Mexican spring refresh saladI

Mexican Fiesta Spring Salad

It's only March but you would never know it with temperatures of 25c over the past couple of days. Spring or summer seems to have arrived a month early. Every spring you haul out all of your spring and summer clothes to wear and sometimes you are hit with a bit of a shock when they don't seem to fit anymore. Oh no.. what to do? Well I had to go to a meeting today which meant I had to scrounge through my wardrobe trying to find some professional looking spring clothes. I found a pair of dress pants I usually only have to wear occasionally. And today I know why. After a winter of comfort foods it was a struggle to feel comfortable in last years clothes. I had to go downtown for the meeting and it was a beautiful day and normally I might have wandered around downtown but because I was uncomfortable in those last years pants I had to come home and change. What does this have to do with food? Everything.. It's the winter of excess heavy comfort foods and staying indoors and sitting around more that contributes to the winter pounds.

In the spring you want to shed the excess weight and feel light and fresh. Ditching those heavy winter shoes and boots and coats and even socks, gloves and hats. You lose 5 pounds or more just by ditching that clothing.

So when spring rolls around you start thinking about lighter fare for lunches and dinners. Today I decided to do a mexican fiesta flavoured salad for dinner.

This was a good idea because I not only made a flavourful, healthy and delicious salad but it seemed to clear out the fridge of things that don't get used up often enough like cilantro and jalapenos and limes. My fridge is a lot lighter now too and ready for some fresh new spring harvest foods.


If you want to make a salad like this here's what I put into it.

1/4 of a head of iceberg lettuce
1 romaine salad heart
6 cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 whole avocado sliced
1 tablespoon of shredded cheddar cheese
1 green pepper small diced
1/4 of an onion, I used yellow but it's better with a red onion
2 chopped green onions
1/4 cup of charred corn kernels
1/2 jalapeno pepper minced or to taste
pinch of cumin
pinch of chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
chipotle pepper to taste

Dressing

2 limes zested and squeezed into a measuring cup
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tbsp tomatillo salsa
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp oil
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of cumin
8 drops of tabasco sauce

The only thing that was cooked was the corn and tortillas. I just used frozen corn and charred it in a cast iron pan and added chipotle pepper, cumin, chili pepper, and salt and pepper to taste. I used whole wheat flour tortillas that I fried in the same cast iron pan after the corn was done.

Assemble

Add the lettuces in a bowl and then top with all of the rest of the vegetables and then the cheddar cheese and dressing and put the tortilla chips around the outside of the salad.

You can add what you like but these are the flavours I like and what I had on hand.

You could add sour cream or even chili to the salad to make it a taco salad. I would serve the chili on the side so that you can keep it hot and keep the salad crisp that way.

It's light but still satisfying with the creaminess of the avocados and the heat of the jalapenos. A great way to feel like the hot weather is near.

Mex it up... enjoy