Southwestern Chopped Salad

It's hot outside so I've been making salads.  After Caleb had this one the other day he said "That was the best salad I ever had.  Only make this salad for the rest of your life."  I responded "What if I make it Asian....".  He quickly said "No." I countered again with "But what if I..."  "No!" I tried again with a "Wha....." and got a "NO!!"  Caleb can be a brat sometimes..........  but I get it.  It's a delicious salad.  I put all the topping options in bowls so the kids could choose what they wanted to put on it and it was a total hit.


Southwestern Chopped Salad


Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, grilled and diced into 1 inch pieces
1 bell pepper, diced (any color - I like red but received some complaints I didn't use green)
1 14oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup sweet corn (fresh or frozen, if frozen make sure to leave time for it to defrost)
1 tomato, diced
1 package of romaine hearts (wash and chop into smallish pieces)
1 avocado, diced
Tortilla chips
Salsa
Spicy ranch dressing

Directions:

You can add all the ingredients together in a large bowl, or you can do like I did and let your family pick and choose what they want to add to their salad.  To make the dressing, Hidden Valley Ranch makes a Spicy Ranch mix that you can use, or you can also add about a tablespoon of taco seasoning to regular Ranch mix when you make your ranch dressing.

Spinach and Apple Salad with White Basalmic Dressing

This salad is heaven.  I am completely in love with it.  Then there's the dressing.  The dressing!  It is just so delicous, I can't explain it.  I could eat this every day, seriously.

Spinach and Apple Salad
Recipe from Becoming Betty

Spinach
Diced apples
Parmesan cheese, shredded
Craisins
Nuts (the recipe called for slivered almonds, I used candied pecans.  Pretty much just use whatever you have)

Just throw all of that together, depending on how you like it.  If you like a lot of crunch, add more apples.  Love craisins?  Dump a ton in then!  Hey, if you like a lot of cheese in your salad, I'm not going to judge you, JUST THROW THAT CHEESE IN!  We're all friends here.



White Basalmic Dressing

3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
juice of 1 lemon (not a huge one)(I cheated and used 1 tbsp. of bottled lemon juice)
1 tbsp. honey
salt/pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients.  Pour over salad just before serving, to taste.  This makes a lot, so I just put the extra in a decanter in the refrigerator.  It is SO GOOD.  I'm warning you!

Santa Fe Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

4 breasts of chicken, cooked then sliced
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped small
1 15oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ear of corn, kernels cut off (or cup of frozen corn)
1 tomato, chopped
1 avocado, diced
1/2 cup red onion, chopped fine
1/4 cup jack cheese
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 small jicama, diced
lemon pepper
crushed tortilla chips
Buttermilk Salsa Dressing

Heat oil in skillet, add chicken. Sprinkle with lemon pepper. Cook each side about 7 minutes or until done. Cool, then slice. Combine all salad ingredients. For salad dressing, add one envelope ranch mix with mayo and milk per directions into a blender. Add fresh salsa to taste.

Salad de Maison

Thank you Tina Daines for this DELICIOUS salad recipe!


Ingredients:

Dressing:

1 fresh lemon, squeezed (or 3 tbsp.)
1/2 cup olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Refrigerate dressing for 3 hours before serving.


Salad:

1 head romaine lettuce
1 lb. bacon, crispy and chopped (I use 1/4 of the real bacon bits, less calories)
1 1 /2 cup finely grated swiss cheese
3/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
1/3 cup parmesan
1 cup croutons
1/2 cup craisins

Optional: 2 grilled, diced chicken breasts


Pour dressing over salad right before serving.