Monster Cookies

How the month sneaks by so quickly, I don't know.  But it's already time for the latest installment of Secret Recipe Club. This month I was assigned Moms Crazy Cooking.  Tina has a really fun blog with a lot of little craziness in the mix. ;) Between cooking for her family of six, her twin girl's competitive cheer schedule and participating in several online cooking/baking groups I don't think there is a dull moment at Tina's house.  Tina even hosts a monthly themed cooking challenge online called the "Crazy Cooking Challenge" where other bloggers make their take on the assigned theme, link up their posts and then everyone votes for the "Ultimate Recipe".  The last Crazy Cooking Challenge theme was Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  There were some pretty good looking recipes in there!  Check out Tina's blog when you get a chance. 

As usual I flagged a number of recipes while perusing Moms Crazy Cooking.  In fact I even made two of her recipes this week.  The first was Au Gratin Potatoes in a crock pot.  First of all, that's a genius idea.  Second of all, it's stinkin delicious.  It was a huge hit at our Mother's Day lunch last weekend.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures because we were too busy fighting over these tasty potatoes.  Yes I said fighting.  There was a little scuffle at the table when my mom's fork suddenly nose dived into my aunt's plate to swipe the oh so coveted, browned crispy parts of the potatoes.  I guess sisters can do that.  My family takes potatoes very seriously! Needless to say, I will be making these again, and I hope have a clear enough mind to actually take a picture or two. 

Thankfully I did take photos of these Monster Cookies.  I have made dozens of different kinds of cookies through the years, but never a monster cookie.  Tina's blog had two versions, one with and without peanut butter.  I went with the non peanut butter version, but will have to try the peanut butter version at some point too. 

This monster cookie is a cross between a chocolate chip and oatmeal cookie with 3 cups of anything and everything mixed in. You can customize your monster cookie to your taste by stirring in nuts, candy, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, raisins, pretzels...whatever you can think of really. I kept mine pretty simple, mixing in pretzel M&M's and chocolate chips. The oatmeal brings a very homey texture to the cookie.  I am putting monster cookies on the baking list next time my nieces and nephews are over. 

Enjoy!

Monster Cookies
from Mom's Crazy Cooking

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine (I used all butter)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats
3 cups of your favorite mixins - such as nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, toffee, M&M's, chopped up candy, marshmallows, pretzels, etc. (I used 2 cups of pretzel M&M's and 1 cup of chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and oats and whisk to combine. 

In the bowl of stand mixer, beat butter, margarine and sugars on medium until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Reduce speed to low and add eggs, one at a time and vanilla, mixing until just blended.  With mixer on low add the flour mixture in three batches until just combined.  Add your 3 cups of mixins and mix on low to combine.

For truly monster size cookies, use a full size ice cream scoop with a release mechanism and bake 6 cookies per sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown on the edges (mine took 14 minutes).  Makes 24 extra large monstrous cookies!

Operation Baking GALS

If you're a regular reader here, you probably know I've joined a few online cooking and baking groups along the way.  It all started two years ago when I stumbled upon the Sweet Melissa Sundays  baking group.  I did a brief stint with French Fridays with Dorie.  I'm currently baking out of the Baked Explorations cookbook with Club: Baked once or twice a month and cooking/baking along monthly with Secret Recipe Club.  I love all these groups because a.) I learn things I didn't even know I wanted to learn, b.) I connect with fabulous food bloggers, many who are now friends, and c.) I get to eat some tasty stuff.

I'm pretty excited to tell you about a new baking group that is a little different than the rest.  This month I joined Operation Baking GALS.  Baking GALS (GALS stands for Give a Little Support) is a group of volunteers that bake and ship home baked treats to soldiers deployed in a war zone. "Our goal is to show our support and send a little bit of home to remind them that we appreciate all that they do for our freedom."  Pretty darn cool.

