Throw Together Some YUM

I definitely wouldn't describe myself as "innovative" in the kitchen. I am most definitely a recipe-girl. The times when I have experimented in the kitchen are few and far between, although I'm hopeful I'll become more experimental over the years.

That said, the below salad and dessert ideas are something I pretty much just threw together. I can't take credit for originality, however, as my ideas really came from other sources. So please forgive the lack of precise amounts and measurements!

First off: my version of a Southwestern-style salad. I came up with this based off of what I have enjoyed most in restaurants when I order this kind of salad.

Southwestern Salad

{you'll want to adjust the amount of ingredients according to your own preferences, but what I list below makes enough for two nights of Southwestern Salad for Matt and myself as the main course--so 4 large salad servings altogether}

Ingredients:
1 package chicken breasts
1 large container of Organic Spring Mix lettuces
1 bag of "Taco" cheese {we definitely don't use the whole bag}
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can sweet whole-kernel corn, drained and rinsed
1 package Santa-Fe Style tortilla strips
1 container of a Chipolte salad dressing

I love this brand of tortilla strips:

This Southwest Chipotle dressing is exceptionally good, and it's not too bad calorie-wise {100 calories per 2 Tbsp.}:

Basically, the only prep I really need to do for this recipe {besides draining and rinsing the beans/corn} is to cook the chicken. I cook mine in the oven {20-25 min at 400 degrees F}, but I rub the chicken first with a mixture of poultry seasoning, a little kosher salt, and ground pepper. You can chop or shred your chicken; I like mine chopped. I've also cooked my chicken on the stove top to get more of a blackened-chicken, which is good, too!

Throw it all together and you've got a sweet, tangy, crunchy, utterly delicious salad! Like I mentioned, Matt and I like to eat this as our main dish, but it would be great as a side salad, too.

The picture below shows the ingredients pre-tossed; you can't see it, but there's a whole lot of lettuce under there!

***** 

I got this dessert idea from a photo I saw on Pinterest, although I never went to the link. It's my version of a banana cream pie trifle!

Banana Cream Pie Trifle

Ingredients:
1 package instant, sugar-free Banana Cream pudding, prepared with skim milk
fat free whipped topping
2 bananas
approximately 25-30 Nilla wafers, turned to crumbs in a food processor

All I did is layer the ingredients; first, the Nilla crumbs, then the pudding, then the bananas, then the whipped topping, and repeat.

What I prepared in the photo above is definitely two servings per glass. I just wanted to show the many layers and I didn't have a better single-style serving dish than these glasses! Small, clear bowls would be better serving dishes for this dessert, which makes 4 servings.

This is a fast and easy desert, but most importantly, so yummy! And we couldn't even tell that it was sugar-free jello or fat-free whipped cream {trying to keep things on the healthier-side around here}.

I hope you enjoy both of these "throw-together" recipes!