ole! fiesta salad and sweet potato chips....

I had some extra time on my hands yesterday, so I decided to have some fun in the kitchen! I got some great deals on produce this week, so I decided to make a gourmet salad for dinner. It was delectable! Below are the ingredients--whenever I cook, I usually don't measure out things...I go by my judgment. I added leftover chicken to ours...though it is delicious without! With the pico de gallo as the dressing, you don't even need the calorie and fat laden dressings. I just sprinkled my salad with a tad more vinegar and salt, and it was incredible!

Black Bean and Avacado Salad (for about 4 servings)
1 package spring lettuce (or whatever kind of lettuce you like)
1 avacado, diced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

Pico de gallo (used as the dressing)
2-4 diced tomatos
1/2-1 diced onion
1/4c diced cilantro
1/4 frozen corn (because I love corn!)
1/2tsp diced garlic
Vinegar and salt to taste

I also got sweet potatoes on sale. I have never cooked with sweet potatoes before, so  I thought I would buy some and see what I could do with them. I made sweet potato chips! They were pretty yummy. I had never had them before, I had to eat a few to get used to the taste--they are a lot more like banana chips than potato chips :) But they are a healthy and yummy alternative to fried potato chips!

Baked Sweet Potato Chips
3 Sweet potatos, sliced very thin
2 tbs Olive oil
Salt to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Blanch, then drain sweet potato slices (it helps them cook quicker in the oven)
2. Toss slices in a large bowl with oil and salt.
3. Line edged baking sheets with foil (easy clean-up!), and lay the slices in single layer.
4. Bake for 30 min, flipping once or until they are soft (I like mine crunchy, so I baked them for 45 minutes, and just took off the done ones before they burned).
5. Season with salt and enjoy :)