Tonight’s salad is all about my TexMex childhood, when everything was better with chili.  Speaking of which, have you ever had Frito Pie?  This is created by covering a plate with a layer of Fritos, pouring chili over them, then heaping on grated cheese and onions.  In other words, Frito Pie is a concentrated bomb of ridiculous TexMex SuperHeaven.  

This salad is Frito Pie without the Fritos (plus a whole bunch of veggies).    I can only imagine what this salad would have been like with that final Frito touch.  As it was, it was a bowl of healthy joy with 1970’s TexMex hiding underneath.

Chili Salad

Ingredients:

• Chopped celery
• Chopped tomatoes
• Chopped avocado
• Chopped onion
• Leftover cilantro lime coleslaw from night before last
• Grated cheese
• Homemade chili

Arrange salad makings over a bowl of chili.  Serve with corn bread.

I first made this slaw to go with fish tacos, but glory be, I generally cannot stop eating it, even without the tacos. It’s so refreshing, crunchy, and tart.  It’s the perfect bright and juicy counterpoint to Tex-Mex dishes, such as the chicken enchiladas we had for dinner tonight.   I’ve tried adding other ingredients and spices to this slaw, but we’ve decided it’s gilding the lily to do so.  It’s just right this way, in its role as supporting salad.

Cilantro-Lime Coleslaw

This salad is fine on its own but is a total delight in conjunction with other dishes that are heavy in garlic, cumin, and peppers.

Ingredients:

• 1 small head cabbage
• 1 onion
• juice of two limes
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 tsp sea salt, or to taste

Directions:

1. Slice cabbage in quarters and remove core.  Shred each quarter thinly so that the individual shreds are slender in width but a few inches in length. 
2. Put cabbage in a bowl and mix in all the other ingredients.  Adjust seasonings to taste. 
3. Serve immediately or chill for half an hour before serving.

In a hurry.  Gotta eat your greens.  Grab this!  It’s insanely easy, it’s tasty, and it’s portable.  Win/win/win.

Tostada Salad “Sandwich”

If I hadn’t been in such a hurry I probably would have added some spices like cumin, oregano and mild chili powder.

Ingredients:

• 2 tostada crisps
• About 1/2 cup refried beans
• A handful of mixed salad greens
• 1 small Roma tomato, sliced
• Slices of avocado

1. Spread the refried beans on both tostada crisps. 
2. Place greens on both sides, pressing them gently into the beans to keep them in place, then arrange tomato and avocado over the greens. 
3. Close up “sandwich” and enjoy, or wrap to go.

My husband scares me sometimes.  Last night we were both doing our own thing in companionable silence. Out of the blue I asked, “What’s that white thing called…?”

And he said, “Jicama?”  Uh, yes. Actually, that’s exactly what I was thinking about.  How does he do that? 

Anyway, my friend Ammi invited me over for a delicious dinner of tortilla soup, so I offered to bring a salad.   She said that cilantro was already in the soup and that she didn’t love big heaping amounts of cilantro.  I also know that she has a sweet tooth, so she would be okay with a sweeter salad, something I enjoy as well.  I set about putting together a salad that would fit the bill.  That’s really fun–being given a certain set of criteria and creating a salad from that.

At the dinner table, Ammi and I thrilled at the combination of her delicious soup and the salad.  They were perfect together, providing counterbalance in both flavors and textures.

Jicama, Orange, & Mango Salad

I was making this up as I went along, so the measurements may be a bit fuzzy. 

Ingredients”

• 1 medium jicama, peeled and julienned
• 1 or 2 oranges, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 large mango, peeled and cut into cubes
• 1/2 or 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• A few tablespoons of finely chopped red onion
• 1 T rice wine vinegar
• juice of 1/2 orange
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• cumin, to taste (about 1/2 tsp)
• salt, to taste (about 1/4 tsp)
• cayenne or piment d’Espelette, to taste (about 2 dashes)

Directions:

1. Place all the fruits and vegetables together in a medium bowl. 
2. In a small bowl, mix together the vinegar, juices, cumin, and salt.   Pour over salad.  Mix together gently.  Chill and serve with something delicious and savory like tortilla soup!

Serves 2 – 4

Did you know that empanadas can be quite easy to make?  Goya brand makes empanada pastries that you just fill with something (such as shredded chicken, mixed veggies, spicy beans, etc), fold up, and fry.  It’s one of my family’s latest favorite meals, and I’m fond of how quick it is.  

I made this salad to be an empanada receptacle, basically.  I tore up my empanada over the greens.  Guilty pleasure meets healthy virtue. 

Empanada Salad

Ingredients for an individual salad:

• Handful of leaf lettuce
• Half an avocado, cubed
• A few slices of red onion
• 1 Roma tomato, chopped
• Several cilantro sprigs, chopped
• Lime juice and olive oil, to taste
• One empanada, any flavor

Toss the salad together with the lime juice and olive oil.  Break the empanada into pieces and place on the salad. Alternatively, serve the salad alongside the empanada.