Well, I sent my husband to Costco for green grapes, and he came home with apricots instead. So I had to get creative with a big box store quantity of apricots, and came up with this salad. It violates my son Justin’s “no fruity chicken” rule, but he wasn’t at the table when I served it, and everyone else thought it was a keeper!

I started with a recipe from Lunds & Byerly’s Real Food magazine, but I not only didn’t have ras el hanout Moroccan spice mix, I didn’t even know what it was. Several other ingredients in their salad recipe were “no goes” for me as well, so I started from scratch and came up with this concoction.

Makes 6 salads

For grilled chicken:
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins, fresh or thawed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt and pepper to season

For dressing:
1/2 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 Tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1/4 cup fresh chopped mint
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
5-6 fresh apricots, chopped

For salad base:
2 heads Romaine lettuce, chopped
1-2 cups chopped spinach
2 scallions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
6 baby cucumbers, chopped, or 1 regular cucumber, sliced and quartered

Toss chicken in oil, and grill until no longer pink. Season with salt and pepper while grilling. Remove from heat and chop into bite-sized pieces.

While meat is cooking, combine mayo, yogurt, curry, chili powder, onion, mint, garlic, balsamic vinegar and stir until combined. Add in warm chicken and chopped apricots and toss to coat. *

Layer plates with Romaine, spinach, scallions, peppers, and cucumbers. Top with chicken and apricot mixture.

*NOTE: To prep this dish ahead of time, once you are done making chicken and apricot salad, put it in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use, for 2-48 hours.