As part of my Mexican fiesta birthday party the other weekend, I made this colorful salad to accompany the taco bar, homemade guacamole with chips, frozen-food aisle taquitos, salsas, and Mexican wedding cookies and birthday cupcakes. This salad was a great way to add some fresh greens to the meal for everyone and also add color to the table.

My only tips would be to make sure you thoroughly dry the frozen corn after it thaws using paper towels or a kitchen towel to ring out any excess water. Also, to speed things up I bought the triple pre-washed lettuce from the market to make my life easier. Enjoy!

Mexican Fiesta Salad

From:  Healthy Cooking, April/May 2008

Serves: 8-10

Total Time: 10 min.

Ingredients

• 4 cups torn romaine
• 1 1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 bell pepper, diced (I used an orange one for extra color)
• 5 radish, sliced thin
• 1 cucumber, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup torn curly endive
• 4 Tbsp. reduced-fat sour cream
• 4 Tbsp. reduced-fat ranch salad dressing

Directions
1. In a large salad bowl, combine the first 10 ingredients. Toss to combine with salad tongs or large serving spoon and fork.

2. In a small bowl, combine the sour cream and ranch dressing. Drizzle over salad and toss to coat.

Hint: Serve alongside a small, pourable container of an extra serving of dressing in case people want more. I also saw guests drizzle it into their taco fillings.