Okay, so my brother likes to help out with my blog by finding random projects to make recipes about. Sometimes I take them on; sometimes I think he’s just crazy. But this time I decided to take up the challenge. He found a recipe contest that called for one ingredient that you had to use in a dish. The ingredient was “strawberries.” I thought, “Great! That’s easy!” I have some great recipes for strawberries, including one that I got from Emily Malloy (Ziegler) on her “Cleanliness is Next to Godliness” blog that is amazing and has great flavors. However, this contest threw a monkey wrench into the scheme of things. Your submitted recipe had to be something other than the traditional parfait, cake, pie, or other dessert. You had to really get outside of the box and create something unique. So this is what I came up with. Let me know what you think and if I should submit it to the contest.

Blackened Chicken with Strawberry Salsa

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Strawberry Salsa

1/2 Medium Red Onion, thinly sliced

1/2 Red Bell Pepper, stemmed and seeded

1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper, stemmed and seeded

1/2 Green Bell Pepper, stemmed and seeded

1/4 Fresh Cilantro Leaves, finely shredded

1/2 Pint (1 Cup) fresh strawberries, hulled

Salt & Pepper

Blackened Seasoning

1 Tablespoon Chili Powder

Teaspoon Paprika

Teaspoon Garlic Powder

Teaspoon Onion Powder

And a dash of the following

Salt

Fresh-Cracked Black Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a stand mixer, add the peppers, onion, cilantro, strawberries and salt and pepper and pulse leaving the salsa somewhat chunky
3. Store in fridge until ready to use
4. Add 1 Tablespoon of olive oil to a skillet and turn to medium high heat.
5. Mix all blackened spice ingredients together.
6. Heavily coat both sides of the chicken breasts.
7. Once oil is just about to smoke, add the chicken breast.
8. Cook for approximately 3 minutes on each side.
9. Put in preheated oven for 10 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.
10. Slice chicken into thins strips.
11. Cover with salsa and serve with a vegetable (I went with corn just for a contrast in color).
12. Enjoy!