Southwest Salad is the perfect salad for any occasion. Filled with lettuce, black beans, cheese, veggies and topped with a fresh cilantro honey lime dressing.
1small bag frozen corn, white or yellow, or fresh, 3-4 large cooked and cut off cob
1can black beans, washed and drained
2avocados, chopped (not too soft) choose avocados that are fairly firm
1bunch green onions, sliced
4-5Roma tomatoes, chopped, or about 3 cups of cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
1red pepper, chopped
1 1/2cupPepper Jack Cheese, grated
1 1/2cupsColby cheese, grated
Dressing:
1cupcilantro, rinsed, remove stems
1cupmayonnaise
4-6tablespoonsfresh lime juice
lime zest from one lime
2tablespoonshoney
sea salt
pepper
1/8 to 1/4teaspooncayenne
For Salad:
Chop lettuce into bite size pieces. Place lettuce in large serving bowl.
If not using immediately, layer in the following order:
Lettuce
black beans
corn
peppers
green onion
avocado
tomatoes
grated cheeses
Instructions
For Dressing: Chop cilantro. Whisk together in bowl rest of ingredients, add fresh cilantro. Add more lime, honey or cayenne to taste.
Toss salad with dressing just before serving, or serve dressing on the side of salad. If serving on side, double dressing.
Notes
Use Romaine full heads, not Romaine hearts (Costco) You will be happier with the dark green color.
Important to drain veggies well and spin salad until dry. If you take the time to do this, the salad will last for up to three days if not tossed with dressing.
Layering in the order given will insure that the cheese won't get soggy, and the avocados will stay fresh(er) with the tomatoes layered on top. Romas, or grape tomatoes are best for this salad.
I like the look when hand chopping part of the Cilantro for the salad. You can throw all of the ingredients into a blender or use an immersion blender to make the dressing, then chop a few tablespoons by hand to get the larger leaf look in the dressing.
If you want more of a Taco-style salad, add some chopped cooked chicken and tortilla or corn chips.
If you want to make this a main dish salad, cook chicken breast halves, cool and chop when completely cooled. Add to salad with veggies.