Asparagus and Artichoke Salad with Black Olives- Gluten Free

I received a few gluten free magazines from friends when I first found out I had Celiac disease. They were great since it gave me some education on eating gluten free as well as providing me with some great gluten free products and recipes.  Since it has been asparagus season here and we love artichokes and black olives I knew we had to try this recipe.  It was very good, but next time I would use a little thicker asparagus.  Mine were really skinny ones, and seemed to get a little lost in the salad.  But the flavor was good!

Asparagus and Artichoke Salad with Black Olives - Gluten Free
From: Delight Gluten Free
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients:
For Salad:
2 lbs asparagus
1 pkg frozen artichokes or 1-2 cans
2 Tbsp olive oi
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 can black olives, pitted, drained

For dressing:
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp water
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard (make sure gluten free)
2 Tbsp minced red onion
3/4 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Trim off bottom of asparagus spears.  Break the edible part of spears into 2 inch pieces and place in a large mixing bowl.

2. Place drained artichoke hearts in bowl with asparagus.  Add olive oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat.

3.  Place asparagus and artichokes on a baking sheet.  place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until browned on edges and asparagus is bright dark green but not soft/overcooked. Place in a large bowl.

4. While asparagus and artichokes cook, prepare dressing.  In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, water, dijon mustard, red onion, garlic, salt, and black pepper.

5  Add black olives to asparagus and artichokes mixture and toss with dressing  Cober and refridgerate for at least 1 hr prior to serving.

BBQ Chopped Chicken, Chick Pea, and Avocado Salad

I saw this salad on Pinterest and was intrigued by the use of BBQ sauce as a dressing.  It includes all the toppings I really like to use in my salads and the BBQ gave it a bit of a different flavor than my usual dressing.  The recipe called for goat cheese, but we used feta because Bill isn't a fan of goat cheese (although I love it and would have preferred to use goat cheese).  This was good to make for dinner and then have the leftovers for lunch the next day, you just need to keep the bbq sauce on the side.

What's for Lunch Wednesday:
BBQ Chopped Chicken, Chick Pea, and Avocado Salad
From: Ambitious Kitchen
Prep Time: 15 min

Ingredients:
Romain Lettuce Hearts, washed and chopped
1 cup pulled cooked chicken
1 (15oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
3/4 cup sweet corn (I used canned)
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese or feta
1/3 cup cilantro, washed and chopped
1 small avocado, diced
1/2 cup BBQ dressing/sauce, if desired

Directions:
1. In a large bowl and lettuce, top with all ingredients except for avocado and bbq sauce.  Toss salad gently

2.  Place into salad bowls.  Garnish with diced avocado and drizzle with bbq sauce. Serve with tortilla chips if desired.

Quinoa Vegetable Salad with Lemon-Basil Dressing

This was an easy to make and good for several days of lunches.  Any combination of quinoa and veggies is usually good with me though!

What's for Lunch Wednesday:
Quinoa Vegetable Salad with Lemon-Basil Dressing
From: The Garden Grazer
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
15oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
3 roma tomatoes, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 cups corn (canned or frozen and thawed)
5 green onions, sliced

Dressing:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp basil (fresh if you have it)

Directions:
1. Rinse quinoa, and cook according to package directions

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and basil. Set aside and prep vegetables.

3. When quino is done cooking, let cool.

4. Then place all salad ingredients in a large bowl.   Pour dressing over top and mix well to combine.  Eat immediately or chill before serving.

Mexican Street Corn Salad

I love corn, espeically in the summer.  And elote? Well forget about it.  And this is an Elote "Salad."  So it is healthy right?  Maybe not if I ate half the batch myself for dinner when Bill was gone for the weekend.  But it was SOOOO good.  I actually didn't have any fresh corn on the cob and being to lazy to go to the store on a Friday night, I worked with what I had and used frozen. I'll post the recipe in a bit about what I did to my frozen corn for them to seem a little more "roasted."

Mexican Street Corn Salad
From: Foodie with Family
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook time: 5 min

Ingredients:
6-8 ears of corn, grilled, cooled and cut off the cob.
1/4 of a sweet onion, finely diced
1/4 of a sweet red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/2 cup crumbled Cotija or Feta cheese (I used feta)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used light)
1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
Juice of 1 lime, plus extra wedges for serving
1/2 tspn to 1 Tbsp chili powder (or ground chipotle pepper)
1/2 tspn ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1.  In a large bowl, mix together corn, onion, pepper, cheese, mayonnaise, cilantro, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper until everything is evenly distributed.   Serve immediately or refrigerate for an hour to let the favors mix.  This is best the same day, but is ok the next day.

