Tastiness - Red Beans and Rice Salad

It's Meatless Monday at our house.  We try to eat meatless at least once a week, and admittedly, it's not always on Monday.  B has a tendency to buck the meatless menu, as he claims he just needs more protein.  Sometimes I can trick him into a hearty meal that's missing it's meat.  And yet...this salad is a staple on our menu rotation.  Even H, the recovering picky eater, loves it.

There's a microbrewery/restaurant in Ft. Wayne, IN called Mad Anthony's.  The first time I went there a million years ago, I saw something on their salad menu that intrigued me.  A House Salad.   I know.  I know.  Every restaurant has a house salad on their menu.  But Munchies' house salad, as the restaurant portion of the brewery was then called (and may still be?), took their house salad to a whole new level.  So I have been copying it at home ever since.

You could probably put anything you want in it.  Our standard is just romaine, tomatoes, red onion, green pepper, some form of cheese, and some ranch dressing.  The secret ingredient is Zatarain's Red Beans & Rice.  It's not really a secret.  I saw the giant bag of Zatarain's in the Munchie's kitchen.  I've used other brands before, and it's just not the same.  I'm sure you could probably make a delicious homemade version of red beans and rice if you're into that sort of thing.  But Zatarain's is like $2.50 and it takes 30 minutes.  (Insert your judgement here on the fact that I use organic vegetables, but a box mix full of lord knows what.  It's okay.  I can take it.)

First...In Pictures:

What I used - minus the clementines and gummy worms.  Small kitchen.

What was happening while I was in the kitchen

Chopped and divided into bowls
The above ingredients also made one more giant bowl that I'll take for my lunch tomorrow. 

Cheese.  B's a big cheese man.

And a big Red Beans and Rice man.

And he likes a little salad with his dressing.
To be fair, he did just spend 40 minutes as a horse with 2 riders.

Red Beans and Rice Salad

• 1 Box of Zatarain's Red Beans & Rice
• Romaine Lettuce 
• Tomatoes 
• 2 Green Peppers 
• Red Onion (1/2 is probably enough)
• Shredded cheese 
• Ranch dressing

1. Cook Red Beans and Rice according to package directions.
2. While that's going, chop the veggies, rinse and spin (the veggies, not you - unless you want to spin)
3. Divide the veggies up
4. Add some cheese
5. When the Red Beans and Rice are done, scoop them on top of the salad.  They're hot.  The salad's cold.  It's all delicious.
6. Add some Ranch.
7. Enjoy

This salad is so filling, and not terrible for you, either.  I've tracked it on MyFitnessPal in the past.  The only difference between tonight and the time I tracked it was I used a different brand of cheese, but the nutrition information was still the same.  Check this out if you're interested in the health stuff.