salad

Spiralized Cucumber Greek Salad

July 12, 2017

Even though my spiralizer is pretty much a one trick pony (it pretty much just spiralizes), it is one of my most used one-trick ponies in the kitchen. Especially in the Summer when I don’t feel like cooking anything and it will instantly transform something ordinary into something fun and unique.

Like this spiralized cucumber Greek salad. What makes this salad so special? Nothing really….except the spiralized cucumber. It just changes the whole thing. Instead of feeling like you are eating a salad, you almost feel like you are eating a veggie packed pasta (cold pasta, I’ll admit).

Now cucumbers are not the easiest things to spiralize thanks to all those seeds in the middle. But be patient with them and they will give you some beautiful cucumber noodles.

I like to lay my cucumber noodles out on a layer of paper towels to drain out some of the extra liquid.

The rest of the salad is pretty simple: sliced onion, bell pepper, and halved cherry tomatoes. You could add olives if you wish, but olives are pretty much the bane of my existence, so I left them out.

All that was left to do with this Greek salad was assemble it. I tossed all the veggies together and then topped them with some feta and fresh mint. Then when we were ready to eat I drizzled over some homemade Greek dressing.

After adding some roasted chicken, this was a complete and healthy meal. Plus so much more fun than eating your basic Greek salad. Who need that pesky lettuce anyways?

[yumprint-recipe id=’116′]

Quinoa Tabbouleh Recipe

April 28, 2017

Quinoa is kind of amazing, isn’t it? It’s a grain…or is it? Is it a seed? I don’t know. All I know is that is a super food. Like throw some tights and a cape on that stuff kind of super.

It’s one of my favorite things to make along with some chicken or salmon for a quick and healthy dinner. But sometimes it can be kind of bland. Which is what makes it the perfect canvas for a tabbouleh!

Tabbouleh is a traditional Middle Eastern chopped veggie salad that can be made with a variety of ingredients from parsley to mint, cucumbers to tomatoes. But the true star of the show is parsley. If you don’t like parsley, then you probably won’t like this recipe.

Just telling it like it is.

For my tabbouleh, I kept things simple with parsley, tomatoes, red onion, and lemon juice along with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Normally I would say just chop up a tomato, onion, and parsley and toss it in the quinoa. But onions can come in lots of sizes and I don’t want you to go overboard with the onion…or the parsley.

Once all the veggies are chopped up (I can’t believe I am about to say this…), measure them. I’m not a bit measuring person when it comes to throwing a dinner together. Most of the time I do, since I now I will have to publish the recipe. But a little part of me dies every time. I am more of a “pinch of this, dash of that” kind of girl.

Add your measured veggies to the quinoa. Or don’t. Live life on the edge and throw the whole tomato in there. No one will know except you.

Then toss everything together with a bit of a lemon juice-olive oil dressing.

Now you could eat it right away. But I would implore (you know I’m serious when I go to the thesaurus to look up synonyms for “urge”) you to let it rest for at least 10 minutes. You want that lemon juice and olive oil to marinate, bathe, steep (sorry, took it too far with the thesaurus) the rest of the salad. It will help take the bite out of the onion and soften the parsley.

This bright and fresh quinoa salad makes the prefect healthy side dish for anything from some delicious chicken (like my favorite Chicken Doner), steak, fish, or even just on it’s own!

Remember how I said quinoa was the super hero of all grains (or something like that). What makes it so great is that it’s a complete protein. I think it might be one of the only grains/cereals that is a complete protein (don’t quote me on that…I can be wrong sometimes). That means that you can eat this salad all on it’s on and get just about everything you need, nutritionally.

Told you quinoa was pretty super!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:154]

Teriyaki Chicken Chopped Salad

April 10, 2017

There is a special place in my heart for salads. More often than not, I will order a salad when ever I go out to eat. They are healthy, dependable, and delicious!

Ironically, I rarely make salads at home. I find that I never have the right ingredients on hand to make a good salad, or lack the proper “star ingredient” to build my salad around.

That is, until I was provided with the new Johnsonville Flame Grilled Chicken to try out. I immediately knew what I wanted to do with their Teriyaki spiced chicken – turn it into a salad!

The best part about this salad is that comes together really quickly thanks to the pre-cooked chicken.

The base of the teriyaki chicken chopped salad is cabbage which I love putting in salads because it’s not only crunchy, but it holds up to dressing really well. It will actually keep a couple days, dressed and all.

There is also some romaine, carrots, bell pepper, cashews, and green onions in there, too. But like I said, the star of the show is the chicken.

The Johnsonville Flame Grilled Chicken is really nicely flavored not only with a dry rub, but after it’s heated up, it almost has this nice sauce that helps flavor the salad. The chicken pack actually comes with 3 individually wrapped chicken breasts. I had assumed that they were all in one bag so I would have to use all 3 at once (not a huge deal, but that’s a lot of chicken for 2 people). Nope! They were all in their own bag so I could use them whenever I wanted. Which makes it perfect to pack for lunches or when you just want a quick meal for one or two.

