Chicken poppy seed salad

This recipe is from the sisters cafe. I am rewriting it adding the amounts I used to the side. The dressing is so bad for you. I swapped out some splenda with sugar, but still used all the oil in the recipe. I just used the dressing sparingly. I Put only about 1/3-1/2 cup on the whole salad. I left it on the table for others to add more, but that was plenty for me. I had this on another salad today and watered it down 1/2 and 1/2. The flavor was great, but the poppy seeds didn't stick to the salad as well. I would try making this with 1/2 the oil next time to see how it turns out. I will probably never make this much dressing again though. It makes a ton. I used less than 1/4 of what it made.

This was either loved or hated at our house. It gets a 5 star from the parents and oldest child, Not as much from the younger ones.

Salad Ingredients

• Spinach leaves -I used about 1/2-3/4 of the bag
• Romaine leaves - I used 1 bag of extra carrots salad mix)
• Lemon grilled chicken (see recipe below) cut into bite sized pieces
• Red onion, sliced thinly - I used 1/4 to 1/3 of a good sized onion)
• Crispy bacon, crumbled (I added a couple Tablespoons real bacon bits because my boys had made all the bacon I bought for this.)
• Shredded mozzarella cheese (No idea how much I used - 2-3 ounces)
• Toasted almonds -I used 1/3 cup or so (I toasted them then added the tiniest bit of sugar to them (1/2 teaspoon or less - sprinkled over the toasting almonds)- not completely sugared almonds since the dressing was sweet, but sweeter than regular toasted.)
• Dressing (recipe below)

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Lemon Grilled Chicken Ingredients

• Juice of one lemon (~3 Tb lemon juice)
• 3 Tb oil
• 1 tsp minced garlic (~2 large cloves)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 lb chicken breasts

Directions

1. Marinate the chicken overnight. (I forgot to do this, so I cut my chicken in smaller pieces and marinated all day.) Grill chicken on grill. Chop into small pieces for salad. (You can also dice this to bite sized and marinate that way then just stick it in the skillet, or I really think you could marinate precooked chicken - I think I will try that next time. That worked really well on the Honey lime enchiladas I made the other day.)

Dressing Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 +1/3 cup splenda
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp dry mustard
• 2/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 3 Tb Maui or Vidalia onion, chopped
• 2 cups canola oil
• 3 Tb poppy seeds

Directions

1. Mix the first 5 ingredients in a blender, then slowly add the oil, blending until thick. Stir in poppy seeds.