Southwestern Black Bean, Corn, Tomato, and Avocado Salad

My Sister-in-law asked for a recipe for a side to go with a Mexican dish and I looked through my recipes and found this one.  After I sent it to her, I thought it looked pretty good, so I  decided to make it for my lunches one week.  We both thought it was very good.  It is easy to make, and made enough for me to have lunch for 3 or 4 days.  I'll make this again either for lunch or as a side dish for Mexican food since I never seem to know what to serve with Mexican food!

Southwestern Black Bean, Corn, Tomato, and Avocado Salad
From: Skinny Taste
Prep time: 20 min

Ingredients:
15 oz can black beans, drained adn rinsed
1 1/2 cups corn, cooked fresh or frozen
1 medium tomato (I actually used grape tomatoes cut in half)
1/3 red onion, chopped
1 scallion, sliced
1 1/2 - 2 lime juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh minced cilantro
salt and pepper
1 avocado, diced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed, diced

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine beans, corn, tomato, onion, scallion, cilantro, salt and pepper.

2. Squeeze fresh lime juice to taste and stir in olive oil.  Marinate in refrigerator at least 30 min.  Add Avocado just before serving

Summer Couscous Salad with Garbanzo beans, Corn, Tomatoes and Avocado

This is a really light but filling salad. I made a few changes to to the original recipe which included butter in the dressing.  I didn't think it needed butter but it did need more lime, so that's what I did.  On the second serving of this (it made quite a lot), I added garbanzo beans and really liked the addition.  The picture shows it without and you could do it either way, but below includes my changes.

*** Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients before making it because I was in a rush!***

Summer Couscous Salad with Garbanzo beans, Corn, Tomatoes and Avocado
From: Elizabeth's Dutch oven inspired by Simply Scratch
Prep time: 30 min

Ingredients:
1 cup couscous
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup corn (canned and drained or frozen but thawed)
2-3 scallions,thinly sliced
2-3 Tbsp Fresh Basil, roughly chopped
1/4 -1/2 cup fresh ciliantro, roughly chopped
2 avocados, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
Juice from 3 limes
1 Tbsp grated lime zest
2 Tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

Directions:
1. Cook couscous according to directions on box.  Meanwhile prep tomatoes, scallions, basil cilantro, garbanzos, and corn.

2. Once couscous is cooked, transfer to bowl and fluff with a fork. Add tomatoes, corn, scallions, cilantro, garbanzo beans, and basil to serving bowl and mix. Then mix in avocados.

3. Prepare lime dressing by combining lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, sugar, salt, and pepper.  Whisk until smooth.  Drizzle over salad and stir until combined.  Serve with side of lime wedges in case someone would like more lime.

Quinoa Salad with Lettuce, Tomatoes, Black Beans, Corn, and Peppers with Cilantro Lime Dressing

I see a lot of quinoa salad recipes on Pinterest that have quinoa as the base, and then add in some beans, or chopped vegetables.  I wanted a salad that had both lettuce and quinoa as the base with some southwest flavor so I decided to make my own.  For the dressing I made a few tweaks on the one from the Southwest Pasta Salad and used that because I thought that would compliment the flavors nicely.

I have to say, this is my new favorite salad!  The pictures I took (One with my phone and one without the dressing) do NOT do it justice! This is a perfect spring/summer salad and can be a side salad or a main salad, and is so good even the next day!  Not to toot my own horn, but I would HIGHLY recommend this salad!

Salad Ingredients

Dressing Ingredients

Quinoa Salad with Lettuce, Tomatoes, Black Beans, Corn, and Peppers with Cilantro Lime Dressing
Created by: Elizabeth Serrano, Dressing adapted from: Our Best Bites
Prep time: 20 - 30 min


Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked Quinoa
1 can Black Beans, Drained and rinsed
3/4 - 1 cup frozen corn (or 1 can corn, drained)
1/2 a container of grape tomatoes cut in half
1 Red (or green) bell pepper, chopped
Mixed Greens
1 Avocado, chopped (optional)

Dressing:
6 Tbsp fresh lime juice (about 3 juicy limes)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar or rice vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp chili posder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp sugar (or sugar substitute)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 - 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions:
1.  Cook Quinoa in water according to directions on box.  Meanwhile, prep vegetables.  Once quinoa is cooked, fluff with a fork and remove lid to let cool a bit.

2. Prepare dressing:  Place all dressing ingredients except cilantro into a jar and close tight.  Shake until all mixed.  Add cilantro and shake again.  Set aside for flavors to mingle.

