Spicy Chicken Salad

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From my two chickens yesterday, I got a ton of meat. I'll be honest and say I might have burnt them a little because I got distracted (shocking) and so there's less meat here than there might have been, had I been paying attention.

As promised, here's my spicy chicken salad recipe, along with a bonus recipe in case your kids don't like spicy.

Spicy Chicken Salad
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or diced
1/4 red onion, chopped fine
2 tbsp pickled jalapenos, minced
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 clove garlic, pressed or very finely minced (the stuff in the jar works well here)
juice of 1 lime

Combine the meat and vegetables, and then toss with the lime juice. Then make the dressing.

Spicy chicken salad dressing
1/4 cup mayonaise
2 tsp juice from the jalapeno jar
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder (NOT CAYENNE)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of your favorite salsa* (drain off some of the juice)

In a small bowl whisk together everything but the salsa. When it's combined, fold in the salsa. *This is not the time to experiment. Use a salsa that you know and love, otherwise you're taking a big risk that your salad will taste yucky.

I taste the dressing at this point and adjust seasoning as needed. Usually add a few shakes of hot sauce but we like it REALLY spicy.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. You can add cilantro at this point if it doesn't make you sneeze. Stick it in the fridge and let it chill for a few hours.

We serve it with either tostadas or tortilla chips, depending on what we've got in the house, and a big green salad.

BONUS non-spicy recipe:

Kids' Chicken Salad
1 cup chicken
1/2 cup grapes, halved or quartered
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup carrots, chopped small

Dressing
1/4 cup mayo
1 tbsp rice vinegar (any mild vinegar will work)
2 tsp sugar (3 tsp warm honey works too)

Whisk the sugar into the vinegar until dissolved, then whisk in the mayo. Dress the salad and chill in the fridge for an hour or two. My kids like to wrap it in a flour tortilla and go to town!