Jana: Roadhouse Zalad

A little over a year ago Zaxby's offered a special limited time only salad that they called the Roadhouse Zalad. As you may have guessed, I'm usually not one to choose a salad over chicken fingers and fries. But this salad was amazing; it had just enough different flavors and textures to keep it interesting. Needless to say I was devastated when the limited time was over--every now and then I'll ask the cashier if they can make it again, but it's been a no-go. I don't know why I hadn't tried to recreate it myself.

But in thinking of my favorite corn recipes, I couldn't get that fire-roasted corn and this salad out of my mind. So last night in true Iron Chef Sisters fashion, I pulled all of the ingredients out on the counter and got started. I found this recipe for the roasted corn from My Blessed Life blog. Pretty easy peasy... all ingredients that I usually keep on hand, although because I'm split between two kitchens, I had to restock a couple of the spices.

I tried to mimic the ingredients from the Roadhouse Zalad as much as I could: I layered spinach and bell peppers in the bottom of the salad shells before adding drained black beans, a spoonful of roasted corn, and grilled mesquite chicken. Just like Zaxby's salad, I topped it off with a sprinkle of potato sticks. The combination was wonderful!! Rob and I thought that the potato sticks on top (while a bit unexpected) provided just enough saltiness to balance the sweetness of the corn, beans and chicken.

If you look at the last picture below... I promise there is green stuff in there. Although Rob thought that next time, I shouldn't even bother masquerading it as a salad, and just served grilled chicken with a side of roasted corn. Will do!