Full-Of-Meat Monday

Meatless Monday is so very hip, and those of you who participate in it are doing it right.

But today I've got a salad for you that is topped with a big honkin' pile of pulled pork ... and it's good.

One of our favorite takeout spots in town has a menu item called Jaco Pulled Pork Salad. Ian and I pick them up a lot. They're huge, not the cheapest, and topped with these delicious fried crispy tortilla strips. You can pretty much taste the oil in the tortilla strips when you bite down in them.

The other night I set out to make a copycat version of the recipe that was a little cheaper and (egads) a little healthier, too. Adios, fried tortilla strips.

Here's how I built these salads for us:

+ Romaine lettuce, cut into strips and washed

+ Chopped cucumbers

+ Sliced black olives

+ Chopped grape tomatoes

+ Pickled jalapeno slices

+ Cheddar cheese

+ Chipotle Ranch dressing (we used Harris Teeter's HT Traders brand)

+ Pre-made guac on top (from those single-serving cups ... I got mine at Aldi)

And of course, hiding under the guac, dressing, and cheese (did I dare call this healthy?!) is pulled pork that I made in the crockpot. All I do to make this is take a seasoned pork loin and drop it in the crockpot on low until it shreds apart with two forks. You can season however you like if you buy the unseasoned kind. Half a packet of taco seasoning would be perfect for this dish.

This salad was quite tasty. I may have to redact my mention of it being healthy because look at that OMGdressing! 

So while it may not play nicely with the whole "Meatless Monday" theme, it is a way to start off your week with a salad, which always feels like a good choice to us. It's like a smart little dinner cleanse after a weekend of pizza, Chinese, and burgers!

For more of my "What's for dinner?" posts, click here.