Sunday, July 31, 2011

Chili's Quesadilla Explosion Salad (Wanna-be)

I love chain restaurants-- TGI Friday's, Outback, you name it.  Even though their menu isn't necessarily vegetarian-friendly, they have meals.  Full meals that take a relatively short amount of time to create and then scarf down with the help of some good-old mall tap water.  My favorite place for the past few years has been Chili's.  Chili's became my frequent.  I remember, during my first break home after being away at school for a few months, Chili's 2 for $20 meal was the bomb!  This is where I fell in love with the Quesadilla Explosion Salad (without the chicken of course).  My mother constantly tried to recreate my favorite meal at home, but it was never the same--always too watery or the dressing wasn't just right.  But I have recently befriended Google.  When people used to tell me just Google it, I would find myself looking at them like they were nerds or technologically savvy aliens.  But they weren't kidding, you can literally "Google" anything.  I've only recently began reaping the benefits of the 21st century.  Anyway, I Googled my favorite Chili's salad, and POOF! There was my recipe.  Everything was store-bought.  I didn't want to stray from the processed ingredients that I knew Chili's was serving me.  I wanted this meal to be authentic!  Interestingly enough the salad used the Marie's Chipotle Ranch dressing I had used from a previous recipe, so I didn't need that.  But I did need the shredded taco cheese, few meals are complete without the queso. I threw together the canned beans, corn, and tomatoes that the web chef found necessary  Unfortunately I could not find prepackaged cilantro, so I had to make a quick stop at the produce section before exiting my local Stop n Shop.  The only ingredient that required the stove was the can of beans.  After cooking they were rinsed and tossed into the giant bowl with all of the ingredients--including a heart of Romaine lettuce.  Close but no cigar...

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