Southwestern Cornbread Salad

Hey there peepers!!!  WOWZA is it ever hot!!!  The thermometer on our back porch hit 108 today!!
Craziness I tell ya pure craziness!   So if it's raining where you are could you send us some please?












Maybe I should get these guys to come perform their song for us?!





Okay enough tom foolery for the day let's get to making this salad.  I shouldn't say this is the recipe for it but more like assembly instructions.  But nonetheless here is the nice little printable that you can have to take to the grocery with you.

First things first we need to make some cornbread.

If you want to get all fancy smancy fru fru and make yours from scratch, just go right on sister (or bro)!

I however decided to use the Jiffy cornbread mix because you only need an 8x8 pan and that's exactly what the Jiffy mix makes.   I used the directions for corn muffins and I also tossed in a small can of green chili's into the batter before baking.  Bring the cornbread out of the oven and set it aside to cool a bit while you get busy with the remainder of ingredients.

(2) 2.25 oz. cans of sliced black olives, drained well

1 small container cherry tomatoes cut in half or 1 cup chopped tomato's.

15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained well

15 oz. can corn, drained

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped

1 small red onion, diced

And some of this:

well maybe not exactly that kind but some kind of southwesterny dressing. 

This was very good tho.

Now then lets get to assembling.

You will need a large glass bowl or trifle dish.

It's pretty if you can see the layers!!

Crumble 1/2 the pan of cornbread into the bottom of the dish.

Add the black beans on top of the cornbread.

Next go the tomatoes;

then the lettuce and pour 1/2 cup of the dressing.

Keeping the dressing to the center of the pile of lettuce so it doesn't run down the sides.

(As you can see I didn't heed my own advice on that detail)

Now the black olives;

then the corn;

red onions; 

 and green bell pepper.

It's looking scrumptious isn't it?

Now add at least 1 cup of cheddar cheese, shredded.

If you add more I'll never tell but I'll be your friend forever!

Pour the other 1/2 cup of dressing over the shredded cheese also keeping to center as much as possible.

Don't worry it will spread out.

Top the cheese with the other half pan of cornbread crumbled.

I added a little more cheese over the cornbread and a few tomatoes and a couple of jalapeños if you so desire.  I meant to toss a few more black olives but I forgot to save any...duh!!!

Now look how pretty!!!

It's so pretty you'll feel like this

But you should share it with friends because it makes a LOT!!

Oh and the next day...just as yummy!!!

Here's the printable again for ya.

Thoughts:   The next time I make this I'm considering adding a layer of grilled chicken or beef fajita meat.   I could take the lettuce layer out, add in the meat then serve the whole thing over a plate of greens for dinner.  You know how we love our salad around here!!

So there you go, a nice big swap on a salad for a potluck or for dinner and don't worry, the oven was only on for about 15 minutes. In this weather that's a good thing because we're all feeling like this:

What's up with you guys? You are awfully quiet this week!!!

Peace, Love & Summer Salads

p.s.  Last nights dinner, Abogg made us hamburgers and sweet potato home fries. We also had regular potato home fries and cole slaw.   Just keeping you updated on the dinner situation so you know we're not off doing anything fancy and leaving you out.   :-)