If you are watching your calories (like I am) this is also great, because each chicken breast is equally portioned, so you know you are getting exactly 3 ounces of chicken for only 80 to 130 calories and 18+ grams of protein.

I was very impressed with the quality of the chicken. Sometimes refrigerated chicken can be a little bit dry once it’s been reheated. But this chicken was really nice an juicy. We tried multiple flavors over the week, and they were all consistently flavorful and juicy. Somtimes you think that may come with some extra additives, but that’s not the case at all with the Johnsonville chicken. It is free of fillers, MSG, artificial preservatives, flavors, and colors. And all chicken comes right here in the US!

Another great thing about this chopped salad is actually chopping everything together. It might be little messy, but chopping everything together is a great way to get out a little stress!

I happen to love chopped salads because they are so much easier to eat! No big chunks of lettuce that you awkwardly have to fit into your mouth. You know what I am talking about.

And every bit has a little bit of everything, lettuce, chicken, carrot, bell pepper. The perfect bite, every time!The finishing touch is this easy and delicious sesame ginger dressing that you can just shake up in an extra jar and pour right on top.

This salad was the perfect quick and easy lunch. There was enough for my husband and I and plenty left over for lunch the next day. I will definitely be making the salad again next time I pick up a package of the Teriyaki Johnsonville Flame Grilled Chicken.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Johnsonville. The opinions and text are all mine.

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:149]

Persimmon and Pomegranate Kale Salad

October 24, 2016

Have y’all every had a persimmon before? I hadn’t until Saturday when I ran across a whole stash of them at Trader Joe’s, on special. If you have seen them, you know they look a little bit like a squat, orange tomato. Which is kind of what I expected them to taste like. But, nope. Not at all. They have a mild, sweet flavor that some have described as how you wish a pumpkin to taste. Whatever that means.

Since I clearly don’t have much exposure with persimmons, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the bag full I picked up at the store. Do I cook with them, bake with them? I had no idea. So I just ended up making a salad.

But what does one put in a salad with persimmons? I certainly had no idea. So I relied on all the other Fall foods I had available, like pomegranate and pumpkin seeds. To balance out all the sweetness, I also added some crispy pancetta, which is a fancier (and Italian) version of bacon bits.

To me, the best part of the whole salad was the dressing. (But, if we are honest. I think the best part of most salads is the dressing.) I made the dressing with some of the rendered fat from the pancetta as the fat in the vinaigrette, and mixed that with a bit of maple syrup and white balsamic vinegar. So essentially, it was dressed with bacon fat and maple syrup. Oh so healthy

Despite the fact that I just threw this salad together as an attempt to use up these persimmons purchased on a whim, it was delightful! The persimmons were sweet, the pomegranates were tart, the pancetta was salty, and the kale was lightly coated in maple vinaigrette. I had only intended to have half the salad for lunch, and save the rest for dinner, but before I knew it, the entire bowl was gone.

That happens more than I would like to admit.

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:87]

Watermelon, Feta and Cucumber Salad

August 10, 2016

I don’t know about you, but it was drilled into me from high school through grad school, “cite your sources!”. It’s now a huge pet peeve of mine when people (especially bloggers) don’t acknowledge the source of the inspiration. That’s why I have no problem telling you where the inspiration for my recipes comes from (got to give credit where credit is due!), Like this particular salad which was 99.9% inspired by this recipe.

I saw it posted over at the Kitchn, and I was smitten. I mean, it’s just so pretty! I had to make it the first chance I got. Fortunately, that chance would come pretty quickly when I had to make a salad to bring to our Small Group dinner on Sunday.

The salad was pretty much constructed based on the picture alone and I didn’t actually consult the recipe (not that I needed to, the picture speaks for itself). That’s why my recipe is just a tad different, like the addition of lettuce, dressing, red onions, and balsamic reduction.

I started with a bed of romaine lettuce that I lightly dressed with some white balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I topped it with the spiralized cucumber that I cut into smaller noddles to make it easier to serve and eat. Next came the watermelon balls and the chucks of feta. I kept my feta pretty big because I wanted everyone to get a big hunk of cheese with every bite. I then topped it with thinly sliced red onion, mint, and the balsamic glaze (from Trader Joes).

All of these flavors go so well together. The sweet from the watermelon, crispness of the cucumber, saltiness from the feta, bitterness from the onion, and tangy-ness from the balsamic. It reminds me a lot of one of my favorite (and super easy) appetizers. It’s so refreshing and flavorful. It’s a great salad to make during these hot and muggy dog days of summer.

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:66]

Tzatziki Pasta Salad

June 20, 2016

My husband and I recently tried a new Mediterranean restaurant in town that serves the best tzatziki dip and pita bread. It is thick and creamy, and packed with a ton of flavor from the various herbs. As I was eating it I was trying to pick out all the flavors so I could make my own version at home. Then the wheels kept turning and I for some reason got it in my head that this dip would be great on a Greek-inspired pasta salad. I had no idea if it would actually work, but I thought I would give it a shot and find out! Fortunately my husband was out of town when I tested this recipe, so if it didn’t work, no one would be the wiser.

