Healthy Black Bean Chicken Salad

This is based on my cousin's recipe, which she very graciously allowed me to share with you. I've been eating this for years, and it's one of my favorite cold salads, perfect for summer! We ate this a lot when my daughter was first diagnosed with Celiac Disease and we needed an easy gluten-free meal.

I did some tweaking to make it a Trim Healthy Mama “E”. 

Scroll down for a printable recipe!

Here's what you'll need:

• Salt and Pepper
• 2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon water
• 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh green onions
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• About 2 heaping cups of cooked, chopped or cubed chicken breasts (I use 4 of the really thin breasts that are flash-frozen from Costco)*
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 Tablespoon dried basil

*The chicken breasts should NOT be cooked in oil of any kind. This is your lean protein for the “E” meal, and shouldn't have any added fat. I usually make about 5 thin or 3 thick chicken breasts at the beginning of the week to add to salads (I do the same with chicken thighs, but those are only to be eaten in an “S” setting). I season them with salt and pepper, and bake them at 400 for about 20 minutes, checking after 10. Then I wrap and refrigerate them, and when I pulled them out for this recipe they were cold and ready to chop without burning my hands. 

Combine chicken, black beans, green onions, and cilantro in a medium-sized bowl. Then combine vinegar, olive oil or water, green onions, basil, and lime juice in a small bowl and whisk. Toss dressing with salad and combine.

Each serving is just under 1 cup (unless you are hungry for more), and has about 14 grams of carbs and very little fat (as long as you omit the olive oil). This isn't quite enough carbs for a healthy “E” meal. At this point, you can either add more black beans, add brown rice, eat another serving, or…

Chips! Don't fill up on chips, fill up on the salad, but these are a nice side addition. The only plan-approved store-bought chips that I know of are Trader Joe's Baked Blue Corn Chips. If you're not sure what you're looking for, here's a photo:

Ummm…I should have mentioned that it was just a photo of the bag. Because obviously, the bag is empty. Because I ate them all. By myself. Not all in one sitting though! They aren't the most amazing chips in the world, but they definitely satisfy a chip craving when you have one.

Here's the nutrition information:

This salad makes about 5 1/2 cups. My kids eat about 1/2 cup each, and my husband and I eat 3/4 – 1 cup each, so we are usually full and have leftovers for lunch the next day.