Southwestern Salad

Happy Monday friends! Today is absolutely gorgeous out, the sun is shining, there is a slight breeze. It is just a perfect day I think. One of my good friends that I have known for a long time cam over with her three little ones and we had a fun play date. It is so neat to see our kids play together, we had always dreamed about this day, so it is really neat to see it happening and that our dreams have come true.

I am on a bit of a side kick lately... any one catch that? Sides are one of those things that you often don't know what to do. What we always tend to do is go to the basics and standards like potatoes and corn. But I love mixing it up, and just adding something different to our menu. Last week I posted about roasted broccoli and sweet potatoes,  that was such a tasty yet simple side dish.

So today I give to you a Southwestern Salad, that is loaded with veggies, and quinoa. I did not add a dressing to mine, I used straight lime wedges. If you want to put a dressing on a great one that is quite popular is a cilantro lime dressing, a green goddess dressing would also taste amazing. I love the freshness of the cilantro and lime just straight up, this is a very fresh tasting salad and perfect for BBQ season.

Southwestern Salad

Ingredients:

6 cups of thinly sliced lettuce
2 cups of cooked quinoa, cooled
1 cup of diced tomatoes
1 cup of corn kernels
1 cup of black beans
1 cup of green onions, diced
1 cup of yellow peppers, diced
1/2 cup of cilantro, diced
2 limes cut into wedges

Directions:

Arrange all ingredients into a large bowl.

Squeeze lemon juice all over the salad, toss the salad with salad tongs.

Enjoy!

I love how the directions are as simple as they are, simple real food. A few alteration ideas for you are:

Add red or green peppers
Use red onions instead
Add shredded cheddar cheese or even fresco cheese
Use rice instead of quinoa
Add avocado
Add diced jalapenos for an extra kick

Do you have a favorite dressing that you like on a salad? 

Happy cooking!

Southwestern Salad