Southwestern Avocado and Black Bean Salad

Nowadays, I have a very hard time eating salads for lunch. I attribute this to a few years ago, when I was doing a modified low carb diet, and for nearly two years straight, ate the same salad. Every. Single. Day. It had baby spinach, English Cucumber, and often times there was avocado, some sort of protein (like turkey or boiled eggs) and mushrooms or onion, maybe sometimes both. I ate the salad without dressing.

God, I hated salad by the time I dumped that particular diet.

I've tried a few times to have salads for lunch since, and nothing tastes quite the same. I think I burned myself out on salad (though not on any cooked vegetables, thank goodness).

This weekend, perusing the web, I found a recipe for a southwestern salad, and it had most of my favorite things in it-avocado, corn, tomatoes, black beans. It's still a salad though, so I admit I was wary. I decided to try it though and give salad the ol' college try again.

This salad was okay. Not out of the park awesome, but it was okay. I'm eating it again this afternoon, the second day in a row. I don't crave it, but it's easy. I suppose that helps. I'm a little disappointed that salad doesn't elicit the same sort of response from me, but burnout is understandable. Still, it's not a bad salad-especially if you like all this stuff. I'd think it would do much better as a side with grilled chicken or something for dinner instead of as a main dish for a lunch, but take that as you will. I didn't mind it, but I certainly don't think about it like I think about other dishes!



With that resounding recommendation, it just makes you want to run to your kitchen and try it, doesn't it? :) Don't take my word for it, it's totally a preference thing. I'm sick of salad. But if I weren't, this one is pretty acceptable.

Southwestern Avocado and Black Bean Salad (from foodnetwork.com)

* 1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves (I used freeze-dried. Not bad!)
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 tablespoons lime juice
* 2 or 3 dashes hot sauce
* 4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
* 2 avocados, peeled and diced
* 2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels, thawed and drained
* 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained (*NOTE: I used one can of beans. It seemed plenty to me)
* 1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
* About 3/4 cup (3-ounces) grated pepper jack cheese
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together the cilantro, oil, lime juice and hot sauce.

In a large serving bowl, add the lettuce, avocado, corn, beans, tomatoes, and cheese. Add the dressing and toss well. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and serve.