Ole Salad Recipe

A Mexican-Inspired Salad With Kick

Ole Salad Recipe

Have you ever been inspired to create something at home that you ate in a restaurant?  This Mexican-inspired salad recipe came from last summer, when my husband and I went on a short motorcycle trip.  We dined in a great restaurant and ate the most amazing salad that I just had to try whipping up a replica in my kitchen.  The sweet peppers, along with salty feta and creamy avocado really work together, with the Lemon-Honey dressing giving it that little extra kick.  Don't skip roasting the corn, the smoky flavor is entirely worth it. I've given an approximate amount of what you'll need for the ingredients, but you can increase or decrease as you see fit depending on servings. 

Ingredients:

375 g baby greens, torn into bite sized pieces
pint grape tomatoes, halved
1-2 sweet red/orange peppers, sliced into thin strips
3 cobs roasted fresh corn (scroll below for the directions)
one 19 oz black beans, drained and rinsed
1-2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and sliced
1/2 cup crumbled feta

  Pre-heat oven to 375 F.

  Cut the kernels from about 3 ears of corn. Toss with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil, then spread them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put in the oven for about 10 minutes. When finished, remove from oven and let cool before adding to salad.

  Divide the ingredients among four plates, starting with the baby greens, and then topping with black beans, corn, peppers, tomatoes, avocados, and feta. 

  Dress with Homemade Lemon Honey Salad Dressing

Lunchbox tips: This recipe can be adapted to take for lunch. Store the greens and peppers in one container, beans, corn, tomatoes, and feta in another containers to dump over top the greens.  You may want to skip the avocado as it could go a bit brown.  Send the dressing in a tiny jar with a good lid so it won't leak, and include a side of plain tortilla chips to make it fun.

Serves 4

She may go by the name Scatteredmom online, but Karen really is anything but scattered when it comes to the kitchen.  Churning out tasty treats within view of the Georgia Strait on Canada's west coast, Karen will hand you an organized weekly meal plan or teach you how to make meals from scratch.  As Mom to a teenage boy, she knows exactly what it takes to keep kids full and happy-which has really come in handy with her job as the Food Editor at Yummy Mummy Club.

A strong supporter of Food Revolution who has been endorsed by Jamie Oliver himself, by day Karen can be found working as a special education teaching assistant, running a kitchen and showing teenagers how to cook nutritious meals for themselves.  By night, when she's not chatting on Twitter and answering cooking questions,  she writes her popular blog Notes From the Cookie Jar, or posting mouthwatering recipes over at Chasing Tomatoes.  Not afraid to give her opinion and passionate about community, Karen spoke at Blissdom Canada 2010 and her writing has been published in Canadian Living magazine, as well as in various online publications. 

Follow Karen on Twitter @scatteredmom