Warm Fajita Salad

Warm Fajita Salad

This is a great salad that's very easy to make. It was inspired by our favorite salad at El Torito, the Warm Fajita Salad. One day while we were shopping for groceries, we found El Torito's Cilantro Pepita Caesar dressing, and decided to experiment. This is the dressing from their Caesar salad, but used with the ingredients from their Fajita Salad. This is now our favorite salad to make at home, and can be made with chicken or steak.

Note: There is no set amount of ingredients for this salad. Ingredients depend on size of salads you are making.

You will need:

    Vegetables
  • chicken breast or steak sliced in thin strips (any amount, depending on the size of salads you are making)
  • El Torito Cilantro Pepita Caesar dressing*
  • bag of mixed salad greens
  • two flour tortillas
  • pine nuts
  • thinly sliced red & green bell pepper
  • thinly sliced yellow onion
  • cilantro (the kind in the tube in the produce section is best)
  • tomatos (optional)
  • sliced jalapenos (optional)
  • shredded cheese, sour cream & salsa (optional)

* El Torito Cilantro Pepita Caesar can be found at Ralph's, G&G, and most supermarkets.

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 475. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick spray. Cut tortillas into thin strips and spread evenly on cookie sheet. Spray top of tortillas with nonstick spray and bake. You want to bake them until they get crispy, but not burned. Depending on the heat of your oven, they usually reach desired crispiness in about 10-15 minutes.
  2. Heat small amount of olive oil in a skillet. Add chicken or steak strips and squeeze lemon juice over it. Season with pepper.
  3. Heat another skillet with olive oil and add bell peppers and onions. You can also add diced tomatoes. I usually add the tomatoes after the bell pepper and onions are almost cooked. You can also add jalapeno peppers if you like.
  4. Cook chicken or steak until almost done, then add pine nuts to skillet and let brown for a few minutes, then mix in cilantro to taste, and about a tablespoon or less of the dressing, depending on the amount of meat you have. You just want to lightly flavor the meat with some of the dressing. Heat on low for a couple minutes.
  5. When vegetables are soft, add to meat and mix thoroughly.
  6. Spoon mixture on top of salad greens and drizzle with El Torito dressing.
  7. Add crispy tortilla strips and toss salad together.
  8. You can also top with some shredded cheese, and a dollop of salsa and/or sour cream.