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Lunch Break Salad of the Week: Chicken Fajita Salad with Southwest Chipotle Dressing



I am sure many of us made resolutions for the upcoming year that are hopefully still going well.  The good thing for teachers is that we get to make them twice during the calendar year.  This was not a New Year's Resolution for 2018, but a resolution for the 2017-2018 school year.  For a long time I was taking a lunch meat or tuna sandwich and a rice cake with peanut butter for work.  In an effort to eat a little leaner and cut some carbs, I made a resolution to start to take different salads to work for lunch.  I am so glad that I made this change and I wish I had done it earlier!  I feel like I am getting to eat more each day, but not seeing that reflected on the scale the next day.

This specific salad has probably been my favorite of those that I have experimented with.  I have made this salad for some other family members and have gotten rave reviews from it.  In some of my daydreaming I have wondered if I could lunch portions of it to other teachers/professionals as a quick healthy lunch.  The salad was something that I threw together with some leftover fajita chicken I had from supper.  Another discovery that we made at our house have made is the McCormick Organic Fajita seasoning.  The seasoning is awesome and we have found it is almost better the next day after it has time to seep into whichever meat we cook it with.  My general rule is to have 1 packet per each pound of meat that I use.


 On a few occasions, I have made my own southwest ranch dressing, but lately it seems that I have just taken the shortcut and used the Hidden Valley Southwest Chipotle Ranch dressing which may not be quite as good as the homemade stuff, but definitely does a great job.  It has a little spice, but not too much that it would overpower someone that is sensitive to heat.  My mother-in-law is extremely sensitive to heat and she had no trouble with it.


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Chicken Fajita Salad:
Makes enough salad for a workweek's worth of lunches

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken
1 can black beans, drained and washed
1 can corn, drained
2 packets McCormick Organic Fajita Seasoning
2.5 avocados (half per salad)
1 package of cherry tomatoes, halved
Cheddar Cheese
1/2 bottle Hidden Valley Southwest Chipotle Dressing
2 bags of Hearts of Romaine Lettuce

Dice the chicken into cubes and cook on the skillet.  Combine with the black beans and corn into a bowl.  In individual Tupperware, divide the lettuce.  Spoon in the chicken, black bean and corn mixture into each individual Tupperware.  Divide the tomatoes to the individual Tupperware.  Sprinkle Cheddar Cheese into each individual Tupperware.  On the day that they're going to be eaten, cut up half of an avocado and put some dressing in a separate Tupperware to take to work.

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I will be back tonight with a Momma original!  Happy Friday everyone!

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