Southwestern style chopped salad with homemade tomatillo ranch

IMG_5499Yes I shamelessly love shopping at the grocery outlet in my neighborhood….their beer selection is better than anywhere not to mention cheaper, the same stuff can cost you upwards of $1 + at the Wholefoods, unless wholefoods is running a promo. They carry tons of local produce, milk (dairy and non-dairy) organics, and cage free, organic eggs. Occasionally I will get really fabulous foreign imports or Earth friendly cleaning products. Also they have one of my favorite cashiers ever, he only works weekends and he makes everyone (even drunkards on motorized scooters) feel like family. Getting rung up by him can take upwards of 7 minutes or so….hard to wait sometimes, but always worth it, he may be wearing an ascot that day or a bandana, always bold in his fashion prowess he is a kindred spirit and I like his style, he makes a cashier job much more….he makes it a performance, and we patrons a captive audience. If he ever reads this, he knows who he is….Thank you for brightening mine and everyone else’s day. I remember when we first moved here and I knew nothing and nobody it was one of the first places I went to shop and I was wearing my son (he was 8 weeks old) and Ava who was 4 and he helped us feel at home and even “Welcomed” us to Portland. So today most of my food was bought at the GC, in the Hollywood district in PDX. Ava wanted chicken legs so made the recipe for my Wings?! We don’t want no stinking wings! (poulet “Legs” aux Buffalo stylie). I decided these would be great deboned, as like a Southwestern chopped salad, one like I order, when we are at our local pub….mine of course will be better since I can pick exactly what I want in it!
There was a plethora of treasures today at my store and besides the hassle of the prep work this salad is easy! So what I got is the chicken of course (recipe above). Two hearts of romaine, cleaned, chopped, ½ cup each diced jicama, carrot, celery, red pepper, corn, ¼ cup each radish, thin, green onions, avocado, 1 can black beans, rinsed, ¼ cup diced olives, shredded cheese (I used cabot’s chipotle cheddar)use what you like though, leave out what you don’t! I made a creamy cilantro style dressing, 1 clove garlic, ½ small onion, diced, 4 tbsp balsamic, ½ juice one lime, 1 tsp salt, ½ bunch cilantro, pepper, 2 tbsp olive oil, ½ cup Mexican crema, or sour cream, or yogurt…..blend till smooth. Top salad with tortilla chips if you like em’. Serves four as an entrée, eight as a side dish.
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