3. When quinoa is cool (or at least no longer hot.  Mix together lettuce, pepper, tomatoes, corn, black beans and quinoa into a large bowl.  Before serving, pour dressing over salad and mix thoroughly.  Add avocados if desired.

Super Food Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

This salad appealed to me because, of course, it is healthy (Super Foods!) but mainly because I'm always looking for a salad that is a little more exciting than just lettuce and a couple of veggies thrown in.  Add to that some of my favorite ingredients (avocado, black beans, corn!) and it became a must try for me.

We had this with some soup and I thought it was great!  Filling but light. I had a bunch left over and was able to have it for lunch and I think it may have even tasted better the 2nd day.  Bill liked it, but wasn't a big fan of the pomegranate.  He liked the taste but not the crunch with juice (which just means he doesn't like pomegranate seeds in general).  I would definitely make this again, but maybe have the pomegranate on the side for me to add to just my bowl.

Super Food Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
From: Iowa Girl Eats
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 20 min

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1 orange, peeled and segments chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup pomegranate arils (about 1 pom worth)
1 cup frozen corn, thawed (or 1 can)
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
salt and peper

For the Lemon Vinaigrette:
2 lemons, juiced (need 1/4 cup juice)
2 garlic cloves, minced
dash of sugar or sweetener
salt and pepper
6 Tbsp Olive Oil

Directions:
1. Cook quinoa according to package directions.  Set aside to cool.

2. Combine all ingredients for lemon vinaigrette in a jar with a tight fitting lid, and shake to combine.

3. Combine cooled quinoa with red onion, orange segments, avocado, beans, pomegranate arils, corn, cilantro, salt and pepper.  Pour dressing over the salad and stir to combine.  Serve cold or at room temperature.  (Chicken or Shrimp can be added)

Southwest Chopped Chicken Salad

I've had my eye on this salad via pinterest for a while.  I decided to try to make it work for our lunches last week.  It turns out that it might be my new favorite salad!  It has a creamy but not overly heavy southwest dressing and lots of stuff other than lettuce - corns, black beans, avocado, what could be better!

My grocery store happened to be out of cilantro (I couldn't believe it either) so I made it with out cilantro and left the tortilla chips out as well to make it a touch healthier. This made about 3 days worth of lunches for Bill and I.   I thought it would be a pain to take at lunch, but it turned out so good that I made it again for us to eat this week!

Salad Fixings

Dressing

Southwest Chopped Chicken Salad
From: Greens and Chocolate
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: None

Ingredients:
2 cups shredded chicken
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can sweet yellow corn (or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed)
2 roma tomatoes, diced
4 green onions, sliced
1 head ice berg lettuce, washed and chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 ripe avocados, diced
1 cup crushed tortilla chips (optional)

Dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup Greek yogurt (= two 5.3 oz containers)
1 Tbsp ranch seasoning
1 1/2 Tbsp taco seasoning


Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients together, excluding tortilla chips

2.  In a small bowl stir all dressing ingredients together.  Pour dressing over salad, starting with about half of the dressing.  Toss to combine then gradually add more dressing until it is dressed to your liking.  Top with tortilla chips (If desired)

My modification in prep for to go lunches: Mix together the chicken, corn, black beans, tomatoes, onion, pepper, and cilantro (if you have it) in a bowl and store it in the fridge.  I then had a small bowl of the dressing and store in fridge.  Each day, put fresh lettuce and some of the chicken mixture in a to go container, then added the avocado.  Bring some of the dressing in a separate container to add at the time.

Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad

My mom makes this great Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad/Dessert - I have tried other people's variations of this, but I still like my mom's the best.  It is creamy and cool and the pretzel crust pushes it over the top.  It is perfect for a 4th of July BBQ.

Every time my mom makes it, my brother-in-law Joe and I get in to a mini debate about if it is a salad or dessert.  He likes to call it dessert, and I like to call it a salad.  I like to call it a salad because that means I can have it with my main meal and still have dessert. Or I can have it the next day for lunch and call it healthy since it is a salad.  But lets call a spade a spade... this is totally a dessert (although it is trying to disguise itself as a salad).  Just don't tell Joe I said so.

Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad
From: My Mom
Prep time 20 min
Cook & Cool time: 5 hrs


Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 cup pretzels, crushed
4 Tbsp sugar
12 oz (1 1/2 8oz containers) cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cool whip
1 1/2 cup cold water
2 cup boiling water
1 qt (4 cups) sliced strawberries
1 large strawberry jello (cook and serve)

Directions:
1. Mix melted butter, crushed pretzels and 4 Tbsp sugar together and press firmly into 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 6-10 minutes.  Let Cool

2. Beat cream cheese, milk, and 1/4 cup sugar.  Stir in cool whip and spread over cooled crust.  Refrigerate.

3. Stir boiling water into gelatin at least 2 minutes until completely dissolved.  Refrigerate 1 12/ hours o until a spoon drawn through leaves an impression.

4.  Stir strawberries into jello and spread over cream cheese layer.  Refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Quinoa with Avocado, Garbanzo Beans, and Tomatoes

 

My brother brought a bunch of avocados from California when he came last week.  Most of them went to batches of guacamole, but one lucky one got made into this scrumptious salad.  It is pretty easy and really filling. We liked it so much I'm making a big batch this week for our lunches.


Quinoa with Avocado, Garbanzo Beans, and Tomatoes
From: Elizabeth's Dutch Oven
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 avocado, sliced/chunked
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 can (14oz) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
juice of 1-2 limes
salt and pepper

Directions:
1.  Cook quinoa according directions (mine: mixed 1 cup quinoa with 2 cups water, brought to boil and let simmer covered for 10-13 minutes).

2. While quinoa is cooking, prepare avocado, tomatoes, and garbanzo beans

3.  When quinoa is done cooking, place in large bowl, stir in tomatoes, garbanzos and juice of 1-2 limes (I used 1 1/2 and they were pretty juice limes).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in Avocados last.  Serve.

Black Bean, Corn, and Couscous Salad

This is a great light and filling salad that is easy to make.  You could also make it with quinoa.

Black Bean, Corn, & Couscous Salad
From: Cooking Light Magazine
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1 (10oz) box dry plain couscous
1 (16oz) Frozen corn, thawed and drained
1 (15oz) can black bean rinsed and drained
4 medium green onions, sliced
1 medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
juice of 2 lemons (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp slat
ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Prepare couscous according to package directions. Let cool.

2. Combine cooled couscous, corn, beans, green onions bell pepper and garlic in a bowl; mix gently.  Add lemon juice and olive oil, toss well. Season with salt and pepper.

Cellars Market Taco Salad

 

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!!!!!
In keeping with our Mexican food (we have had Mexican food every night this week but 1), I wanted to make a taco salad.  While I really like this healthy taco salad from Men's health, some times you just want a comfort food taco salad.  There is a place that my colleagues and I go occasionally called Cellars Market at the Chicago Board of Trade.  They have a lot of great salads, but our favorite is their Taco Salad.  It brings me back to the ones my mom used to make growing up.  It was pretty much the only salad I liked for a while.  So this is a combo of my mom's and the one from Cellars market since I didn't have a 'recipe' for either one.  It turned out very tasty, filling, and the best part - EASY.

Cellars Market Taco Salad
From: Combo:Cellars Market, My Mom & Me
Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
Lettuce (washed and chopped)
1 lb ground beef
taco seasoning packet
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
Shredded Cheese
French (or catalina) Dressing
Frito chips
Sour cream
jalapenos (optional)
onion, chopped (optional)
black olives, sliced (optional)
Avocado (optional)

Directions:
1. Brown ground beef.  Drain grease.  Add taco packet and 2/3 cup water. mix and bring to a simmer.

2. While simmering, chop/slice lettuce and toppings and assemble salad.  Add taco meat and top with dressing, frito chips, and dressing.

Southwest Pasta Salad

I needed to bring a pasta salad to our small group and I was tired of always making the one pasta salad I always make.  It is tasty and all, but variety is the spice of life!  A southwest pasta salad sounds right up my alley and this turned out just perfect.  Plenty of veggies (though I think next time I may use more corn) and the dressing was very flavorful and light.  Bill, who will try anything I make but doesn't necessarily mean he likes everything, said he LOVED it more than once.  Which I definitely took as a sign to make this a standby.

Southwest Pasta Salad
From: Our Best Bites
Prep Time: 30 min

Ingredients:
1 box bowtie pasta
1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 roma tomatoes, diced (or 3/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes)
1 Large bell pepper, diced (red, yellow, or orange)
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup frozen corn
zest from 2 limes
1/2 cup Queso Fresco or Cotija Cheese
Optional: 8oz diced cooked chicken

Dressing:
6 Tbsp fresh lime juice (about 3 juicy limes)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
4-5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt
2 tsp sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro

Directions:
1.  Boil Pasta in Salted water according to directions.

