Lighter Fried Chicken Salad

If you've been reading my posts the last week or two, you might be thinking this blog is about every way there is to bread chicken and eat it with a salad! With spring upon us, I tend to start eating a bit lighter but, always need some sort of meat (protein) added to my salad to make it a main dish. As warmer weather continues, I'm sure I'll be expanding into grilled veggies and various marinades, so if these dishes don't do it for you there's bound to be something in the near future that will please your palate.

Tonight, I found a recipe on the Cooking Light website for Fried Chicken Salad. Now, I didn't make it completely as the recipe states. I didn't include the beets, I'm just not a big fan of them so I left them out. I also decided to use some sliced mushrooms and red bell peppers to add more substance to the salad. I didn't have time to let the chicken marinate in the buttermilk, but other than that I did make the chicken as the recipe instructs and I was really pleased with the flavor. I have to say my initial thought was that it really tasted close to traditional fried chicken. For a lightened version, the flavors are all there and it is cooked with minimal oil. There's just a bit of crunch to the chicken, but the coating is not really thick like you'd get if you made it the traditional way. I'll be making this again as it was a breeze to put together and dinner was on the table within 25 minutes.