Hello again! :) Tonight's little secret about me is that I am addicted to the Applebee's (my place of employment) pecan crusted chicken salad and while I'm sure there's things on the menu that are much more unhealthy I have a feeling there are ingredients in it that I wouldn't feel to good about if I knew about them. So my hunger tonight after some rough raking in our disastrous yard and the desire to find a solution to my addiction created an inspiration to make a wonderful salad that I will be making so many more times in the future. I'm so excited that it turned out this fabulous on my first try and it's a double good thing that it was super satisfying to my taste buds because had I not had the wonderful aroma of the pecan crusted chicken frying in coconut oil wafting through my kitchen it would have been oh so much harder to resist those amazing 'red lobster biscuits' I made for my hubby dear but we wont talk about those because this salad I'm about to tell you how to create is better and much better for you! :) I'm learning that I'm really going to have to be more of a 'measuring cook' instead of a 'dump sprinkle and splash cook' if I want to keep creating recipes and sharing them :/ So I apologies in advance to those of you that like precise measurements, I promise I will try and do better in the future and as for now if you have any questions on anything or would like a more precise recipe on something don't be scared to message me about it and next time I make it I will measure and get you something more precise of whatever you want :) So here goes!

                                  Nita's Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad

chicken-

1 boneless skinless chicken breast

1 handful pecans-crushed pretty fine. I used my pamper chef chopper, blender would work too

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 TBSP homemade brown sugar (1 cup xylitol mixed with 1 TBSP molasses) 

or brown sugar to those of you not on THM or sugar cautious  

2 TBSP flour of your choice 

almond milk -or milk of your choice, I used almond

coconut oil

Mix all thee above ingredients except almond milk and coconut oil together in a pie pan. Dip your chicken in almond milk (I let mine soak in it for about 10 mins while I got my coconut oil heating in my pan which I think is a good idea but don't know if it makes a significant difference) and then toss your chicken around in your pecan mixture. Once you have it well covered put it in your skillet with a generous amount of coconut oil and fry on a fairly low heat until cooked thrue, be careful not to get your heat to high or your crusting will burn before the center of your chicken is done. 

Dressing-

one part balsamic vinegar

one part olive oil 

homemade brown sugar to taste (1 cup xylitol mixed with 1 TBSP molasses) 

or brown sugar to those of you not on THM or sugar cautious 

         For my salad I cut a nice big bed of romaine lettuce topped it with some red peppers and feta cheese and drizzled it all with a generous amount of the dressing and then last but certainly not least plopped my sliced yummy smelling chicken on the very top. That is what I used because that's what I happened to have on hand but I think white cheddar cheese in place of the feta would be yummy as well as some mandarin oranges and/or dried cranberries and well whatever your little heart desires :) be creative and enjoy! I think it tasted simply Divine! :)