The GALS started back in 2008 and have been baking ever since.  You don't have know someone in the military to join.  Though if you do know someone, you can nominate that person to be a recipient of the Operation Baking GALS goodies.  Every month teams are formed, each representing a solider or soldiers to bake for.  Baking GALS read about each team and choose one or more teams to join. Up to 20 people can join each team.  All the teams bake and ship within the same 10 day period with the idea that the solider(s) get showered with all sorts of treats that they can share with the rest of the their unit.

I sent my first box out on Tuesday to a solider overseas in the Air Force.  The box included these homemade brownies and homemade ginger snaps.  With a little extra room in the box I filled in the gaps with gum, candy, cornnuts and cup of noodles.  It was a fun project to put everything together.  Hopefully it brings a little taste of home to some of the brave soldiers who make freedom possible for all of us. 

If you are interested in joining, head over to the Operations Baking GALS website and read through the FAQ's.  The next round of baking will take place in June.  Come and join the fun!

On completely unrelated note, you might have noticed that today I've posted my first photo collage! Woo hoo! I've always admired blogs with a snazzy collage. A quick web search led me to easy breezy instructions on how to do it with my Lightroom 3 software. I'm looking forward to playing around with it. Meaning you can totally expect to see more photo collages here.

P.S. Do something special for your the moms in your life on Sunday, May 13th, Mother's Day!

Chai Banana Bread

I almost gave up.  I've been getting Cooking Light magazine since the beginning of the year and I've had completely mediocre, non-blog-worthy, results with the three recipes I've tried to date.  Until now.  Recipe number four from the May issue turned it all around.  I guess I won't cancel my subscription just yet. 

Chai banana bread was a big success, making the previous lack luster results all worth it.  At least that's what I'm telling myself.  I measure the success of a recipe by asking is it something I would make again?  It may need some tweaks or changes, but the base recipe is solid enough to warrant a repeat.  This recipe?  Already planning it.  No further tweaking necessary (you'll see below I already did the slightest bit of tweaking).

Wondering what "chai" is?  Chai, which is a reference to masala chai, means mixed spiced tea and originates in southeast Asia (around India).  The chai spice mixture, which can vary, typically consists of things like cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorn, star anise and allspice.  Chai tea has become popular all over the world, and you can sample the Americanized version at your local Starbucks or coffee house.  Just ask for a "Chai Tea Latte".  You'll get a slightly sweetened, steamed milk beverage infused with a concentration of black tea and spices.  It's actually my favorite hot coffee house beverage (no coffee for this girl).  It reminds me of spice cookies and gingerbread.  Which is probably why it works so well with banana bread.

In this recipe there is no tea involved, just the spices.  Cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and allspice are mixed together.  A portion goes into the banana bread batter and the remainder gets mixed with powdered sugar and a touch of vanilla to create a spiced glaze to finish the bread.  The spices are present, but not overwhelming. 

This lightened up version of banana bread doesn't lack in flavor or richness.  It can easily pass for it's full fat banana bread cousin. 

I made one substitution in the recipe.  I didn't have plain yogurt on hand so I substituted fat free buttermilk.  I didn't actually have store bought buttermilk on hand either, so I made my own.  I added 1 teaspoon of white vinegar to 1/3 cup of fat free milk.  It worked perfectly!

Tip of the day - Make Your Own Buttermilk:

I always get so frustrated when I buy buttermilk at the store because I can never ever seem to use the whole container despite my best efforts.  Making your own is easy. 

To make one cup of buttermilk - Add one tablespoon of white vinegar to a glass measuring cup and then fill up to the one cup line with milk.  Let it stand for 5 minutes and stir before using. 

That's it.  No more wasted buttermilk!  You can use any type of milk you have on hand--fat free, low fat or whole milk.

*****   

Hubby and several of my co-workers sampled the bread and it was well received by all.  Hubs even went back for thirds!  This spiced twist on a classic may just become my new "go to" banana bread recipe. 

Enjoy!   

Chai Banana Bread
from Cooking Light

Notes: the instructions below are how they are laid out in the magazine.  I did make a modification on preparing this by mixing my spice mixture and then adding the 1 1/2 teaspoons of it into the dry flour mixture (instead of mixing it into the batter at the end).  I just had a hard time stepping away from the traditional method of mixing wet and ingredients separately and then combining them together at the end.  I also mixed my vanilla in with the rest of the wet ingredients.  It would probably work out just fine either with either method.


