How to Make Southwest Bean Salad

Southwest bean salad is a meatless, protein-rich salad that provides the body with more protein, vitamin D and fiber than the standard tossed salad. The additional fiber comes from two essential ingredients that make this a southwest salad: beans and corn. The lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, salsa and chips give this meatless meal the feeling of a taco salad, and it's a perfect, well-rounded meal to prepare on a hot, summer day---since it won't heat up the house.

Things You'll Need

• Large salad bowl
• 12 oz. package Dole Classic Iceberg prepared salad
• 8 oz. package of Kraft cheese crumbles
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 15 oz. can garbanzo beans
• 1 strainer
• 15 oz. can whole kernel corn
• 2 cups corn chips
• 1 measuring cup
• ½ cup salsa
• ½ cup ranch dressing
• 2 large spoons

Instructions

Salad Preparations

1. Place one 12-ounce package of Dole Classic Iceberg prepared salad in the large salad bowl.

2. Add one 8-ounce package of cheese crumbles to the salad.

3. Dice two Roma tomatoes and add them to the salad.

4. Open one 15-ounce can of garbanzo beans and drain them into a strainer. Wash the beans to remove all of the starch. Add the beans to the salad.

5. Open one 15-ounce can of corn and drain. Add the corn to the salad.

6. Crumble corn chips into a measuring cup, breaking the chips into smaller pieces (taking care not to fully pulverize them into dust) until you have accumulated two full cups. Add the broken pieces to the salad.

7. In the same measuring cup, add ½ cup of salsa with ½ cup of ranch dressing. Mix both ingredients together and add the ranch/salsa mixture to the salad mixture.

8. Toss the salad using the mixing spoons, covering all the ingredients with the salsa and ranch dressing mixture. Serve as a main course on large dinner plates. Serves four.

Tips & Warnings

• Chill the salad in the freezer for 20 minutes, tossing and stirring every five minutes for a cold, crisp salad. Substitute with different flavors of chips, like Doritos, Fritos or Sun Chips. Substitute greener selections for the iceberg lettuce to add more nutrition to your salad.

• Chill any unused portions. Salad should be eaten within two days to avoid soggy chips and lettuce.

References

• Delicious Summer Salads - Meijer Coupon Book; Meijer Corporation