BLT Balsamic Chicken Avocado Salad

I made this salad a few days ago and I wanted to share it with ya'll today. I know this is generally not the season for salads. Most folks are in the midst of soup and stew season, but we're in the SW and we've had an unusually mild winter. On January 31st we had just a skiff of snow - the first this winter - and although it snowed for quite a while, it was 32° - too warm for it to stick, but we welcome the moisture!

          

The day I made this salad, it was 70°. For those of you longing for sunshine, I wish I could send you some. We get over 220 days of sun each year here and most of those days, the sky is so blue, it hurts your eyes:

So today, you get a salad recipe that we are eager to make again. I found the original recipe here. at Cafe Delites.

I made 2 changes to the original recipe. I left out the water in the dressing and I added a dose of crushed red pepper flakes. Here's my plate, minus the dressing because I snapped the picture before I dressed it. So my apologies for sharing a naked salad.😊

BLT Balsamic Chicken Avocado Salad

Balsamic Dressing
~1/3 C balsamic vinegar
~1/4 C olive oil
~2 tsp Italian seasoning
~2 tsp minced garlic
~1 tsp honey
~1/4 tsp salt
~1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
~ skinless, boneless, chicken thighs or tenderloins

Salad
~6 pieces bacon, diced
~8 C mixed salad lettuce
~2 chopped tomatoes
~red onion, chopped
~1 sliced avocado
~1/4 C crumbled Feta cheese
~pepper

*Whisk balsamic dressing ingredients together. Pour some into shallow dish and add chicken, turning to cover and marinate while cooking bacon. Remove and dice bacon. Season chicken with pepper, granulated garlic and seasoning salt. Saute chicken in same pan until cooked through. Arrange salad on plate. Top with bacon, chicken, avocado. tomatoes, red onion, Feta cheese, and pepper. Drizzle with remaining dressing. Dig in!