1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3)
1/3 cup plain non fat yogurt (I used fat free buttermilk)
5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
10 ounces all purpose flour (2 1/4 cups)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, divided
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons low fat milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Coat a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

You can use a stand mixer, hand mixer or just mix by hand the old fashioned way.  I used a stand mixer.  Combine bananas, yogurt, cooled melted butter and eggs until just blended.  Add sugars and mix until blended.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine.  Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and beat until just blended.

In a small bowl combine the cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and allspice.  Stir 1 1/2 teaspoons of the spice mixture and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla extract into the batter until just combined.  Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake for 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in the pan set on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and allow to cool completely.  To store, wrap the bread in foil and place in a zip top bag with the air removed. 

Make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar, remaining spice mixture and milk until fully combined and spoon over the bread.

Avocado Cup Salad

From the looks of my blog it might appear like I eat desserts for every meal with an occasional shrimp dish or salad tossed in here and there.  It's true I have been known to eat a dessert or two as my breakfast.  And when I'm not eating desserts, I'm not always eating the most healthy thing I can get my hands on.  A girl likes homemade nachos after all!  But.  In order to eat the number of desserts I do, I try to eat somewhat healthy meals most of the time.  If I didn't, I would have to buy a new wardrobe.  And that would be expensive.  So in the spirit of continuing to fit into my current wardrobe, I bring you a healthy recipe. 

I came across this salad at Corner Bakery a few weeks ago.  It's one of their trio side salads called the Southwest Avocado Wedge.  I'm not sure if it's new to their menu or I just never paid attention before.  Regardless, I'm glad I discovered it.  Actually the thanks go to my friend Crystal who ordered this little beauty and was kind enough to extend me a bite.  I immediately knew I wanted to recreate it at home.

What drew me into this salad was how refreshing, bright, creamy and crunchy it was.  And did I mention, healthy?  Plus I adore avocados and the avocado is the main centerpiece in this one. 

The first layer of this salad is a crisp, tangy, jicama slaw dressed simply with fresh lime juice and minced cilantro. 

A half of an avocado sits atop the slaw and fresh roasted sweet corn salsa...

...fills up the avocado cup and spills over the sides.  The final touch is a crumble of tortilla chips for a little salty crunch and sliced green onions.

This is a nice alternative to a lettuce based side salad.  I have made it a couple times, once as an accompaniment to shrimp with mango salsa for dinner and another time as lunch.  For lunch it was on the light side so you may want to add some grilled chicken or shrimp on the side to round out your meal.

I see many more avocado cup salads in my future. 

And don't worry.  The desserts aren't going anywhere.

Enjoy!

Avocado Cup Salad
by The Ginger Snap Girl, inspired from Corner Bakery

This side dish starts with a bed of jicama cilantro slaw.  A half of an avocado is nestled on the slaw and topped with roasted corn salsa, finished with crushed tortilla chips.  Easy.  Simple.  Refreshing.

Serves 4 side salads
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup fresh or frozen sweet corn (if fresh corn is not available I use C&W frozen petite white sweet corn)
1/2 red, yellow or orange pepper, diced
2 roma or plum tomatoes, cut in half, seeded and diced
1/4 cup red onion finely diced
1 teaspoon plus 1/4 teaspoon cilantro
1/2 anaheim green chile or jalapeno (if you like spicy), finely diced
2 limes
1 small jicama, peeled and cut into matchstick size strips (about 2 cups)
2 small to medium sized ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and sliced in half lengthwise
2 green onions, thinly sliced at an angle
12 round tortilla chips broken into small pieces

Start by making the corn salsa.  Heat a small non stick skillet on medium high heat and add the olive oil frozen corn, red, yellow or orange pepper, and the chile.  Saute stirring occasionally until the corn, pepper and chile begin to take on roasted appearance, about 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool.
Once mixture is cool, add tomato, red onion, 1 teaspoon of cilantro, the roasted corn, pepper and chile mixture to a medium bowl and stir together.  Squeeze the juice of one lime on the salsa and season with salt and pepper if desired and stir.

