A Salad Tutorial

I preface this post by saying Jana is making me do this. :) She came over for lunch today for a salad tutorial. Megan and her two little boys were supposed to attend but Henry decided to catch Luke's conjunctivitis so they were unable to make it. So while the girls played and after they had their lunch, Jana and I got started on our salads. Her and Megan know that I eat a salad nearly every single day for lunch and they wanted to know what exactly I put in them to make me crave them and want to eat one religiously each day! I LOVE my salads! Sooo, Jana said that I needed to do a salad tutorial post, which I'm not very inclined to doing but will oblige her, because she insisted that other people may be interested in this particular salad...well at least I know the Jensen family will be because it is their favorite! I was introduced to it at their family gatherings early on and stuck my nose up at it but after one bite touched my lips I was hooked and still look forward to having it when we get together! It's so weird but soooooo yummy! Now Jana loves it as well!! So without further adue here is the Jensen's Mexican Salad!

Well first here is a picture of the silly girls eating their lunch!

First open a can of chili beans. You can warm them if you'd like but I just eat them room temp.

Next cut up one chicken breast....yes this is the chicken my sweet dad has cooked for me and frozen so that I can just take a piece out each day as needed! He's been doing this since I was in college! Thanks Dad! Okay so the Jensens don't put chicken in their salad but I do since I'm eating it as a meal itself.

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Next cup up one plum or Roma tomato.

Pour over as much chili beans (with the juice) as you'd like. I like a lot...obviously!

Sprinkle some sharp cheddar.

Next take some corn chips (Frito's). The Jensens put them on whole but I like to crumble them and make a few chips go a long way, a.k.a., one in each biteful but without a ton of calories!

Put your lettuce on top. You are supposed to use iceberg but I used red leaf because it's all I had...still tasty though!

Pour on the Catalina dressing. I used the fat free.

Toss to coat all the yummy goodness!

Here is the finished product! Okay so Gayla told me the best thing for this salad is to let it sit for 30 minutes before indulging to let the flavors blend and she is right. You want those corn chips to be nice and soggy...don't know why but boy does it taste better!

Hope you all will take a walk on the wild side and make one of my salads for lunch/dinner one day! It's soooo good!

One last picture. Mara Kate and Ella Ann playing Elefun. Mara Kate loved it! Ella Ann looked at her and said, "I am Ela and you are Fun!" Too cute!