Southwestern Salad

A month or two ago, Cooking Light featured a great article on salads. This might seem like a bit of an oxymoron, but it was pretty interesting. It showed groups of ingredients that played well together. Most of these combinations weren’t earth shattering, but for me, they worked more like a reminder. “Oh yeah, I like salads with almonds, fruit and goat cheese.” One of their suggestions was a Southwestern spin on a salad. I’ve been making it for weeks now. My husband actually requests it, and it’s dead simple.

Now, for the most part, I follow their formula, but I’ve made some of my own tweaks. We have this at our house with salmon, but you could serve it with whatever you like.

Southwestern Salad

via Cooking Light

Serves 2

2 cups or more baby salad greens

1/2 c. of canned black beans, drained and rinsed

1 avocado, diced

2 tbsp. crumbled feta

1/2 c. corn

1 lime

1/2 tbsp. champagne vinegar

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, add salt and pepper to your greens. Then, add the black beans, feta and corn. I typically use thawed, frozen, petite white corn, but plan to use fresh in the summer. I thaw the corn by running it under hot water for a few minutes.

Next, add the diced avocado.

Squeeze the juice from half of a lime over the greens and gently toss. This will help keep the avocado from browning. Last, add the 1/2 tbsp. of champagne vinegar and 1 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil. Finally, toss the greens again gently, taking care not to smash the avocado.