Tex-Mex Side Salad

So you've made the big Chicken Enchilada dinner with chips and salsa but there's not another vegetable in sight on your table. (We'll count the salsa as 1 veg serving, but that's a generous stretch.) Here's a quick green salad with just the right flavors to compliment your meal and add a little green appeal to the palate. You can have this ready in about 10 minutes. And this dressing is a real bonus for points or calorie counters if made with reduced fat sour cream. A creamy and flavorful alternative to regular Fat Free Dressings.

I like to use a good sturdy lettuce that will hold up to the dressing better than a soft or thin lettuce like Spring Mix. Iceberg is fine, but I think Romaine Hearts are even better. A quick way to cut them (which I came up with after doing romaine salads for 80 one day) is like this: Cut a wedge out, as pictured here, then slice the whole thing from end to end, flip it over a half turn, and make a second cut the long way. Now you can slice across in narrow strips and get nice bite size pieces quickly.

I used Queso Fesco cheese which you can find these days practically everywhere, even Walmart. I like that it is crumbly and firm like feta, but not as salty and not quite as dry. It comes in a solid block but crumbles apart fairly easily with two forks.








And now the super-quickie dressing. It's just this easy: stir together sour cream and your favorite salsa in equal amounts and add a little sugar, maybe 1 tbs. That's it!  I used black bean and corn salsa for a little extra interest in the salad. I sometime add extra black beans (rinsed well) and corn to this salad as well and crumble corn chips or Fritos over the top at the last minute, if I have them. And yep, that's grass growing on my kitchen counter. Well, it was Easter. I like to hide a few eggs in there.

THE SHOPPING LIST

1-2 Hearts of Romaine

Queso Fresco Cheese

Salsa, 8 oz

Sour Cream, 8 oz

1-2 Tbs Sugar

Black Beans (optl)

Corn(optl)

Fritos (better get some)