my current salad obsession

Here she is! The most glorious home made salad ever. Some of you may remember me saying that I don't like home made salads as much as restaurant salads. They just never taste as good to me. Well that is no more! I love this salad! I wish I could take total credit for it but I can't. When I lived in Tennessee there was this little tea room that sold a salad just like this minus the chicken. I would go and buy a 20 oz cup of the dressing for seven dollars a pop just so I could have it on my salads at home. Since I have no way of getting that dressing now that I'm in Tucson I've had to be creative. The dressing really makes the salad. Here is my makeshift copy cat recipe.

Honey Lime Vinaigrette (All of these measurments are guesses because I usually just eye ball it.)

1/2 cup oil
2 TBS vinegar
Juice of two limes
1 clove garlic peeled
1/8 cup honey
1 handful of cilantro (I just twist off a handful of the bunch they sell at the store)
1/2 tsp salt (maybe more)
1/4 tsp pepper (maybe more)

I throw all of these ingredients in a blender (or you could use a food processor) until it's smooth and green. Then I taste it to make sure I love it, which I always do. After drizzling a little bit over my salad I put the rest in an enclosed container and it stays well in the fridge for a few days. Its flavor is really bold so you don't need a ton.

The rest of the salad is pretty standard. Pan seared chicken breast pounded thin and seasoned with some s&p and garlic powder. Spring mix greens and a little extra spinach for good measure. Sliced strawberries, feta and some chopped pecans. Ta da! SO easy. Really I promise. And if you don't feel like cooking chicken and that whole mess the salad is just as outrageous on it's own. (One more side note here. If I go to the trouble of cooking chicken I always pound out and cook two breasts at a time. That way I only use a half of a breast on my salad and have 1 1/2 for leftovers of any kind.) Go for it! Try it! You'll like it!