Mango Salsa Chicken

Goodness Gracious!  I can't believe it has been so long since I posted anything.  No excuses.  Life got lazy and busy by halves and Emily hasn't been doing much meal preparation.  She has done some baking, but not even much of that.  All our household routines somehow fell by the wayside.  It happens to the best of us I suppose.  In any case we are going to try to get back on track.  With the holidays now, sadly, behind us and a new year underway we can press forward.
Peter commented to Emily over dinner the other night (while she was protesting about the peppercorns coating the pepper steak I had made ) that she hadn't been cooking much.  I agreed, and said we were going to get back to it soon.  A day later she had the magazines out and had chosen this recipe.
I was surprised by her selection, since I didn't think she liked mango or avocado, but who was I to argue?  It looked good, and like it might taste just a little bit like summer in the middle of a frigid January.
When I arrived home the next evening, groceries in hand she had pre-measured the seasonings and was boiling water for the rice.  I explained rice usually went into cold water & then brought to a boil and advised her how much rice to add to the water she had measured.  While she rubbed the spices into the chicken I diced both a mango and an avocado for her.  Incidentally, finding a ripe mango or avocado on the grocery shelf is a challenge....but we managed.  Emily chopped some red onion, but knowing was not going to be cooked I took the onion she had prepared and minced it into finer pieces, stirring the ingredients for the salsa together.
Emily measured some oil into a frying pan to cook her chicken and then came in to visit with her aunt and me.  Before long I could smell very hot oil and reminded her to never walk away from a hot pan, explaining hot oil can just ignite on its own.  We cooled the pan off a little and she started to brown the chicken, crisis averted.  When the meat was mostly cooked she came in and asked where the salsa was.  I pointed out the bowl of mango & avocado on the counter....to which she expressed with shock that that was NOT salsa.  She was expecting the usual tomato based salsa we always have jarred.  I laughed and wondered where she had read that tidbit in her recipe.
Regardless of having the "wrong" kind of salsa dinner was delicious.  The sweet mango & creamy avocado were a nice balance to the mildly spicy chicken.  The next day the onions were almost overpowering in the salsa though.  Later in the week I had the last of the dish for lunch again.  Emily had packed it all together in one container, so the salsa got heated with the chicken & rice.  It was still tasty, but would have been better chilled on the hot chicken.  Oh well.

Mango Salsa Chicken

2 large boneless chicken breasts (1 pound/450g)       1 large mango, cut into 3/4" cubes

1 Tablespoon brown sugar                                          1 avocado, cut into 3/4" cubes

2 teaspoons chili powder                                            1/4 cup Mango Chipotle dressing (Kraft)*

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder                                         1/4 cup minced red onion

Cut each chicken breast into half horizontally, to make 2 thin pieces.  Mix the sugar, chili & garlic powders until blended; rub onto both sides of chicken pieces.  Refrigerate 10 minutes.

Meanwhile combine remaining ingredients.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over meduim high heat.  Add chicken and cook about 4 minutes per side, until done.

Serve topped with Mango Salsa

*I couldn't find Mango Chipotle salad dressing the day we made this,so I substitued Madarin Orange with Sesame.  The recipe also called for 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro in the salsa, but since we don't particularly like it I left it out.  Fresh parsley could be substituted.