Next make the jicama slaw by combining the jicama, juice of one lime and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of cilantro in a small bowl.  Stir to combine.

Assemble by diving the jicama slaw amongst 4 plates.  Create a well in the center of the slaw and place a half of avocado cup on top, nestled in the well.  Top the avocado generously with corn salsa, allowing it flow over the sides.  Finish each salad with 3 crushed tortilla chips and a sprinkle of green onions.

Serve immediately.

The Last Brownie

Have you ever been on a quest to find the perfect ______?  Finding the ultimate version of a recipe is not easy.

I discovered that last year when I made an attempt to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie.  I learned two things from that exercise.  The first is to truly stack up one cookie against another, you really have to taste them side by side.  I found each time I would bake a new version, I would like it.  I made notes on what I liked about it, how the cookie held up after being stored for a day or three, the size, texture, flavors, etc.  But without tasting them side by side it was hard to compare and I realized I liked them all for different reasons.  The second thing I learned is the process of trying different recipes is really half the fun of the finding the best one.  I have yet to get sick of trying a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

Though I've made quite a few chocolate chip recipes, I've barely dipped my toe in the water on brownies.  Luckily for this month's Secret Recipe Club assignment I was assigned Cindy's blog, Everyday Insanity.  And Cindy has tested a lot of brownies.  In fact the tag line on her blog header is, "Tackling Life one Brownie Recipe at a Time!" 

Cindy and I have been in SRC together for quite a while now and she has become one of my blogging friends.  We frequently visit each other blogs and leave comments.  So I was excited when I was assigned her blog as I had already bookmarked several recipes I wanted to try.  Not surprisingly, they were all sweet recipes. 

In the end, I couldn't resist trying the recipe Cindy calls the "last brownie."  Meaning there is no need to try other recipes because this is the one.  Cindy says she's been on her journey to find the perfect brownie for about the last 35 years.  Though she deems this one to be perfect, I would bet this probably will not be the last brownie recipe she'll try. ;) 

The last brownie is my kind of brownie.  It's rich and chewy with a deep fudgy flavor.  That pretty much says it all.  I already have plans to make these again. 

I have to come clean though and tell you about a little tactical error that I made.  I did a trick my aunt does with brownies and sprinkled chocolate chips on top of the warm brownie right out of the oven.  The chips melt after a few minutes and then you spread them around to make a chocolate frosting of sorts.  But I realized after tasting these brownies that they didn't need a frosting.  In the photos on Cindy's blog you can see they have a bit of crackly top...which is just how I like them.  So I'm not sure what prompted me to add chocolate on top.  Next time, I'll leave them naked.  At least long enough to try one.  Then I might have to top it with some bright strawberry sauce (recipe also courtesy of Cindy) finished off with fresh whipped cream.

Check out the pretty sauce....

I decided to go big with these brownies, cutting them into 4 massive, 4 inch square, multiple fork, totally sharable, dressed up, brownies. 

And check it out after a bite...

After this little taste, I put the camera down and sat down to write the rest of this post while I dutifully had many more bites of this decadent dessert.  Unfortunately Hubs didn't want to help me out.  Mostly because he doesn't like chocolate or strawberries.  What?  He totally missed out!  This dessert is intense and is a bit much for one person. I ate half and put the other half in the fridge.  Guess what I'm having for breakfast?  Thanks for two great recipes Cindy!

Oh, and rest assured, this will not be my last brownie.  It's way too soon for my brownie journey to be over.

Enjoy!

