I was looking though one of my Southern Living cookbooks for side dishes to serve with dinner and I found this one. While I was preparing it my husband told me more than once that it smelled great. The combination of chopped onion and fresh tomatoes was filling the kitchen. By the time dinner was served, anticipation was high. Healthy, colorful, aromatic...I decided to give it a try before serving it. Oh no! How disappointing! It was similar to a taco salad that I make, but it totally lacked flavor! How could something with so many awesome ingredients not taste fantastic? The dressing completely lacked flavor...I had to make modifications to the recipe since it didn't have quite that wow factor that I was looking for and, the green leaf lettuce couldn't stand up to the weight of the dressing and beans. By that I mean, once tossed with the dressing, the lettuce didn't have any distinguishable flavor or texture. I would use a hardier lettuce next time, like iceberg or a romaine/iceberg mix. I want my lettuce to crunch when I bite into it, not fall flat. To improve the dressing I added some medium salsa to it. It saved the salad. Below is my adapted version. I would make it again using this version.
Here's the salad when tossed.
Here's the salad when served as a small side salad (not tossed).
Ingredients
- 1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tbs taco seasoning
- 1/4 cup medium salsa
- 1 head iceberg lettuce, shredded
- 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup chopped purple onion
- 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- corn chips, slightly crushed
- 1 fresh lime, cut into large wedges, optional
Directions
- Combine first 4 ingredients into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
- In a large bowl combine next 5 ingredients, toss with dressing.
- Sprinkle with corn chips, serve immediately with a wedge of lime on the side.
Here's the original recipe from my cookbook.
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