Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing

I love to make salads for lunch and just keep them in the fridge.  When I do, I make much better lunch choices.  When I don't I'm grabbing cheese, crackers, a banana or a protein bar (or some combination of the above) which are not necessarily bad choices but they don't fill you up and you end up eating way more than you intended/need to eat!  Does anybody but me have this problem??  So here's my next lunchtime solution.  It's a Tex Mex style salad with only veggies (but beans for protein so you stay full) and a delicious and fresh cilantro lime vinaigrette (heavy on the lime and cilantro, easy on the olive oil.)  I put this salad in 4 separate containers with the veggies on the bottom and the lettuce on top so the lettuce would not wilt under the weight of the veggies and then divided the dressing among 4 smaller containers and voila!  Lunch.  No thinking.  Just eating.  

Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing (adapted from thegardengrazer.com)

For the salad:

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (quartered if larger)
2 c. frozen corn, thawed
5 green onions, sliced
4 romaine hearts, chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2 c. shredded cheese (cheddar, co/jack, mozzarella, whatever)

For the dressing:

1 c. loosely packed cilantro, stems removed 
1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
6 T. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 small cloves garlic
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 t. salt
1/2 t. cumin
1/2 t. pepper

For the salad:

In each of 4 (4 c.) "to go" containers place 1/4 of the black beans, red pepper, tomatoes, corn and green onions.  Place the chopped romaine lettuce on top and then add 2T. of shredded cheese to each container.  Put the lids on and store in the fridge until ready to eat.

For the dressing:

Place all ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth.  Separate the dressing into 4 small containers so it's ready to go when you are!

Of course, alternatively, you can serve this as a side salad in a large bowl.  Just place all the salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with the vinaigrette!  It would probably serve 6-8 as a side.

4 main dish servings (356 calories each serving) according to my calculator on loseit.com