Taco Salad

This is a recipe Mel and I made when we lived together at her parent’s house and we were trying to encourage her parents to enjoy eating healthy. It went over pretty well, they enjoyed the taste (especially the added chip part), but, at the end, they asked if “this was it” for dinner. I don’t think they were used to eating just a salad for a full meal so we might have to work a little harder to convince them! Mel and I found it filling and a great alternative to the typical taco salad recipes you see, which most of the time include sour cream or salsa. When I went back home, I made it for my family and they complained as I was making it that it didn’t have all of the good things like sour cream in it, but once they tasted it they loved it, and now we have it as a frequent meal.Ingredients:
Romaine Lettuce
One can of Chick Peas
One Jalapeno
2 large Tomatoes (or a dozen grape tomatoes)
One large Cucumber
Olive Oil
One lime
A quarter of an onion
1/2 tsp Red Chili Flakes
Chopped Cilantro
Tortilla Chips

Step 1: Cut up leftover chicken breasts into cubes, or if starting from scratch, fry or bake chicken breasts with some chili powder and cumin, and allow to cool

Step 2: Wash and spin the romaine lettuce, and break it up into bits into a large bowl. Rinse off the chick peas and spin dry as well, adding to the bowl.

Step 3: Cut up the cucumber, tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalapeno and add it to the bowl. The taste of the salad is much better if you cut up 2 large tomatoes and let their juices disperse throughout the salad, but, if you are concerned about sogginess and want leftovers the next day, you can use a dozen grape tomatoes and leave them uncut.

Step 4: Add the red chili flakes and top with the lime juice and about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil

Step 5: After tossing the salad, serve. Have each person take about 5-6 tortilla chips (even better if they are the lime coated chips) and crunch up into their bowl

-A