The Last Brownie
slightly adapted from Everyday Insanity

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cut into 1/2 inch pieces
8 ounces semi sweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup of flour
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional) - I omitted

Preheat oven to 350 and grease 9x9 square pan with butter or cooking spray.  (I used an 8x8 pan and baked it for about 43 minutes)

Heat an inch of water in a small to medium sauce pan until simmering.  Place a medium heat proof mixing bowl (large enough to hold all the ingredients) over the simmering water and place the butter and chopped chocolate in the bowl.  Stir occasionally with a rubber spatula until the butter and chocolate are melted.  Remove the bowl from the heat and continue to stir for another minute to release heat.  Stir in sugar and salt.  Once batter is tepid or cool, add eggs and vanilla and stir to fully combine (don't add the eggs while the batter is hot or you'll end up with scrambled eggs).  Gently fold in the flour until it's just incorporated.  Be sure not to over mix.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until brownie starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted has a few crumbs attached.  Cool in the pan.


Strawberry Sauce
adapted from Everyday Insanity

1 cup chopped strawberries (chopped in 1/4 inch to 1/2 pieces)
1/2 cup sugar (if your strawberries are very sweet you could cut sugar in half)
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Combine all ingredients and small saucepan and heat on medium high.  Bring to a rapid boil and stir for one minute at rapid boil.  Remove from heat and allow sauce to cool.

Grasshopper Bars

Its already time for the latest installment of Club: Baked.  For those of you who don't know, Club: Baked is a small group of bloggers baking our way through the book Baked: Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Polifito.  We bake twice a month, on the 1st and 15th (don't tell anyone that today is the 16th).  Each week, one of the Club: Baked members is the hostess and picks the recipe that the whole group will make and we all post our results on the same day (or maybe some people post a week late sometimes, maybe).  Anyway, it's always fun to see everyone's posts and how they fared with the recipe.  This week's recipe for grasshopper bars was selected by Kirsten of The Sweet Swiper.

I had high hopes for this...I'm a big chocolate mint fan.  I really enjoyed the Chocolate Mint Thumbprint cookies when the group made them last year.  I have no will power when it comes to Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies and I think mint chip ice cream is the bomb.  So I was pretty excited to see this recipe come up on the roster. I stuck to the recipe pretty closely, even resisting my normal temptation to half it.  My only changes were to use a teaspoon of peppermint extract in place of the cream de menthe called for (couldn't find it at my local grocery store) plus a few drops of green food coloring to get that pale minty color.  I also cut the amount of butter in the chocolate glaze in half (mostly because I was too lazy to get another 1 pound butter packet out to cut some more).

Here's what I liked about the recipe.  The frosting is where it's at!  It is smooth, silky and minty.  It's an unusual (to me) butterceam frosting method that starts with boiling milk, cream, sugar and flour together in a sauce pan and then once thickened, it gets transferred to a stand mixer and you beat on high until all the heat has been released and the mixture is fully cooled. Toss in the butter and beat it until you have a magical fluffy frosting.  The Baked boys use this same method in other recipes, like this absolutely delicious caramel buttercream.  What I like about this buttercream method is the frosting isn't overly sweet and it's really light and and airy (traditional buttercream is too sweet and heavy to me). 

Look how dreamy the frosting is...

I didn't love the brownie base.  I'm not sure if I overcooked it...they actually recommend under baking it to give it a fudgy texture.  It just didn't have a that deep fudgy flavor I was looking for.  Though these didn't turn out perfectly, I would like to give them another go because the frosting is so stinkin good and I'm total sucker for chocolate mint desserts.

To get the recipe head over to Kirsten's blog.  To see how other Club: Bakers grasshopper bars turned out, click here.

Barbecue Chicken Salad

Have you ever had barbecue chicken salad at California Pizza Kitchen?  It's one of my favorite entree salads to order out a restaurant.  I've had it at other restaurants and I think the CPK salad is hands down the best version.  All the flavors complement each other...sweet, tangy, crunchy, cheesy.  It's a filling (a half order is plenty for me or if Hubby wants to share we get the full order) and oh so delicious meal.

Hubs and I eat salads for dinner (as our entree) at least 1 or 2 times a week.  Most of the time it's a basic salad with romaine lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, red pepper, sometimes mushrooms, topped with grilled shrimp or chicken.  I sometimes add a sprinkle of feta or cheddar cheese and or some croutons if I have them.  Our favorite salad dressing is one I get in the produce section at my grocery store by Litehouse.  They have a lite ranch dressing that is low in calories and doesn't taste like a "light" ranch dressing.  I was getting a little bored with our basic salads so I started thinking about alternative options...

