Cashew Chicken Salad

Just tried a new recipe this evening that I got from AllRecipes.com. We originally had Fried Rice on the menu, but it just didn't sound very tasty to me. (Maybe it was because I had pineapple beef leftovers for lunch.) So I went searching for something with chicken that could be baked because I was in no mood for slaving in front of a pan for an hour. Here's what I found and how I modified it.

Original Recipe | Modified Below

Combine these and pour into a large Ziploc freezer bag:
3 Tbsp. melted butter
1 beaten egg

Put the following into a food processor and chop until coarse. I'd suggest using the "pulse" function and not holding it down too long. Otherwise your mixture will get too fine.
(generous) 1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut
(generous) 1/2 c. cashews
10 Ritz crackers (I used wheat ones and it was awesome)
Garlic salt & garlic pepper

Pour the chopped stuff into a large Ziploc freezer bag.

Dice 4 chicken breasts and place in the first bag with the butter and beaten egg. ZIP THE BAG!! (I did actually forget to check and see if it was totally zipped and ended up having to spray down my counter with bleach.) Squish chicken around until coated.

Pour the coated chicken into the second bag with the coconut/cashew mixture. ZIP UP! (I didn't forget to check that time.) Squish chicken around as you would with Shake n' Bake until all coated.

Line a cookie sheet with foil and coat with non-stick spray. Pour out the chicken and spread it evenly over the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serve over salad greens with a dressing of your choice.

We both really liked this. I wasn't sure if Heath would like it, thinking that he wouldn't enjoy the coconut. But as it turns out, he recommended that I add more coconut next time! This is definitely going into our stock of regular meals.

I pre-diced my chicken, so it wasn't a big deal to use it. Whenever we get raw (not frozen) chicken, I try to dice up some of it ahead of time and put one breast of diced chicken each in a snack size Ziploc bag. Saves time on days when I'm in a hurry - like today! You could just cut the breasts into strips if you were short on time too.