Southwestern Chicken Salad in an Avocado Bowl

I have to admit....I did it again. I browsed Pinterest hungry. Out of all the food pins I saw, this one really stuck out because of the avocado bowl was unique. This recipe comes from a cookbook called Real Food Real Easy by Chef George Stella. And the title of the cookbook doesn't lie. It was real easy!!!

Before I post the recipe, I need to confess a problem of mine. I often fail to read a recipe thoroughly. I was so proud of myself when I first saw this recipe because I did read it all the way through! Go me!!! Went and bought all the ingredients and got to work making the chicken salad. I've made many types of chicken salad before, so I knew I could handle the first step- cook the chicken- without consulting the recipe. Cooked it and then cubed it, which is what I've always done in a chicken salad. At this point, I checked the recipe. Doh! The chicken needed to be shredded. Not a huge problem...I just threw the cubed chicken in a food processor and chopped it up. BUT, if I had read the recipe AGAIN before cooking, I would have caught that and saved myself some extra cleanup later on. I love cooking, but I HATE cleaning up afterwards. Lesson learned, for now. Let's see if it sticks later.  

Southwestern Chicken Salad in an Avocado Bowl

Prep Time- about 1.5 hours (depending on method to cook chicken and how long you refrigerate the chicken salad after assembling)

Serves 4 (or 3 if a hungry man wants two halves!)

Ingredients- 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken, 2/3 cup sour cream, 3Tbsp chunky salsa, 1Tbsp fresh and chopped cilantro, 1 tsp lime juice, and 2 avocados

Step 1- Cook your chicken. I went with grilling it because it is late February, but 65 degrees outside, and I wanted to pretend it was Spring! Don't forget to shred it afterwards.

Step 2- Add 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro.

Step 3- Add 3 Tbsp chunky salsa.

Step 4- Add 1 tsp lime juice. Can you use the stuff in the plastic green bottle? Sure. But I think fresh squeezed is so much better.

 Step 5- Add your sour cream (I used light sour cream) and fold all the ingredients together.

From here the recipe said you could either serve it now, or refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors meld together. I tasted it as soon as I mixed it up and wasn't too impressed. Put it in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes while we went to run a few quick errands. Sampled the chicken salad after we got home...WAAAAAY better tasting! So, I strongly advise letting it meld! 

When you are read to serve, halve your avocados lengthwise and remove the pits. Using each avocado half as a serving bowl for one person, spoon chicken salad into the empty pit cavity and then heap more over the avocado. 

We had leftover chicken salad and were hungry....

Let's see if this was Peanut approved....

Gingerly trying out the new recipe...

Thumbs up from Peanut!

While we liked the recipe and would eat it again just like it is, it seemed like the taste was a bit mellow. It could have been that I used store bought mild salsa in an attempt to keep the spice level down for Peanut. I'm thinking if I used my own canned salsa I made last summer, it would have had a bit stronger taste. Also, the recipe says you can add chopped bacon to the recipe for extra flavor. Why I didn't do this the first time is a mystery to me because bacon makes everything better. 

The verdict is out- will definitely make this again with a few slight modifications (BACON!!!). Speaking of which, if you like avocado and bacon, you should try making this Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwich!