Chopped Southwest Salad

As some of you may know, I am now a Pampered Chef Consultant. The ultimate benefit of this job is that I get to cook! Try new recipes, new products, make new friends, share the recipe, etc. So the recipe that I'm going to post right now is a Chopped Southwest Salad. It's a really great and easy salad that cost under 10 dollars to make. I forgot to take a picture of what I made, but the picture below uses the same ingredients. So here is the picture, followed by the recipe..

Ingredients:

• 1 Can Black Beans
• 4 Corn Tortillas
• Romaine Lettuce
• 1 Can Corn
• Tomato
• Avocado
• Lime
• Shredded Cheese
• Dressing
• Optional: Chicken
  

Directions:

1. Open, drain, and rinse the black beans. Put 1 cup of beans in a microwave safe dish, add 1 tablespoon of water and microwave for 1 min, 30 seconds. Let cool while preparing other ingredients.
2. Lay out the corn tortillas in 2 stacks of 2. Cut into thin strips with sharp knife or pizza cutter. Spray the strips with Pam, lightly salt, lay on cooking stone or a foil lined cookie sheet and bake 6 – 8 minutes, until crispy, in a 350 degree oven.
3. Slice and rinse a head of romaine lettuce. Pat dry or spin well. Put the lettuce into the bowl.
4. Measure ½ cup of corn rinse and add to bowl. Slice tomato and add to the bowl.
5. Slice the avocado and set aside into another bowl. Squeeze the juice from ½ a lime over the avocado. Toss avocado lightly in lime juice and add to the salad bowl.
6. Add black beans, shredded cheese and tortilla chips. Finish with ranch or favorite dressing.
7. *optional* You can add some grilled or drained canned chicken to the salad for a more hearty salad.

So there it is. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my husband and I did. Sorry this is short as well. But I hope it suffices until next time I try and new dish or a new recipe. Until than: Happy cooking! (lol, that's so cheesy)

2