Southwest Salad and Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

Southwest Salad with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

Makes 40+ side servings

Adapted from For the Love of Cooking

Dressing:
2 cups of fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup canola oil
½ cup fresh lime juice (juice from 2 limes squeezed to death)
¼ cup red wine vinegar
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
2 tsp jarred minced garlic
2 tsp oregano

Add to blender. Blend. Refrigerate until ready to serve. (pulse one more time before adding to salads)

Salad:

4 bags romaine lettuce, divided
2 cans corn, drained, divided
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
2 cups Kraft 2% Mexican cheese, divided
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered (depending on size), divided
1 cup of red onion, diced and divided in half
Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette (recipe above), divided in half

Take out two large bowls. Add 2 bags of lettuce to each bowl. Drain corn and black beans. Add a can of corn and a can of black beans to each. Add 1 cup of cheese to each. Add ¾ cup diced tomatoes to each. Add 1/2 cup of diced red onion to each. Pulse salad dressing to ensure it’s mixed. If you plan to serve both at the same time: Drizzle each with half of the salad dressing. If you plan to serve one first and the other when it runs out: Drizzle half with salad dressing. Put the other salad and ½ dressing in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve.

Nutritional Information (for each huge bowl of salad including dressing):2,023 calories, 158 carbs, 136 fat grams and 65 protein grams.

Review: We LOVED it and it seemed to go over really well! I made it the night before, left it in the mini processor and put it in the fridge. Right before I served the salad (both at the same time), I dropped it on top of the mini processor, pulsed it again, then poured half over each salad.

Just so you know, for less salad dressing, simply divide the recipe above by 4. This is what I did (I multiplied Pam's recipe by 4!) - Pam's Recipe:

1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
1/4 cup canola oil
1-2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp oregano