Is anyone else totally geeking out about seeing The Legend of Tarzan? No? Cool. Me neither.
Strawberry Tomatillo Chicken Fajita Salad
- Yield: 3-4 1x
Ingredients
For the dressing
- 2 heads of garlic, roasted
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- pinch of salt and pink pepper (you can use black pepper instead of pink)
For the tequila lime cilantro chicken
- 3 chicken breasts, butterflied
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon smoke paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- 1 jalapeno, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, sliced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- zest of 1 lime
- juice of 2 limes
- 3 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, minced
- 1 ounce silver agave tequila
For the salad
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper, sliced
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1 head of romaine, chopped
- green onions, chopped
For the strawberry tomatillo salsa
- 1 cup diced strawberries
- 1 cup diced tomatillos
- 1/2 jalapeño, minced
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 tablespoon honey
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the ends off garlic, add a bit of olive oil to the open ends and wrap 2 heads of garlic in foil. Place in oven to bake for 40-45 minutes, until browned. See full explanation of how to roast garlic here. Once cooked through, squeeze the bottom to push out the clover from the paper. Repeat with all the cloves and place in a blender along with the rest of the ingredients for the dressing and blend until smooth. Remove and place in the fridge for later.
- Place chicken in a dish. Whisk all ingredients for the marinade together then pour over the chicken. Cover and place in the fridge to marinate for 3+ hours. The longer, the better. Heat up grill or grill pan and grease. Once very hot, pull chicken out of marinade and place on grill or grill pan to cook for 4-5 minutes per side, or until cooked through and no pink remains. Set aside to rest and cover with foil to keep warm.
- To the hot pan, add peppers and onion along with a bit of salt and cook until peppers are soft and onions are translucent.
- To a bowl, add all ingredient for the strawberry tomatillo salsa and toss until completely combine.
- To build salad: toss chopped romaine in a bowl with a bit of the dressing. To the salad greens, add chicken, peppers and onions, strawberry tomatillo salsa, sliced avocado and green onions on top.
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More Salads, Just For You!!
Pesto Shrimp & Grilled Peach Salad
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I don’t even like salads but this looks awesome! I’m definitely going to make this !
One of my quirks is that I eat the lettuce before everything else in the salad because I like saving the flavors for solely themselves–with the chicken, dressing and strawberries in this case! But I absolutely love eating any salads! They taste amazing!
genius! i may have to start doing that!
Hi Julie! Awesome recipe, as always!!! I am allergic to strawberries. Is there another fruit I can sub it with? I want to make this for tomorrow. ????
Drinking alcohol is over rated. Its empty calories, its bad for your brain and annoying. Call me sober Sally. I don’t mind. I did my time with drinking in college…. I have more than one friend die from too much drinking. Its sad. Seltzer water and real fruit juice are lovely and refreshing. Who needs alcohol to have a fantastic time! Need a pick me up? Pack some chocolate! ha! I have a wonderful Pumpkin Cookie recipe that is GF, soy free, dairy free and low in sugar and high in nutrients. Can’t get enough of them. :0)
What a beautiful salad! Right now I could eat salads all the time with such hot temperatures. Speaking of eating everything but the lettuce, I had to eat salads that way years ago before gallbladder surgery. I couldn’t eat the lettuce because of the roughage, so I started having salads with everything else that goes in it. I still leave out the lettuce sometimes. It’s good that way.