Chicken, bacon and avocado salad with maple mustard dressing

A change is as good as a rest they say. That should be prefixed with *unless that comes with a crew of builders and heavy machinery! So if my latest life endeavours aren’t going to bring me rest, then I wonder what will it bring? {I know, I know…a new kitchen…..!)

So the day came yesterday when the work on the house finally started, to extend our dining room and knock through to the kitchen. And to be fair there was a part of me (for 24hrs at least) that was excited for the talk to turn to action! But I know myself, and adapting to ‘change’ isn’t necessarily one of my strong points, so I guess with this, brings opportunity!

Change can mean modification and we will be certainly be making plenty of those to our home, but change can also mean a shift and when things shift this can make way for new openings to occur. So over the next few months, I’m not entirely sure where the ideas for cooking and writing are going to come from as my little vantage point where I enjoy writing from and my kitchen will be non-existent by next week.

But I feel that actually, the blog may be more of a continuum and not necessarily conclusive each week. As people offer support and space to me, I will for sure be inspired by things that I haven’t imagined. And to be fair this week has been a bit of a mental haze!! But as I work from my new bolt hole this afternoon at The Chiron Centre, I can already feel many great things could be on offer! I hope you will join me on the journey and see where it will go, and that you’ll enjoy the most fuss-free cooking of all!

If you fancy following our progress, I’m adding stories on Instagram and photos on the Fuss Free Foodie FB page ….so remember to come and join us there if you aren’t already! Wish us luck! Lisa x

Chicken, bacon & avocado salad with maple mustard dressing

Serves 2 (easily doubled to serve 4!)

Salad

150g leftover roast chicken meat or 2 small chicken breast
3 bacon rashers, cooked crispy, roughly chopped or torn
100g mixed lettuce leaves
1/2 red onion, sliced into thin half moons (or 6 spring onions, chopped)
150g tomatoes, diced
1 ripe avocado, diced (cut in half, remove the stone, quarter, scoop out the flesh and chop)
4 tbsp sweetcorn

1. If using chicken leftover from a roast dinner, pick all the meat off the bones and set the carcass aside to make some stock or pop in the freezer until you are ready to. Go to step 3.
2. If you are using a chicken breast, flatten it out so that it is about 1cm thick all over. Do this by laying the chicken in cling film on a chopping board and whacking it with a rolling pin! Then rub the chicken in a little oil, season and either grill, fry or cook on the BBQ.
3. Assemble the salad. Share the salad leaves between two plates. Sprinkle with the red onions, sweetcorn and avocado. Add the chicken and bacon.

Dressing
Make in a jam jar. Double up if you fancy having some leftover for another day…it tastes so good!!

6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or best salad oil
3 tbsp cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard
1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp maple syrup
Twist of salt and pepper

1. Put all the ingredients in a jar and shake! And pour over your lovely salad!

This is a classic recipe for using up what you have, so don’t let not having one ingredient stop you giving it a go, substitute for what you have! Remember to let us know if you give the recipe a try in the comments below or on social media! Lisa