Giordanos Copycat Salad

David ate this salad (or similar) at a restaurant called Giordanos in Chicago. This is the best version of a copycat I could come up with - we both really liked it.  

Giordanos Copycat Salad (Salami BBQ)

Source: https://giordanos.com/ and David's memory

Ingredients:
Green leaf lettuce
Cooked chicken, chopped
Hard salami (1/8 lb)

1/2 cup BBQ sauce - 1/2 cup ranch

toppings:

Dried, roasted red peppers
red onions, sliced, 

corn

cucumber, diced

cherry tomato, halved

cheddar cheese, grated (or feta cheese)

Wash and chop lettuce. Chop and heat chicken. Slice salami into small sticks and fry in small frying pan until slightly crispy. Top salad with all toppings, and serve with BBQ Ranch dressing. 

Southwest Salad with Cilantro Dressing

I love Costa Vida's Sweet Pork Salads, but I'll be honest and say that my favorite part of the salad is the dressing. When I came across the idea to use the cilantro dressing on top of a regular chopped salad - I knew that I needed to try it. This recipe is so much easier to prepare than the sweet pork salad, and it was a nice refreshing meal. I think adding some grilled chicken would be yummy if you wanted to add a little meat to the dish.

Southwest Salad with Cilantro Dressing

Ingredients:
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can sweet corn OR 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 roma tomatoe, diced
1 green onion, chopped
1 avocado, diced
1 head lettuce, chopped (Romaine is better, all we had was iceburg at the time)

Directions:
Finely chop lettuce, bell pepper, tomatoes, green onions. Dice avocado. Drain and rinse corn and black beans. Place lettuce on a plate, add toppings, cover with creamy cilantro-lime dressing. (I just used leftover dressing, but the recipe is below.)

**When I made this, I was about 9 weeks pregnant and chicken seemed like the yuckiest food on the face of the planet. However, now that I'm 15 weeks and like meat again I think that some grilled chicken would be great on this. I also think that crunching up some tortilla chips would be a yummy addition. Also, David doesn't really like the cilantro dressing - so I got some cubed ham and turkey for his salad and topped everything with ranch dressing.  It's pretty flexible. 

Tomatillo/Cilantro Ranch Dressing
Source: Adapted from A Mommy's Life with a Touch of Yellow

Ingredients:
1 packet of buttermilk ranch dressing
1 Cup mayo/Miracle Whip
1 Cup buttermilk (the smallest carton is perfect)
1 bunch of cilantro (after you wash, make sure you pat dry)
2 tomatillos husked
1 jalapeno (take the rib and seeds out)
Garlic powder (just a few shakes)
juice from 1 lime

Directions:
Put the mayo, dressing mix, buttermilk, and garlic in a blender and mix until blended all together. Squeeze lime juice directly into the blender. Cut up tomatillos, jalapeno, cilantro and pat dry. Add to the blender and blend until everything is mixed together and creamy. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This can be stored in the fridge for several months - so don't throw your leftovers away. If it starts to separate - just shake it all back together.

Navajo Tacos

Growing up, whenever we had Navajo tacos it was quite the treat. My parents would fry up some scone dough - and we'd eat navajo tacos for dinner and scones for dessert. However, when we first got married - I tried to make frybread for dinner and ruined my favorite Aggie shirt. I've been wary of using frying oil ever since. Of course, I still do fry things on occasion - but that wariness in conjunction with our goal of eating healthier led me to this flatbread version of Navajo tacos. Honestly, it was just as delicious and much healthier than having the dough fried in oil. 

Navajo Tacos
Frybread Source: Adapted from Cook and Craft Me Crazy

Ingredients:
Biscuit Dough (found below)
Chili
1/2 lb hamburger (cooked)

Lettuce

Cheese

Salsa

Assorted toppings

Directions: 

Separate biscuit dough into six sections. Roll out flat. Sprinkle dough with cumin, chili powder, and salt. Place on George Forman and grill until golden brown. Cook hamburger and warm chili through. Top with chili, lettuce, cheese, salsa and other assorted toppings. Serve hot. 

Biscuits

Source:Adapted from AllRecipes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/3 cup shortening or butter
1 cup milk

Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles small peas. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 15 to 20 times.

Indian Fry Bread
Source: Adapted from Taste and Tell

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons oil
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2-4 cups additional all-purpose flour
oil for frying

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the sugar and the oil with the warm water. Stir in the yeast. Allow to sit for 5 minutes for the yeast to proof. Add in the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix together. Add 2 more cups of flour, oil hands well and knead until dough is firm and begins pulling away from the sides of the bowl, adding more flour as needed. Heat at least an inch of oil in a large cast iron skillet.

Flour your work surface, then roll the dough into a long rope. Cut into 16 equal portions. Roll each into a ball and flatten into a disc. Keep the dough covered, and working with one or two portions at a time, fry in the hot oil until browned and bubbled. Flip and cook the opposite side. Drain on paper towels.

Hot Salad

This is another Peaden family favorite from David's youth. It is fairly healthy, very filling, and definitely delicious. It has all the components of a taco salad, while maintaining it's own unique style and flavor. The best part is that it is so easy to make. The only hard part is that it doesn't make very good leftovers (and we are definitely leftover-lovin' people.)

Hot Salad
Source: Sue Peaden

Ingredients:
1/4 lb ground hamburger
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Onion Salt and Garlic Salt (to taste) 
1 can chili con carne
1/2 cup salsa
Cheese (about 1 1/2 cups)
Tortilla Chips
Lettuce
Medium Mixing  Bowl

Directions:
Brown the ground beef in a skillet. When almost done, season with salt, pepper, onion salt, and garlic salt to taste. After ground beef is completely cooked through, add can of chili and 1/2 cup salsa. (Sometimes I add more salsa - it just depends on my mood.) Cook until heated through.

Wash and dry lettuce and place in the mixing bowl until it is about 2/3 the way full (it shrinks a lot before the meal is ready to serve). Crush up tortilla chips and mix with lettuce. How many tortilla chips is definitely personal preference - but we like a lot of chips. Grate cheddar cheese and add to chip/salad mixture.

Combine chip/salad/cheese mixture with meat/chili/salsa mixture and serve immediately. You could add toppings like olives, tomatoes, or sour cream - but we eat it like this and we love it.

(One things that we have tried recently is to make our own "hot salads" where you just mix the lettuce, chips, and cheese in a small bowl and then add on your topping. It works for us, where there are just two of us, and it makes for better leftovers. However, when you are feeding a lot of people - it's better to mix it all up before hand because then you don't run out of the meat mixture - it's all mixed up in the right ratios already. Thats just our two cents.)

*I would like to try this with corn in the meat/chili mixture. I think it would be yummy.

Enjoy!