Have you ever been caught in the salad bowl syndrome — making the same tired recipe of lettuce, tomato, cucumber? Sometimes I add Spanish or black olives and marinated three-bean salad to the lettuce mixture. Sometimes I add cheese, but you know how fattening that can be, which defeats the whole purpose of having salad.

Last Sunday, I had an opportunity to break the salad mold when some good friends asked us if we wanted to join them for dinner. I immediately asked what I could bring, and they suggested salad.

I decided to try out some advice that Advertiser food editor Wanda Adams conveyed in a story last year called "Redefine Your Salad."

She suggested borrowing ideas from places around the world, so I decided to do a little Mexican take on things, since I had a ripe avocado. She suggested adding fruit to the salad so I squeezed a lime for the dressing. She said crunch was important, so I scraped the kernels from an ear of corn. And using grains or beans adds color, fiber and texture, so I threw some black beans in. Instead of adding the avocado to the salad I followed her suggestion and whirled it to the vinaigrette. It made great creamy vinaigrette without a lot of fat. Thank you, Wanda, for getting me "out of the box" or in this case, out of the salad bowl.

REDEFINED MEXICAN SALAD