I had ranch dressing and barbecue sauce in the fridge and chicken in the freezer and thought why not make barbecue chicken salad at home?  I didn't consult a recipe for this one.  I went from memory and crossed my fingers. 

You start by baking the chicken in barbecue sauce.  Once it's cooled, chop it and toss it in more barbecue sauce.  There is one other cooking component to this recipe.  I like to roast sweet corn and it's easy to do right on the stove top.  I keep frozen white sweet corn on hand at all times (I have found the C&W brand to be the sweetest).  To roast, drizzle a little olive oil in a non stick pan and throw in the frozen corn (don't thaw) and cook about 10 minutes on medium high heat, stirring once in a while until the corn takes on a roasted, caramelized color on some of the kernels.  If fresh corn is in season that would be even better, just toss your husked corn cob right on the grill and turn every couple of minutes until that charred color starts to appear (also about 10 minutes).

The rest comes together easily.  While your chicken and corn are cooking, prep the rest of the ingredients. 

Tip of the day - Freeze Your Chips!

One of the ingredients in the salad is crushed tortilla chips.  I have a tip to share for storing chips.  Once you've opened the bag, use a chip clip to close the bag and store it in your freezer.  This works great for both tortilla chips and potato chips.  In our two person household it can take a while for us to eat up a bag of chips before they go stale.  The chips will keep nicely in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

*****

So how did my version of barbecue chicken salad compare?  Both Hubby and I gave it two big thumbs up.  In fact I've made it twice already and it's officially been added to our salad rotation.  I'm loving it! 

The salad is very similar to my beloved CPK version.  I just went to the CPK website to compare ingredients and I came pretty darn close.  The only thing my version didn't have was jicama and basil (which I didn't really miss).  At CPK avocado is an add on ingredient for extra money.  Since avocados were on sale at the market, they were a definite add in my version of the salad. 

Oh, and I can't forget to tell you, the squeeze of lime takes this salad up a level.  It gives it a little tang that goes nicely with the creamy ranch and sweet barbecue sauce from the chicken.  Don't skip the lime!

Enjoy!

Barbecue Chicken Salad
from The Ginger Snap Girl, inspired from California Pizza Kitchen

Serves 4 entree portions

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound)
1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup barbecue sauce (I used Lucille's)
1 large head of romaine lettuce, washed, air dried, and cut into 1-2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon of finely chopped cilantro (optional)
1 cup frozen petite white corn
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large avocado, peeled and sliced into chunks
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
4 green onions, thinly sliced on the bias (at an angle)
1/2 cup grated monterey jack cheese
12 round tortilla chips, crushed
Ranch dressing, about 1 cup (I used Litehouse lite ranch dressing, found in the refrigerator section of the produce section)
1 lime cut into 4 wedges

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray an 8 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread half of the 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.  Place chicken breasts on top of the sauce and spread the remainder of 1/4 cup of sauce on top of the chicken breasts.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked through and clear juices run out of the chicken.  Transfer chicken from the baking dish to a cutting board and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.  Once chicken is cooled, cut into 1 inch chunks and place in a medium bowl.  Toss the cut chicken with 1/3 cup barbecue sauce.

While the chicken is baking, heat a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil to the pan.  Add the frozen corn (do not thaw) to the pan and stir.  Allow corn to cook over medium heat for about 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally.  You want to allow the corn to roast and get lightly browned.  You can also grill fresh corn on the cob if it's available.  Remove corn from heat and allow to cool.

In a large bowl toss the lettuce with the ranch dressing.  Add cilantro and toss to evenly distribute.  Divide lettuce amongst 4 entree portion bowls.  Top lettuce with tomatoes, black beans, roasted corn, avocados, cheese and green onions.  Divide barbecue chicken amongst the 4 bowls and sprinkle each evenly with crushed tortilla chips.  To finish place a lime wedge in each bowl.  Don't forget to squeeze the lime over the salad....it's what makes it!