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!