Chicken and Chickpea Chopped Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

The inspiration for this salad is going to seem very strange. Are you ready? Tinsley Harper. Yes, my 6 1/2 month old baby girl was the inspiration behind a chopped salad. Let me explain.

Chicken and Chickpea Chopped Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

Since turning 6 months old, Tinsley has been experimenting with lots of new foods. Sweet potatoes, oatmeal, rice cereal, carrots and maybe a bite of cup cake and ice cream for her daddy's birthday.
(I know, call the cops!)

The other recent new foods she has had are avocado and hummus. She's still not quite sure how she feels about avocado, but she just gobbles the hummus up! I've made her a baby friendly version of my classic hummus recipe and given her bites of mashed avocado here and there, but since she doesn't eat much there are some yummy leftovers for me! I wanted to come up with a light dish with the leftover chickpeas and avocado and this chopped salad was the perfect thing. It's so healthy! It's full of protein, fiber, healthy fats and paired with the simple cilantro lime dressing, it's bursting with flavor! 

Chicken and Chickpea Chopped Salad
2 hearts of romaine lettuce
2 C cooked chicken, pulled, shredded or chopped
1 C canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 C grape tomatoes, halved
1 C golden tomatoes, halved
1 C corn, grilled or tossed in the skillet
1/2 avocado, cut into cubes
2 T feta cheese

Easy Cilantro Lime Dressing
Zest and juice of 1 large lime
1 bunch of cilantro
2 T olive oil
Pinch of salt

Rinse lettuce and pat dry with paper towels. Chop into bite sized pieces and layer in a large bowl. Top lettuce with chicken, chickpeas, tomatoes, corn, avocado and cheese.
For the dressing, put all 4 ingredients in a food processor, blender or magic bullet. Blend until smooth.
Top salad with dressing and serve immediately.

If you are not serving the salad right away, cover and refrigerate. Top with avocado and dressing right before serving.

When I was layering this together, it kind of reminded me of my grandma's 7 layer salad recipe I posted a while back. Check it out! And thanks Tinsley for the yummy salad idea! :)