Spice Rubbed Chicken with Tropical Salsa and Rice

In third and fourth grade I had a friend named Emily. We would play all sorts of little girl games, but one of our favorites was "cooking." Emily had the most amazing TOY food, and I loved to play with it. Little did I know at that time, that I would be browsing her recipe blog eleven years later for amazing REAL food (especially since we had lost touch with the many times each of our families moved)! Her blog is one of my favorites for grabbing dinner ideas. I have never tried one of her recipes and not enjoyed it. She has excellent taste and uses a lot of fruits and vegetables...I'm fond of this. I doubt you will be able to look over her recipes without having to try at least one.
This recipe I'm about to share is hers. I LOVED this dish. As I mentioned before, with the weather changing I am definitely getting out of my soup kick. The colorful salsa in this recipe, along with the grilled chicken was shouting at my taste buds and matched the warming up weather perfectly. Try it. You will love it.

Side note: In Emily's recipe, she made coconut rice, but I just did regular rice.
Chicken Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. chicken breasts., pounded to 3/4" thickness


• 1/4 cup sugar


• 1/2 tsp. chili powder


• 1 1/2 tsp. paprika


• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder


• 1/8 tsp. onion powder


• 1/8 tsp. dry mustard

Salsa Ingredients:

• 5 roma tomatoes, diced


• 2 mangos, diced


• 1 avacado, diced


• juice of 2 limes


• 1/4 cup cilantro


• 4 scallions, diced


• 1 tsp. vinegar


• pinch salt and pepper


• 1 jalapeno, diced with seeds and ribs removed

Rice:

• 2 cups white rice, prepared according to package directions
  

Directions:

For chicken:

In a bowl, combine sugar, salt, and all spices. Rub mixture onto both sides of chicken breasts. Allow to rest 30 minutes to absorb flavors. Grill or pan-fry till done. Chicken will develop a crust from the rub. Let chicken rest 1-2 minutes to allow juices to redistribute, then slice into strips right before serving.

For Salsa:

Combine tomatoes, mango, avocado, cilantro, onion, jalapeno, lime juice, vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve chicken and salsa over the cooked rice.

Serves 8.