Anita's Fabulous Southwestern Garden Salad

Submitted by Recipe USA

"This salad is FABULOUS!"

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package salad greens (8 cups mixed lettuce)
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, fresh minced
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
• 1 cup tortilla chips, crushed
• 1 1⁄2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 pinch salt, to taste
• 1 pinch black pepper, to taste
• 2 cups chicken, cooked diced (optional)
• 1 cup raspberry walnut vinaigrette dressing (Ken's Steakhouse Lite)
• 1⁄3 cup honey
• 1 (8 ounce) package guacamole

directions

1. Wash salad greens and place in a large bowl. Dice tomatoes and add to salad greens. Salt and pepper to taste.
2. Drain the black beans and corn. Add both to salad greens.
3. Add the shredded cheese. Mix well.
4. I make the salad both with or without the chicken. It's fabulous either way.
5. Crush the tortilla chips and set aside. You add these to the salad immediately before serving so that they stay crisp.
6. To make the dressing - get a small bowl and add the Raspberry Vinaigrette, honey and guacamole -- mix well and pour on the salad mixture when ready to serve.
7. I came up with this recipe after eating at Chile's Restaurant and ordering their Quesadilla Explosion Salad. We absolutely fell in love with it. This salad is my version of Chile's Salad -- my family tells me that it's actually better, although I'm not sure that's true, I do believe it's just as good.
8. I believe the salad dressing is one of the main ingredients that makes this salad special.
9. I buy Ken's Lite Steakhouse Salad dressing (Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette) at Wal-Mart and I also buy the AvoClassic Guacamole at Wal-Mart too. You can find it in the produce section, usually next to bagged salad greens and fresh packages of herbs.

Reviews

[Reada J.]

I enjoyed this recipe. I was skeptical about the dressing recipe as I thought the rasberry vinaigrette and honey was a little strange for a SW salad, but okay. I increased the amount of cilantro as I love it and halved the amount of corn and black beans. I also halved the dressing recipe and had more than needed. We dressed our own individual servings to keep any leftover salad from getting soggy.