Great Dinner Salad

[Strgzr5000]

Great because you can "encrust" the chicken breasts with crushed pecans to mimic a breaded crust. Delicious! Even the gluten-free members of my household didn't notice it was something made special so I could eat it.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup creamy garlic salad dressing or gluten free ranch salad dressing with garlic powder sprinkled in

(I also like using a liberal sprinkling of cajun seasoning like Zatarain's or Tony Chachere's in the dressing and on the chicken)

* 1 cup finely chopped pecans (2 packages of already chopped in the baking aisle)

* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

* 1 head romaine lettuce leaves, torn into 1/2 inch wide strips

* 2 green onions stem and bulb chopped

* 1 (15 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained

* 1 cup dried cranberries

* 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

(the recipe originally called for bleu cheese but feta substitutes nicely)

* 1/2 cup gluten-free Ranch dressing

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

2. Place the creamy garlic dressing and pecans in separate bowls. Dip each chicken breast in the dressing then in the pecans to coat. Arrange chicken on a lipped baking sheet or jelly roll pan.

3. Bake chicken 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until juices run clear. Cool slightly, and cut into strips.

4. On serving plates, arrange equal amounts of the lettuce, green onions, mandarin oranges, cranberries, and feta cheese. Top with equal amounts chicken, and serve with Ranch dressing.