Friday, April 8, 2011

Santa Fe Salad (Revised)

This is a great recipe that was in desperate need of some update photos... so the salad is not revised, just the blog post! Yet another delicious, nutritious salad for your dinner table!

Ingredients:
Head of Romaine
chicken breast (I use 1/2 per person)
1 can black beans
1 ear of cooked corn (frozen/can will work)
1 avocado
1 tomato
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup jack cheese
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 small jicama, diced * optional
crushed tortilla strips

Dressing: You can make your own by mixing ranch dressing with some heaping spoonfuls of salsa or use your own favorite, a lot of times I revert to my staple balsamic which, of course, works well on this too!

Seasoned and Shredded Chicken from the Crock pot
(see "Time Saving Tips" below)
BBQ sauce added to the shredded chicken
Adding the veggies, beans, and chicken
All mixed up!
Directions:
*If you are going to cook your own corn, start boiling your water. Then brown your chopped chicken breasts with a little bit of lemon pepper seasoning OR salt & pepper and a little BBQ sauce (my fav). Set that aside. Drain and rinse a can of black beans. Chop your salad, tomato, and red onion. Pull your corn out and cut off the kernels. Shred your cheese, use what you have if you don't have or won't both, do what works for you! Dice some jicama and avocado last, then top with crushed tortilla chips and dressing and enjoy!

TIME SAVING TIP: I also use shredded chicken in this recipe which I cook in my crock pot. I will put 4 breasts in the crock pot, add a splash of water (and usually s & p & garlic powder) and then cook them for 6 hours. When they are done, I shred them and separate it for different meals that week. Ideally I store it in the fridge if I am going to use it in the next 2-3 days, but if not you can freeze it and use it later. I find when freezing it, it's better to have some "liquid" on the chicken to prevent drying out- so add your salsa or BBQ sauce BEFORE freezing- but use it fresh if you can. I For instance, might use 1/3 of it for this Santa Fe Salad, 1/3 for Chicken noodle soup, and the other 1/3 for BBQ Chicken Pizza or Tostada Pizza.... always thinking ahead on ways to save some time in the kitchen!

Vegetarian- Simply remove the shredded chicken and double the beans!

11 comments:

littlemissmk said...

yum! i'll have to try this one! ;)

Anonymous said...

very yummy want to try this
Nowadays maintaining diet plays vital role.Fitness is more needed one for everyone hence to practice such diet with healthy foods is must.I wish to share u the link which has details regarding the maintance of diet to have a healthy fit lifestyle
http://www.chennaimoms.com/topics/category_search?category=Diet+%26+Fitness&page=2

The McCarty's said...

What do you put in with your chicken in the crockpot? Do you then put the shredded cooked chicken in the freezer or fridge?

Andrea said...

Hey Kaitlyn!! Fun to hear from you.... I put the cooked chicken in the fridge if I am going to use in the next 2-3 days. I have frozen it before, which works well too if you want to use it later than 3 days or so.... as far as what I put in the crock pot with the chicken, I add a splash of water just so it doesn't get dried out and depending on what I am using the chicken for, I usually season it with s & p & garlic powder. Hope that helps!

ann diet drops said...

Your recipes look delicious. I might eat all of those. Do you have the ingredients and the steps on how you are going to cook it. It would be nice that we will know how to cook it. I'm looking forward to that

ann diet drops said...

Your recipes look delicious. I might eat all of those. Do you have the ingredients and the steps on how you are going to cook it. It would be nice that we will know how to cook it. I'm looking forward to that

b & b hotels india said...

What do you put in with your chicken in the crackpot? and Do you then put the shredded cooked chicken in the freezer or fridge......

Andrea said...

I have updated the post with more helpful tips with the crock pot.. thanks for your interest!

Anonymous said...

Hey thanks for the recipe! I just made this as an entree salad for my husband and I. We really enjoyed it! And we ended up not using/needing any dressing - just a few little spoonfuls of sour cream with all the other flavors and the crunch of the tortillas and sweetness of the corn, so good!! This is the first recipe of yours I have made, I will def keep an eye out for more. Thanks again. -Ashley (Winnipeg, MB, Canada)

BetsyJane said...

I made this salad the other day, and I used Lighthouse Jalapeno Ranch dressing, it was delicious. I also seasoned the chicken with a chicken taco seasoning. Walmart carries a chipotle ranch by Marketside I think, that would also work great.

BetsyJane said...
This comment has been removed by the author.