Master Mix Salad

I, like many of my friends, have been on a salad kick recently.  This salad phase has somehow coincided with my discovery of several things that I used to hate but now like.  Namely Mushrooms and Avocado. I have been subjecting my husband to several throw together varieties of  salad slash burrito bowl slash stir fry.  Hence, Master Mix.  Throw in the basics, or just random crap and you'll have an amazing meal.  One that will last you an entire week, which is always a plus in my book.

My First Version of Master Mix Salad.

I sold this idea to Steve by telling him it would be "exactly like a Chipolte fajita bowl."  He bought it.  And while I didn't deliver on the exactly part, I sure tried.  Not only that but it was so amazing (in my opinion) that I am still trying to get Steve to eat the basic ingredients thrown together with a few different meat and veggie options.  I think he's growing weary, but I'm still loving this idea.  And since I cook, I win.  Also, he's only started growing weary after being served the same basic thing for three weeks.  A total win in my book.  Seriously, it was good.

Here goes.

• Saute some 
• peppers (I used green, and loved it.  Which is great because I'm normally an any-color-but-green kind of pepper gal)
• mushrooms
• black beans & kidney beans
• Garlic
• onion powder (or you could use real onion, but I don't like onions so I opted out)
• a splash or two of soy sauce
• olive oil
• and pretty much any seasoning that you want to get the flavor you told your husband you were trying for.
• Also, this is when I added in my Meat.  For the "Chipotle Fajita Bowl"I got out some hot sausage we already had cooked, diced it quite small, and threw it in the pan with everything else.  (I know that I keep saying Fajita Bowl, and then I put sausage in it, which takes out the Fajita part since I'm pretty sure that indicates chicken.  Maybe.  You could totally put chicken in it, I simply used sausage because that's what we had, and it was already cooked.  Also, when we actually go to Chipotle the only thing we ever get is a Fajita Bowl, so that's all I know to call it slash compare what I made it to.  Did that make sense?)
• Since everything is pretty much cooked you're just getting your veggies to the consistency you like them, and letting the flavors meld together, whilst heating everything.  So the Sauteing part should be fairly quick.
• Make some Rice (preferably in your amazing Rice Cooker.  I used to hate rice, because I couldn't make the dag gone stuff.  It never turned out right in the microwave, or the oven, or on the stove top.  I abhorred any recipe that called for rice.  Then Steve told me they had always had a rice cooker growing up.  I asked his parents for one as a Christmas gift a few years back and I couldn't be happier.  It is the easiest thing in the world and the rice comes out absolutely perfect every sitnkin' time.  It's magic.  You NEED one.  Seriously.  Unless I'm the only idiot out there that can't cook rice on the stove, in the oven, or in the microwave.  But I digress).
• Cut up some greens
• I loved, loved, loved simply shredded Romaine Hearts in this "salad."  Again, I was going for the Chipotle Fajita bowl, and I'm fairly certain they use something similar to shredded Romaine.
• You can also use any other lettuce you feel like, most recently we had ice berg and sweet butter greens, with just a few shreds of Romaine.  But then I was going for a more Salad-y creation that time.
• Make your plate.  Add in half and Avocado, smash everything together slash mix it all up on your plate, and you are ready to go!
• You could always add some salsa, sour cream, and/or cheese if you'd like.  We opted no to because we were trying to stay a bit on the healthier side.  I'm not sure how healthy this meal was, but it was amazing.

Like I said earlier, you can do anything you want with this Master Mix Salad.  Tonight I swapped out  kidney beans for butter beans.  Sausage for a white fish.  Added in some lemon juice and sage.  I cooked all my veggies and beans in a saute pan.  Then put the fish at the bottom of a metal baking pan and covered the fish with all of the veggies and beans.  I cooked it in the oven until the fish was done, and then assembled my Master Mix Salad according to my liking.  It was good stuff! 

Have fun cooking and eating and convincing your loved ones that this Master Mix is truly a delight.