Ensalada suroeste picante (spicy southwest salad)

Ah, salad. Few foods in the American diet share its level of ubiquity. One could even argue that it’s experiencing a sudden upsurge, considering the exponential growth of dedicated salad joints like Chopt, Mixt, Sweetgreen and whatever other obnoxiously named cafés I’m omitting.

Though it’s an easy way to introduce a hefty serving of veggies into one’s diet, eating what can sometimes taste like a bowl of grass for lunch every day gets pretty old.

salsa + ranch = <3

Enter homemade dressing. Using whatever ingredients are at one’s disposal to create new salad sauces helps dispel the monotony surrounding a daily dish of greens. In this particular salad, spicy salsa contrasts, and also carries farther the calorie count, of cool, creamy ranch, while hot peppers and onions offset crisp chilled lettuce and other veggies.

Other good ingredients to keep on-hand for homemade dressings are mustard (Dijon, regular, horseradish, whatever), honey, vinegar, lemons, limes, oranges, avocados, scallions, chiles, cilantro, basil, garlic, ketchup (haaaahahaha), Worcestershire, soy sauce, ginger…all it takes is a little imagination and a lot of quality olive oil.

Ensalada suroeste picante (spicy southwest salad)

onions and peppers (sautéed in olive oil, garlic and splashes of Worcestershire and tabasco)

black bean burger, cooked and diced

lettuce

carrots

red cabbage

pepper jack cheese

avocado

banana peppers

diced cherry tomatoes

salsa mixed with ranch dressing