Southwestern Salad with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

 

Just look at all those gorgeous colors and flavors! I love me some southwestern food, but with the addition of all these extra toppings on the dish, there's no way it couldn't be a perfect salad for lunch/dinner yesterday. 

I'm kind of a strange breed when it comes to salad. As I've mentioned before, I usually eat my salads dry as a bone. But ever since I started making my own homemade salad dressing/vinaigrette, I've fallen in love with that little drizzle of goodness. The toppings are a love of mine as well. If I happen to be at some kind of a salad bar at a restaurant (doesn't happen often, of course) you'll probably find my plate with a pile of toppings on a small layer of salad leaves. Strange. I know. But it's just how I roll. My favorite part of this salad was the flavor of the feta against the different ingredients. We don't usually buy feta, and it's a shame. It tastes heavenly on a salad (thanks Cafe Rio for the idea, of course). 

Ryan gobbled up the salad, but said it needed a slab of meat/chicken (surprise, surprise). Maybe some bacon? That said, he mentioned between bites that the salad was very delicious for chick food.

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Southwestern Salad with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

Salad:

Romaine Hearts, trimmed and chopped

1/2 yellow pepper, sliced

1 avocado, sliced into chunks

1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 ears of corn, boiled and kernels removed

a few cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

2 T feta cheese

2 green onions, trimmed and chopped

1/8 C cilantro, stems removed

1 handful tortilla strips (I sliced up 1 tortilla into strips, and fried them in oil until crispy)

Vinaigrette:

1/2 C chopped cilantro

1/4 C olive oil

1/2 T fresh lime juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 t oregano

1 T red wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

For salad, in a very large serving bowl (think popcorn bowl), add chopped romaine, tomatoes, green onions, avocado, bell pepper, black beans, corn, tortilla strips and feta cheese. Top with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette, or serve on the side.

For vinaigrette, combine all ingredients in a mini-food processor. Let sit for about 20 minutes before using (the flavors need to marinate). Enjoy! 

Recipe adapted from: For the Love of Cooking

linking up here.