DIY

I try to keep a balanced diet, but sometimes things just get too bland.  Take for example the salads I eat.  Lately they’ve been just lettuce, sliced carrots, and some shredded cheese.  No frills, but they are easy to make and get the job done when checking the list off for a healthy meal for the day, but I’ve been craving something else.  Less healthy meals. (Gasp)

When talking about salads, I really love to get the Southwest Chicken Salad from Jack in the Box.  It’s crammed full with veggies, sides, and includes a strip of chicken, but with it having a premium cost of being nearly $7.00 for just the salad alone, it’s impractical to buy on a regular basis; at least it is based on my budget.

So I decided to make my own version of Jack’s salad by going to their website and jotting down everything that’s included with it.  I then went to the store and bought everything needed for it.  Now it’s not as easy as slapping everything together as my previous salad was.  This one involves some prep work and some of it is terrible doing this time of year as the oven is needed to cook the chicken breasts.  It’s both literally and figuratively not cool as we’ve lately had temperatures in the upper 90s with some triple-digit temps here and there.  Blargh.

Anyways, in the end it’s all worth it as it is really good and closely matches what I get if I bought it from JitB.  Included is a mixture of both iceberg and leafy romaine lettuce, shredded pepper jack cheese, black beans, sliced grape tomatoes, roasted corn (which I had to prep by using a frying pan to roast it), "Santa Fe" seasoned tortilla strips, a tiny bit of salsa flavored ranch dressing to give it a mild kick of spice, and one sliced strip of a chicken breast to top it off.

I like it because it adds more veggies, and of course nutrition, to the meal and is very filling, which is something salads normally don’t do for me when I make them.  And with me making them, I’m saving money in the long run.  Sure, there’s more calories with this kind of salad, but if the alternative is me going and getting a burger, fries, and soda, then the salad doesn’t look all that bad.

The next major thing I need to fix is my mid-day snacks as those have slid down the health meter to candy and soda which help with the late morning slump.  Let’s see what healthy alternative I can come up with for that.

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