California Spring Salad with Sriracha Almond Crusted Chicken

Here's what you'll need:

For the Sriracha Almond Chicken:

• 1 cup of sriracha seasoned almonds
• 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or sub tenders)

For the California Salad:

• 1 ear of fresh sweet corn
• 1 zucchini, sliced into half moons
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved 
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 bag of shredded romaine lettuce
• 1 cup of cooked rigitoni pasta
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Garlic powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cover a large baking sheet in aluminum foil, and spray with cooking spray.
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the sliced zucchini and red pepper into a bowl.
3. Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and toss to coat. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder, and toss to coat again.
4. Spread out your seasoned vegetables on the baking sheet, and pop into the oven. Roast for about 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned.
5. Remove the husk and stringy pieces from your ear of corn.
6. Spray the corn lightly with cooking spray on all sides and wrap in aluminum foil.
7. Place the corn directly onto the rack in the oven next to your other veggies. Roast for about 15 minutes, rotating part way through the cooking time.
8. Next up, prep the chicken. Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside. 
9. Combine the almonds, bread crumbs and salt into the bowl of your food processor. Grind until it has the consistency of course sand.
10. Transfer the dry mixture into a large resealable plastic bag, drop in the raw chicken and seal the bag.
11. Shake up the bag until all of the chicken tenders are evenly coated in the mixture. Remove the chicken from the bag and spread out on your baking pan. 
12. Bake in the oven (at the same temperature of 400 degrees) for 12-15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and reaches the internal temperature of 165 degrees. Set aside to cool.
13. While all of your hot ingredients are cooling, prepare the rest of the salad by combining the romaine lettuce, avocado, tomatoes and rigitoni pasta into a large bowl.
14. Lastly, drop in your roasted vegetables and enjoy with your dressing of choice! (My favorite for this salad is honey mustard.)

I went on a search for a hearty salad for dinner one night and ended up combining a few different recipes I found on Pinterest under "spring salad ingredients." The Sriracha Almond Chicken creation came from Floating Kitchen, and I found this sweet/spicy seasoning goes with pretty much any type of salad you construct.