For me whenever we make Mexican food for dinner I can never come up with a great side dish. Last week when we were having friends over for dinner I was going to serve tacos and was trying to figure out what to put with it. Flipping through my huge binder of recipes I stumbled upon this one from Family Fun October 2006.

The recipe is for Mexican Rice Salad. It looked so refreshing in the magazine I wanted to give it a shot. I am so happy I tried this! It was delicious and very fresh tasting. It even got the honor of being moved from my huge binder of recipes to my small binder of family favorites. I ended up serving it to another friend the next night and she loved it too. This is now my go to side dish for Mexican food night.

Mexican Rice Salad

Juice of 1 Lime (about 2 Tablespoons)
1/2 Cup Salsa
1/2 Cup Italian Dressing
4 Cups Cold Cooked Rice (Must be cold or it will make the salad gummy)
1 Cup Diced Red Bell Pepper
1 Cup Cooked Corn (I didn't have any of this but next time I will make sure I do)
1/2 Cup Chopped Green Onion
1/2 Cup Chopped Cilantro

Mix the lime juice, salsa, and salad dressing in a large bowl. Stir in the rice, bell pepper, corn, green onion, and cilantro. Cover and refrigerate up to 3 days.