We love salads. Especially in the summer when the temperature soars and it’s too hot to turn on the stove. Thankfully, my husband will happily grill chicken on the hottest of days (jumping in the pool to cool off in between checking). At least he can stay cool when the temp is soaring. My go to salad (lately) has been grilled chicken, romaine, hardboiled egg, pickled red onion, cheddar, cucumber, tomato, and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. But I wanted something different and this is SPECTACULAR, you’ve got to try it!

I didn’t marinate the chicken, just olive oil, salt & pepper – we use Bell & Evan Thin Chicken Breasts (cutlets). So they grill quickly which is nice. I like to make the salad a little ahead so it’s nice and cold. To find a good vinaigrette I read through several recipes and in the end made it my own. 

Southwest Salad with Chicken, Black Beans, Corn and Pepper Jack

Salad Ingredients – use the quantities you like...

• Romaine lettuce (I used 1 container of Organic Girl Romaine)
• Cucumber, seeded, chopped or sliced (I used 1/2)
• Tomato, (I remove the seeds), chopped (I used 1/2 large tomato)
• Red onion (soaked for about 10 minutes in cold water), then chopped (I used a small piece)
• Corn on the cob, I used 1 ear. Remove husks and silk, the cut the corn off the cob (be careful!)
• Black Beans (Goya brand is good!), rinsed and drained 
• Pepper Jack cheese, grated (or you can use Sharp Cheddar if you prefer)
• Tostitos “Lightly Salted” version for topping

Vinaigrette Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 3/4 – 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1.5 – 2 tablespoons EVOO (olive oil)
• Dash or two of honey (1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon)
•  S & P
• 1/4 of a tomato, minced

If you have a food processor you can blend this all together. I minced the tomato and added it to the (OXO) shaker of ingredients. Don’t leave out the tomato in the vinaigrette, I wouldn’t have thought to do that but WOW was it ever good!

Directions
I prep the salads first and then put them in the fridge to get nice and cold. This salad makes enough for two. I used one container of Organic Girl Romaine lettuce.In your salad bowls, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onion, fresh corn, black beans, sprinkle some cheese on top, add your vinaigrette and top with a few crunched up Tostitos if you like. Quite a nice addition!

Sit down and enjoy! One really nice thing about having a big salad for dinner is that I have all the dishes done, so all we have is our salad bowl. #itsthelittlethings

🥗 Until next time…