One of the Best Salads I Have Ever Had

I had this salad for the first time at one of my nursing school friends' house 1.5 years ago. I was going to stay at a hotel to be close to the hospital where we were doing our rotations at that time, but she (Jane) and her husband were kind enough to invite me to their home. Those were the times that I don't want to remember, thanks to our nursing instructor! 
Jane made this salad and served with a nice, warm bread and since then I have been making this salad whenever I wanted to give a break to my stomach.  I don't serve anything else, but this salad for lunch or dinner. just the salad, nice-warm bread, and butter if desired. Wine is also a good idea for adults with this salad!
I usually make half of the recipe for two and freeze remaining beans. 
I also add some corn, too and instead of feta cheese I use Gorgonzola. 
You may add more or reduce some of the ingredients depending on your choice. 



Again this is the full amount (approximate) of the recipe. Probably enough for 4-5 people. 

• 5-6 leaves lettuce  - washed and dried
• 1 can red kidney beans - washed and rinsed
• 1 can garbanzo beans - washed and rinsed
• 1 avocado - cubed
• Artichoke hearts if desired - chopped
• 1/4 cup shaved almonds
• 1 chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 English cucumber sliced and halved
• Good olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Feta or goat or Gorgonzola or blue cheese - crumbled maybe just a little less than 1 cup
• Approximately 1 small chicken breast, small pieces (sauteed)  - I usually make this salad after we had a roasted chicken, so i use the remaining chicken for the salad. 

• Mix everything except vinegar, olive oil, and almonds. 

You can see how I sliced the cucumbers

Sauteed chicken

• Sauteed almonds in 3 tbs olive oil, be careful not to burn the almonds. 

Yummy almonds

• Mix almonds with the salad. 
• Combine 1/4 cup olive oil and 3 tbs balsamic vinegar and pour in to salad and toss salad well.  
• I also set 1-2 spoon(s) of crumbled cheese to top the salad at the end, looks good.  

Finished product

As I said before amount of ingredients especially olive oil, chicken, vinegar is approximate.  You may also exclude the chicken for the vegetarian version since it has plenty of ingredients.