Black Bean & Rice Taco Salad

Vegetarian Taco Salad: 

a Green Salad with Long Grain Brown Rice & Black Beans

My recipe guru, Eating Well Magazine, had this recipe on their website, and I tried it last night and loved it!  See the link here for the official recipe.  See below for my version which has a little less chili powder (due to serving a 1 and 2 year old) and used colby jack cheese instead of pepper jack.  I used my parent's homegrown tomatoes and corn frozen from their crop and I will definitely be making this again!  I did cook up some hamburger meat for Brian but I was happy without the meat in this meal because it was so tasty as it was.  If you decide to make this, be sure to start the rice first since long grain rice takes 45-50 minutes to cook.  I just recently changed from using brown minute rice to using all long grain brown rice for recipes and it's sometimes hard to remember how long it takes the rice to cook!  Luckily, with this recipe, by the time I completed all the other tasks for the rest of meal preparation, the rice was ready to be used in the recipe--not that the recipe takes that long, it simply takes me that long to cook with two babies underfoot!


Black Bean & Rice Taco Salad

1 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 c fresh corn kernels or frozen
3 tomatoes
1 1/2 c cooked long grain brown rice
15-oz can reduced sodium black beans, rinsed
1 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano, divided
1/2 c fresh cilantro
1/3 c salsa
2 c shredded romaine
1 c grated colby jack cheese
1 c tortilla chips (although only Brian used the chips)

Heat oil.  Add onion & corn, cooking 5 minutes (or longer if starting with frozen corn).  Chop 1 tomato and add to pan with rice, beans, chili powder, and 1 tsp oregano.  Cook until tomato cooks down, about 5 minutes.  Let cool slightly.

Chop remaining 2 tomatoes.  Combine with chopped cilantro, salsa, and 1/2 tsp oregano in a small bowl.  Toss lettuce with 1/2 of the salsa mixture and 2/3 c cheese.  Serve with the bean mixture, extra salsa, the extra cheese, and the tortilla chips.  I think Brian may have used some Tabasco or taco sauce as well, in addition to some hamburger meat.  I think guacamole and sour cream would be great with this dish, too.  Yum!