Sothwestern Italian Fusion Salad with Jalapeno Corn Bread

I really like the flavors of Southwestern cuisine, but other than lime, jalepeno hot sauce and cumin, I really don't have a lot of pantry items that can be called Mexican or Southwestern. So, this salad came about because I was craving cornbread and because the avocados at the market are relatively cheap. I guess I'm Italian at heart so putting this together seems more Italian to me than anything else. Anyhow, the bottom line is that it tasted pretty good. I started building the salad by washing and drying some red leaf lettuce which formed the base of the dish. Then, I put together one diced Roma tomato, some canellini beans (yeah, I know -they were left over otherwise I'd have used black beans), a 3 inch piece of cucumber, diced, chopped onion, one diced jalapeno pepper, the juice of one lime, s&p, and olive oil. I arranged this mix over the top of the lettuce, sliced up the avocado, some cheddar cheese and a few baby heirloom tomatoes and placed them around, then added more olive oil and a few more drops of lime juice. If I had remembered, I'd have thrown in a few black olives.To go with this, I baked up my skillet corn bread the recipe for which may be obtained here.

Why another salad? For one, the wife loves avocado, so this is another way I slip greens (the lettuce) into her diet and the beans and cheese are for protein. The corn bread is a no- brainer. It's just plain good. Give it a try.