By Two weeks until Memorial Day and three weeks until school lets out, which means the house is operating at the specific frequency of late-school-year life: fundraisers and field day forms and end-of-year concerts and the accumulated projects that teachers have been meaning to assign all year and are now assigning simultaneously. I signed seven permission slips in one evening. Seven. Sofia had a science fair project, a cross-country awards ceremony, and a book report, all in the same week. She handled it without visible stress. I would have collapsed. She gets her composure from Lisa.
Diego's baseball season wraps up this week. His individual numbers were solid for a ten-year-old. More importantly, he's been asking to go to a football camp this summer — there's one at NMSU in Las Cruces in July that I went to as a kid. I'm going to take him. Two birds, one stone: Diego gets real instruction from college coaches, and I get to spend a week in Las Cruces in the middle of summer with my son and my parents. I mentioned it to my dad and he said he'd come watch some sessions. His ankles permitting.
I tried a new recipe this week: green chile chicken posole verde. Traditional posole uses red chile, but verde — made with tomatillos and green chile — has a brightness and acidity the red version doesn't have. I roasted tomatillos and poblanos on the grill before adding them to the pot, which takes extra time but is worth it. The final dish was tangy and aromatic and green. Marco looked at it like it had personally offended him. Elena tasted it first, thought about it, and said "It's good but it's not the regular one." Coming from a four-year-old, that's sophisticated food criticism. She's right. Both versions belong in the rotation.
The team had a casual spring scrimmage Saturday morning — no pads, no score, just installing concepts. I've got a freshman quarterback who's calm in a way you can't teach. He doesn't rush. He trusts his reads. Sometimes coaching is mostly staying out of the way of something that's already working. That's the hardest kind of coaching and also the best kind.
The posole verde got me thinking about green flavors all week — that tang from the tomatillos, the brightness you don’t get from red chile. When the schedule didn’t allow for another long grill session, I wanted something that carried that same spirit: fresh, herby, a little acid. This cilantro lime chicken salad with mango avocado salsa is exactly that. Elena approved, which at this point is the only review that matters.
Cilantro Lime Chicken Salad + Mango Avocado Salsa
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 35 min (plus 30 min marinade) | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped, divided
- 6 cups romaine or mixed greens, chopped
- 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup corn kernels (fresh, frozen-thawed, or grilled)
- Mango Avocado Salsa:
- 1 large ripe mango, peeled and diced
- 1 ripe avocado, diced
- 1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken. In a bowl or zip-top bag, combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lime juice, garlic, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and half the cilantro. Add chicken breasts, toss to coat, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.
- Make the salsa. While the chicken marinates, combine mango, avocado, red onion, jalapeño, lime juice, and cilantro in a bowl. Stir gently, season with salt, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Cook the chicken. Heat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat and brush with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Remove chicken from marinade and grill 6—7 minutes per side, until cooked through and internal temperature reaches 165°F. Let rest 5 minutes before slicing.
- Build the salad base. Toss chopped romaine or mixed greens with black beans, corn, remaining lime juice, and remaining cilantro. Season lightly with salt and pepper and divide among four plates or bowls.
- Assemble and serve. Slice the rested chicken against the grain and arrange over each salad. Spoon mango avocado salsa generously over the top. Serve immediately with extra lime wedges on the side.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 390 | Protein: 36g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 25g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 430mg