2. Zest limes and place zest in a large salad bowl.

3. To prepare dressing:  Place the lime juice, vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt, and sugar in blender or food processor.  Process until smooth.  With motor running slowly, add oil in a steady stream until incorporated.  Add cilantro and pulse so it gets broken up, but some pieces still remain in tact.

4. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse immediately with cold water to cool.  Place pasta in the large bowl with lime zest.  Add black beans, tomatoes, diced pepper, green onions, corn (no need to thaw corn), and chicken if desired.  Toss with dressing.  Taste, add additional salt and pepper to taste.  For best results, chill fro 1 hour before serving.  Right before serving, sprinkle cheese on top.  Serve with extra lime wedges if desired.

Israeli Couscous Salad with Roasted Asparagus, Artichokes, & Spinach

This recipe called out to me to make this spring.  I love Asparagus especially in the spring, and artichokes in anything is good for me.  This turned out to be so easy and really light.  It was great as a side dish to our steak and great as a meal for lunch the next day.  I will definitely make this again and again.

Israeli Coucous Salad with Roast Asparagus, Artichokes, & Spinach
From: Two Peas and Their Pod
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 25 min

Ingredients:
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups dry Israeli Couscous
1/2 - 1 lb of asparagus spears
Juice of 2 lemons, divided
1 cup jarred artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 cup chopped fresh spinach
Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling
salt & pepper

Directions:
1. In a medium saucepan, bring three cups of water to a boil.  Add a generous pinch of salt, stir in the Israeli couscous.  Reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer until couscous is just tender, with a slight bite, about 10 minutes.  Drain into a fine mesh strainer, set aside.

 2. While couscous is cooking, roast the asparagus.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place asparagus spears on a large baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and juice from 1/2 of one lemon.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Roast for 10-12 minutes or until spears are tender.  Cut into one inch pieces.

3.  In a large bowl, combine Israeli couscous, asparagus spears, artichokes and spinach.  Squeeze lemon juice from remaining half and other lemon over the salad. Stir well.  Sprinkle salad with Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve (cold or warm).

Caprese Quinoa

In September (yes I realize I'm posting this way late), I bought a ton of heirloom tomatoes when I was at the farmers market in my hometown in Michigan because they were $2.99 a pound.  A POUND!  'Round these parts the are more than twice that when they are in season. After I had made several rounds of my favorite salad I thought I would try something new.  I already had all of the ingredients for this in the house, so I knew it was meant to be.  I didn't end up doing the infused basil oil Jessica called for, but I still think it was great. I served it with butternut squash soup and it was a great Meatless Monday (although I think it was actually a Thursday).

Caprese Quinoa
From: How Sweet It Is

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
16 oz container of grape tomatoes, quartered
3/4 cup fresh mozzarella pearls cut in half
10 large basil leaves, cut into ribbons
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Directions:
1. Prepare quinoa according to directions on box (which is most likely: 2 cups water + 1 cup quinoa, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 min).

2. Depending on whether you want your quinoa hot or cold either let it cool completely or immediately add in the tomatoes, cheese, basil, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Layered Tex-Mex Taco Salad

I have never been a traditional layered salad fan. Straight up mayo over top of peas and lettuce, not really my thing.  However, when I saw this layered tex-mex taco salad, I was intrigued.  I had to bring a salad for an event at church and thought I would give it a shot, and figured, hey, if it is no good, at least I'm not stuck with the whole thing myself.  Turns out it is really tasty!  the whole thing got eaten up and I even had two servings.  I feel like it tastes like a layered taco dip, just with more lettuce so it is healthy.  I recommend it.

I do apologize for 2 things though.  One, I layered all wrong. The cheese should be under the dressing layer.  Two, I had to add the avocado right before serving, so I cut it and added it while at church, so the only pictures I have of it are what Bill took on his phone with horrible lighting - so the pictures aren't even as good as my normally mediocre pictures.

Layered Tex-Mex Taco Salad
From: Kraft Recipes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayo or miracle whip
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 Tbsp Taco Seasoning Mix
1 can (15oz) black beans, rinsed
6 cups coarsely chopped iceberg lettuce
1/2 cup sliced red onions
1 1/2 cups Mexican style finely shredded four cheese
1 cup tomatoes chopped
1 avocado
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro

Directions:
1. Mix first 3 ingredients until well blended.

2. Layer beans, lettuce, onions, cheese and tomatoes in large bowl.

3. Spread dressing mixture over salad.  Refridgerate 2 hours.

4. Chop avocado; spoon over salad just before serving and sprinkle with cilantro