Southwest Salad with Creamy Avocado Salsa Dressing

By Jaclyn

Ingredients

• Southwest Salad
• 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
• fresh corn kernels from 1 ear of sweet corn
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/3 cup roasted and salted pepitas (may sub. sunflower seeds)
• 1/2 cup grated pepper jack cheese, or more to taste
• Tortilla Strips for Salads
• Creamy Avocado Salsa Dressing
• 1 small avocado, peeled and sliced
• 1 small jalapeno, seeded, deveined and roughly chopped (optional)
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro
• 1/4 cup sour cream (may sub.plain Greek yogurt)
• 1/4 cup smooth salsa (medium for more of a kick)
• 1/4 cup milk
• juice from 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 tsp EACH salt, ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp EACH pepper, smoked paprika

Preparation

Step 1

1. Add all of the Creamy Avocado Salad Dressing ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth, scraping the sides down as needed. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Add additional milk to thin to desired consistency if needed. Chilli in the refrigerator, time permitting.
2. Add salad ingredients to a large bowl except for the tortilla strips and toss to combine.
3. Toss salad with desired amount of dressing (there will probably be some left over) or drizzle dressing over individual servings if not eating all of the salad immediately.
4. Garnish salad with tortilla strips and freshly cracked salt and pepper.