Starting It Off Right--Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa

Well, of course you know that I can't actually cook very well.  It's what comes from growing up on mac and cheese with hot dogs in it (for protein!), Banquet pot pies, and cheese over toast.  So of course, I'm pretty much doomed to disaster in the kitchen, and my first healthy recipe is no exception.  But I think it might be good.  If you're not an idiot, I mean.

So, here's the recipe:

Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa--4 servings
289 calories, 13 grams fat, 4 grams fiber per serving

Chicken: 

2 Tblsp. minced cilantro (Ginnie, I guess you'll have to make this when Trav is gone, since he's such a stickler about hating cilantro and all that stuff)
2 1/2 Tblsp. lime juice
1 1/2 Tblsp. olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 tsp. salt

Combine the first four ingredients (cilantro, lime, olive oil and chicken) in a large bowl (actually, I used a gallon sized Ziploc bag) and let stand 3 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the marinade, sprinkle evenly with salt.  Heat a grill pan over medium high heat.  (I actually just used a regular pan--I'm not even sure I know what a grill pan is!  But I bet you could grill it out on your grill too, if you didn't live in a place that is so hot you can't even breathe when you step outside like Alabama.)  Coat pan with cooking spray:  cook six minutes on each side or until done. 

Salsa: 

1 c. chopped plum tomato
2 Tblsp. chopped onion
2 tsp. lime juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 finely chopped avocado

Combine tomato, onion, lime juice, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.  Add the avocado and stir gently to combine.  Serve salsa over chicken.  Delicious with saffron rice (I get the low sodium version, but mostly so I can feel smug).

So, what happened is this:  when I went to the store I was almost POSITIVE that we had lime juice at our house.  I was, of course, too lazy to get up and check when I was making up my grocery list, but I was not taking into account Rhett's penchant for lime-flavored water (don't ask).  So, my point is that I didn't have lime.  I called my friend (who is out of town, but left me with a key to her house) if she had lime.  Strangely, her husband also has a penchant for lime drinks so she was POSITIVE that they had lime stuff too.  Which they did.  LIME MARGARITA DRINK MIX (from Walmart, Great Value brand, just like Kool-Aid!).  Of course.  So, I thought, why not?  The clear answer to that is that maybe you don't want your dinner to taste like lime Kool-Aid, but whatever. 

In fact, the chicken was delicious.  Sweet and tangy and lovely.  However, the salsa was a little too . . . well, Kool-Aid-ish. Maybe in the future I'll use the drink mix for the chicken and actual, real lime juice for the salsa.  I still ate it all, though.  Of course.