I worked a little bit in our garden (which I really need to post about) this afternoon. I was amazed to see that in 13 days most of our plants have tripled in size. Everything smells so good and is growing faster than I thought. My favorite of what is ready to eat so far are the mint plants. I have peppermint, sweet mint and my favorite, chocolate mint. This is what it looks like and it smells Uh-mazing!

I go out every morning and pick off a few leaves and then add them to my water. I love it! I am thinking of some sort of chocolate mint mojito would be tasty too!

Anyway, since it’s only April here in central Florida and it’s already like 500 degrees every day, I was sweating my butt off out there. I really didn’t want something heavy on the belly for dinner. I had just picked a bunch of lettuce off this this plant that these awesome clients of ours gave us a couple months ago, and I had some organic baby spinach I needed to eat as well. I figured some kind of salad would be great to have, so I started rummaging through the pantry and the fridge looking for something good.

Isn’t this lettuce lovely? Straight from the garden!

I ran across some taco seasoning and a can of black beans and it got me thinking about some southwest flavors. I just started grabbing a few things and this is what I came up with. Then I remembered that I still had some of those boneless skinless chicken thighs from Whole Foods (by far the best ones I have ever eaten) that I could throw in there.

Let me tell ya, this was so flavorful and delicious that everyone loved it. There were so many great flavors and textures in it and the dressing just really pushed it over the top. It was very filling, while at the same time making your belly happy with all the fresh ingredients. While your chicken is cooking, you can chop up all the veggies and this is done in no time. This feeds about 5 people.

**For the vegetarian version, leave out the chicken

**For the gluten free version, make sure you use a gf taco seasoning

Southwest Chicken Salad

• a couple of varieties of lettuce, chopped
• 1 pound chicken, chopped
• 1 roasted red pepper, chopped
• 1 cup black beans
• 1 cup corn
• 2-3 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 2 avocados, chopped
• handful of cilantro, chopped
• taco seasoning, salt and pepper, to taste

Dressing

• 2 tbsp mayo
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup ranch dressing
• 1 tbsp taco seasoning
• salt and pepper, to taste

Make up the dressing first and then refrigerate until salad is ready. In a small bowl or large mixing cup, mix all ingredients until well blended. Taste to make sure it suits you. You can add more or less taco seasoning if you need to.

I thought this was so good as a salad dressing, but you could use it as a dip for raw veggies or even chips.

According to your taste, season the chicken with salt, pepper and taco seasoning. Cook your chicken according what type you are using. I used these thighs and cooked them over medium heat in a skillet with about 2 tablespoons of oil, I used avocado. I cooked them for about 4 minutes on each side and they were perfect.

Once it is finished, take it out and chop it all up.

While your chicken is cooking you can chop up your cilantro,

your tomato, avocado and red pepper,

the lettuce,

and get your black beans and corn ready.

Just layer your salad with all these ingredients.

Pour on the dressing.

Stir it up and DIG IN!