ROBIN'S SOUTHERN CORNBREAD SALAD

Robin's Southern Cornbread Salad image

The first time my sister (Honey Jeanne) said she was bringing this for me to try, I grimaced. I mean, come on! The ONLY way to eat "cornbread" is hot out of the oven, SLATHERED in butter, right? Well, she proved me wrong from the 1st bite. Although the ingredients may sound a little bit "funky", the flavors marry up and are spot...

Provided by Robin Wellhouse

Time 30m

Number Of Ingredients 11

Ingredients

1 baked cornbread (8x8 or 9x9 - brownie pan sized) - use your favorite recipe or store bought variety. i've used 2 boxes of the jiffy corn muffin mix for ease in preparation.
1 can(s) seasoned pinto beans or ranch style beans (drained and rinsed thoroughly)
1 can(s) corn (drained and rinsed thoroughly)
1 lb bacon (chopped and cooked until crisp) more or less to taste
2 can(s) rotel (diced tomato and green chili) drained (i use original, but hot or mild will work)
1 medium onion (diced) more or less to taste -
1 green bell pepper (diced) more or less to taste
1 pkg (tub) cherry tomatoes (quartered)
2 c shredded cheddar cheese (i use the 4 cheese variety) - reserve about 1/2 cup for garnish
2 c mayonnaise
1 pkg ranch seasoning dry mix (or 2 tablespoons dry mix)

Steps:

1. Prep everything and place in "assembly line" fashion.
2. In a large bowl (or trifle container), start layering the ingredients in the order given: • Crumble or cube your cornbread into small pieces, place on the bottom of bowl • Drained beans • Drained corn • Chopped bacon • Rotel • Diced onion and bell pepper • Quartered cherry tomatoes • Shredded cheese
3. Mix together the mayonnaise and ranch seasoning, and then evenly spread on top of layered salad.
4. Garnish with remaining cheese. Cover and place into the refrigerator until completely cold. Overnight is best.
5. Serve as is (in the layered) or gently mix together prior to serving to make sure all the ingredients are combined.
6. If you don't want store-bought ranch dressing, here's an easy copy-cat recipe to make it yourself: Homemade "Copy-cat" version of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix Ingredients: • ½ cup dry buttermilk powder • 1 tablespoon dried parsley for blending, 1 teaspoon reserved • ½ teaspoon dried dill weed for blending, ½ teaspoon reserved • 1 teaspoon onion powder • 1 teaspoon dried onion flakes (or dried chopped onion) • 1 teaspoon salt • 1 teaspoon garlic powder • 1 teaspoon garlic salt • ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper • Dash of sugar Instructions 1. Add all the dry ingredients except the reserved teaspoon of dried parsley and the ½ teaspoon of dried dill to your blender. Blend until a nice powder. 2. Hand mix in the reserved parsley and dill - you want to see some herbs in your mix. 3. Store dry mix in an air-tight container or jar in your pantry for 2-3 months or in the freezer for 6 months or longer. Notes To make Hidden Valley Ranch Dip: Mix 2 tablespoons of dry mix with ½ - 1 cup of Sour Cream. Chill for 2 hours and serve as a dip. If for some reason your sour cream isn't very thick, and you want your dip to really set up thickly add in ½ teaspoon of unflavored gelatin. To make Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing for salads n such: Mix together 3 Tablespoons Dry Ranch Dip mix 1 cup of mayonnaise 2/3 cup buttermilk Mix together and let sit in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Just to let you know I tried this recipe with regular milk instead of the buttermilk first and it was NOT great tasting. But using the buttermilk it tasted just like the real deal. So keep that in mind...real buttermilk is the key to the dressing. (2 tablespoons = 1 packet)