Summer BBQ Salad

I am somewhat of a carb junkie, I love bread, pasta, chips, you name it.  So naturally I would have a liking to places that serve bread and pasta, such as Noodles and Company.  I have been a fan of Noodles since they opened several years ago so when they introduced their new summer salads last summer I was skeptical that they would be any good, why would a pasta restaurant do salads?  Several people at work suggested that I try the Backyard Barbecue Salad so I did and all I can say is Wow, it was good.
When I decided several weeks ago to go back on Weight Watchers to get back down to my goal weight I knew that Noodles probably wasn't a place I would frequent, but I was still craving that salad.
Much to my delight, I found a recipe for a BBQ salad on Emeals.  Emeals is a great menu planning website in which you can choose from several different food options and then you get a weekly menu, along with a shopping list; you can check them out here http://emeals.com/.

You start with a really good hearty lettuce, I like butter lettuce so when my local grocery store introduced their new line of lettuce I picked some up. 

One of the great additions to this salad is fresh corn, cooked and then sliced off of the cob.  One of the best ways to cook corn on the cob (in my opinion) is in the 'storage size' of the Baggie brand of bags.  You peel the corn and place up to three ears of corn in the bag, twist the bag shut and tuck the twisted part under the corn and then microwave for approximately 1 minute and 45 seconds per ear of corn.  It comes out perfect every time.  You will want to let the ear of corn cool off before slicing it so I placed it in a bowl of cold water.

You will then arrange on the salad the cut corn, diced tomatoes, red onion and any kind of cooked chicken, I used the Perdue brand of grilled chicken strips but you could also used chicken nuggets, breaded chicken breasts or whatever you prefer.

The dressing is so simple but truly makes the salad come together; you combine approximately 1/2 cup of your choice of BBQ sauce and a 1/4 cup of Ranch dressing.  You could use whatever Ranch dressing is your favorite, we make the Ranch from the powdered pouch but you could also use pre-made.

I like to believe that if you did this salad and the Noodles salad side by side in a taste test, you wouldn't know the difference.