Salad: Southwestern Style

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If you are a follower (what, you say? you are not? well that's okay, go to the side bar and follow, I forgive you) you know that I'm hell bent on giving my family a salad as a main dish once a week all summer.  It's been tough coming up with ideas that please them all, which is why I opt for the platter presentation.  Everyone can scoop on what they want and leave off what they don't.  In other words, everyone is happy!  Here's my take on a southwestern chicken meal made into a salad.

 

Ingredients:

1 bag lettuce mix of your choice, I used my own chopped lettuce, mix of romaine & iceberg

2 eggs, hard boiled, peeled & chopped

1-2 avocados, peeled and chopped

1 can corn, drained or 2 ears cooked and kernels removed

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1-2 cucumbers, chopped

1 ½ C pepper jack cheese, shredded

2 chicken breasts

2 T southwestern seasoning ( if you don’t have a southwestern seasoning use 2 T of recipe below)

2 T butter 

Directions: 

Heat butter in a skillet.  Season chicken liberally with southwestern seasoning.  Cook chicken in pan, turning over once, until no longer pink in the center, about 10 minutes, depending on the size of your breasts.  Remove chicken from pan. Allow to cool about 10 minutes.

Return pan to, add corn to pan and cook 1-2 minutes, just to give it a little yummy flavor. 

Dice chicken into cubes, or strips. 

Arrange the ingredients on a platter w/ chicken in the middle.  Put lettuce in separate bowl allowing your diners to add only what they enjoy. 

Serve with your favorite dressing. Ranch goes deliciously with it. 

Alternate presentation:  Pile everything onto chopped lettuce and mix together and serve as one big bowl of salad.

 Southwestern Seasoning:

 1/4 C chili powder

¼ C onion powder

2 T cumin

2 T coriander

2 T oregano

2 T basil

1 T thyme

1 T garlic powder

 

Mix ingredients together and store in airtight container.  (note: all are dried ingredients not fresh)