Lemon Chicken Cilantro Salad - Perfect for a Hot Summer Day

Living in San Diego, CA summers here can range from 75 degrees to pushing 100 degrees. On a day like today, all you want is to appreciate the weather, lay out in the sun and enjoy a light, tasty meal that will tingle your tastebuds as well as get all your healthy nutrients. I added up all the calories for this meal and it could be a light snack, or a full meal adding your protein of choice. Including my chicken, it came to 300 calories, a perfect amount of balanced nutrition to keep you full till dinner if this is your lunch of choice or through the rest of your night. So how do you make your own??

You will need: 

(makes 4 servings) 

For the salad: 

• 1/2 C. dry quinoa 
• 1 1/2 C. chicken or veggie broth (I used organic, no sodium)
• 1 Roma tomato 
• 1 1/2 avocados diced (I added in later. If you have leftovers the avocado will spoil) 
• 2 C. organic spinach 
• 1 bunch of cilantro 
• 1/4 cup green onion 
• 2-4 cloves of garlic (depending on your love for garlic!) 
• 2 chicken breasts 

For the dressing: 

• Juice of 2 lemons 
• zest of 1 lemon 
• 2 tsp. olive oil 
• 1/2 tsp. cumin 
• dash od pepper

Directions:  Make your quinoa first. Soak the quinoa in a pot in the broth for about 15 minutes. After that, turn on the heat to medium high and let the quinoa come to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat to medium/low and let quinoa simmer. Stir every so often, and cook quinoa just until the liquid absorbs. You don’t want it completely dried out, so when there is just a TINY amount of liquid left in the pot, remove it from heat and put a lid on it. Set it aside, and make the rest of the salad. Process cilantro and spinach in food processor until finely chopped, or you can chop by hand. put in large bowl, add green onion, and garlic-finely chopped. stir.  Grill your chicken with any spices that you prefer, dice and add to mixture. Add quinoa once cooled. Add the dressing and avocado and ENJOY! (I threw all the dressing ingredients into my food processor, but you could definitely do by hand with a whisk) 

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did! 

Sincerely, Kayla Marie