Cilantro-Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa

Photo courtesy of Cooling Light.com

We now live in California and it is so much fun stepping into the back yard to get produce. Our citrus tree collection includes 2 lemon, 2 grapefruit, 1 lime, 2 orange and 1 mandarin orange. Needless to say, fresh squeezed lemonade is now my daughters' favorite drink.  

We had this recipe for dinner the other night. It's definitely a low-fat recipe but the avocado salsa adds a lot of flavor. I even found myself eating the salsa as a topping to my white rice. The original recipe recommends serving with safron rice (pictures above) but I couldn't find my safron so instead I added chicken boullion, a squeeze of lime and fresh cilantro to the rice. This recipe is great with lime or you can substitute lemon if that's what is handy. Also, I used purple onion in the salsa since it adds color and a touch more flavor.  

Besides the big flavor of the finished dish the other big bonus to this dish is that you only marinade the chicken for 3 minutes! I love quick preparation meals!

Cilantro-Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa 

(Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light magazine)

Chicken: 

2 T minced fresh cilantro

2 1/2 T fresh lime juice

1 1/2 T olive oil

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1/4 t salt

cooking spray

Salsa:

1 c chopped tomato

2 T finely chopped onion

2 t fresh lime juice

1/4 t salt

1/8 t ground pepper

1 avocado, peeled and diced

To prepare chicken, combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; toss and let stand 3 minutes. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 t salt. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. (I used our BBQ.) Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done.

To prepare salsa, combine tomato and next 4 ingredients (through pepper) in a medium bowl. Add avocado; stir gently to combine. Serve salsa over chicken.

*Jayne's Notes: I thought it definitely needed more salt so that was added later once the food was served.