Citrus and Strawberry Salad With Nutty Wild Rice and Grilled Chicken

Let's talk for a moment about salads... I am a very big fan of salads; I have one every single day. Sometimes when I make them I add everything but the kitchen sink. They turn out pretty damn good if I do say so myself. One thing I'd like to add is that the "right" salad does not need heavy salad dressing, croutons, or tons of cheese. Many people think, "Hey I'm eating a salad... That's healthy right?" Wrong. One can easily ruin, not only the caloric content of a salad by saturating it with ranch or Caesar dressing and piling on croutons but also, the flavor altogether. This recipe is important to me because it's light and summery, while still full of texture and flavor. If you wanna go all out, you can make the citrus salad dressing too (and I'll throw in some info on how to make your own dressings at home). Click "read more" for the full recipe.

Ingredients (for two people):
For the chicken:
2 cooked, boneless, skinless chicken boobs
1 cup cooked wild rice (the rice I used was a mix of wild and brown rice - I like the crunch and nuttiness of wild rice)

For the salad:
Any assorted greens such as spinach and romaine lettuce
One tomato
1/2 avocado
A handful or two of chopped walnuts
Other assorted veggies of your choosing. I was going with the citrus theme so I added slices of those "Cutie" oranges and some fresh cut strawberries (they say fruit is the new crouton)

For the dressing:
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup evoo
2 tbsp white wine vinegar (or to taste)
Sea salt
Crushed black pepper

Steps:
1) The first thing you want to do (if it isn't prepared already) is start cooking your rice. As previously mentioned, I used a mixture of wild and brown rice, just following the directions on the package. However, I used low-sodium chicken broth instead of just water to boil the rice and added about a teaspoon and a half of margarine as well as 1/4 cup skim milk. I don't know if the milk even makes a difference that's just how I cook my rice. This particular rice took 35 minutes to cook but was well worth it.
2) Meanwhile, cook your chicken breasts. First, I "seasoned" my pan with 2 garlic cloves (a process I describe in my other posts). Then, I cooked my chicken breasts, which I seasoned with salt and pepper.
3) Assemble your greens, veggies, and fruit for your salad. Top it off with chopped walnuts. I like to prepare my salads individually that way you don't lose all of the good stuff at the bottom of a big bowl.
4) Combine all of the ingredients for your dressing. Stir well with a fork. This might be a good time to mention that homemade vinaigrette dressings are super easy to prepare. The most important thing to remember is that you're going to use an equal part of evoo with whatever your other liquid is. Here I used orange juice but I have made honey mustard vinaigrette (mustard, water, and honey), soy ginger vinaigrette (low-sodium soy sauce and ginger powder), and a cranberry vinaigrette (just cranberry juice). Try to keep your proportions even and taste it as you go. You never know, you might prefer to make your own dressings from now on!

Lastly, I would like to add that the rice soaked up some of the acidic flavor of the dressing and added a nice balance to the salad. I mixed everything together but you may prefer to keep it all separate.

HEALTHY TIP: Adding vinegar to salads and other foods has been shown by a number of medical trials to reduce the glycemic index of carbohydrate food for people with and without diabetes. Thus, lowering your blood sugar after having carb-rich foods. I live in the diabetes capitol of the world so this is an excellent piece of information! (I know this fact from multiple different sources but if you don't believe me it's right here on wiki and cited from three different health journals)