Even though tzatziki is pretty light, (made with just Greek yogurt, lemon juice, and some herbs and spices) I knew that it would make the pasta salad feel heavier than it is since it is so rich and creamy. So to balance out the richness, I used lots of fresh vegetables and some whole wheat bow tie pasta. The vegetables are pretty similar to those you would find in your Greek salad – red onion, tomato, and cucumber. I also threw in some artichoke hearts that I had in my freezer.

To make eating easier, all the veggies were chopped to roughly the same size. I deseeded a cucumber, slicing it into eight wedges, then slicing the long wedges into smaller pieces. I also chopped up half a red onion into relatively large chunks to match the size of the cucumber and halved grape tomatoes. Since a big chunk of red onion might be a little too bitter, I soaked the pieces in some water before adding to the salad. This takes out that harsh bitter flavor from the raw onion.

I also threw in a healthy helping of feta cheese. As a What Gaby Cooking Snapchat follower, I know that the best feta cheese to buy is the bricks of feta soaked in brine which can easily be crumbled into pieces on top. Once it was mixed all together, the only thing left to add was the tzatziki sauce.

After some serious mixing (this makes a whole lot of pasta salad!) and a change in bowls, I dug right in eager to see how it turned out! Fortunately for me it was delicious! And very refreshing! The tzatziki has a wonderful mint flavor that just coats all the vegetables which make this such a wonderful Summer pasta salad.

Not only is it a great dish to make for a Summer picnic or barbeque, but it is pretty healthy too! I used 2% Greek yogurt, because I think it tastes better than the non fat version, and a little olive oil in the sauce. And other than that there is hardly any fat – and the fat that is in there is good, healthy fat. It is also packed with lots of vegetables, lemon juice, and garlic, and herbs that all have their own health benefits.

Have I sold you yet? Well, if a pasta salad with Greek yogurt is what is holding you back, you could easily make a Greek style dressing using almost all the same ingredients as the tzatziki, but swapping the yogurt for some vinegar and tossing the salad in that. That would be equally delicious!! And now you have no excuse not to make it!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:47]

Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad

June 8, 2016

Have you met anyone that loves beets? Like, are beets anyone’s favorite root vegetable? I would bet dollars to donuts that they are not. I am not sure anyone goes around craving the earthy taste of beets. While I am not a huge fan of these red roots, I have grown to appreciate them because they are just so darn good for you! I mean, they better be or else why would we eat something that tastes like dirt (in my opinion).

While Michelle was in town (we did a lot of cooking while she was here which is why you’ve seen her mentioned in the last two recipes), I wanted to try making a tasty beet salad. We researched some various recipes to get some inspiration, but we knew we wanted to roast the beets in some way to temper that earthy flavor and we also knew we wanted to use goat cheese, because we love goat cheese!

In the end we essentially adapted this Giada beet salad recipe into our roasted beet and arugula salad. She had an easy recipe for roasted the beets which we liked, and a lot of the ingredients she used we already had in the fridge. What we didn’t have, we improvised.

The first step in all of this is to roast the beets. Well, actually it was to boil the beets because the beets must be boiled first before you can do anything with them. If I had know that before, I would have bought the already boiled beets from Trader Joes. But I did learn a lot about boiling them:

Bring water to a boil
Add lemon juice or vinegar (keeps the beets from “bleeding” too much)
Boil for 30-45 minutes, depending on size.
If you have various sized beets, you may need to boil some longer than others

Finally, when the beets were good and boiled, I could peel and slice them.

We tossed the sliced beets in the shallot vinaigrette then roasted them in the oven for about 15 minutes. We followed the Giada recipe to a tee on this one.

While all of that was going on, we assembled the rest of the salad. And by we, I mean Michelle. I just took pictures (it was so nice to have a helper in the kitchen so I could get some action shots)!

The base of the salad is a mix of arugula and spinach and we tossed in roasted pistachios, pomegranate seeds, and goat cheese. Just before serving we added in the avocado and beets, then tossed everything in the same vinaigrette that we roasted the beets in.

Despite my previous words on beets, I actually enjoyed the beets once they were roasted. Roasting them in the vinaigrette cuts some of their earthiness and makes them a tad sweet. It really balances out the creaminess of the goat cheese and tartness of the pomegranate seeds. I absolutely enjoyed this salad and have even bought more beets (already boiled) to make a version of this again for my weekday lunches.

Plus this salad has so many healthy benefits going on in it with the spinach and arugula, beets, pomegranate, avocado, and pistachios. It is packed with so many vitamins and nutrients. And the beets are actually tasty! Who knew that could happen?

If you make this, let me know what you think! Especially if you’re not typically a beet fan. I promise these beets aren’t going to taste like the canned version you might have been forced to eat when you were a kid. They are actually good!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:40]

Burger Bowl

May 16, 2016

For those of you who have been on a diet before can definitely understand how hard it is to eat out. You have to question everything that goes into the dish, including that things were cooked in, or whether they have found a way to sneak in sugar or fat somewhere you would least expect it. One the easiest things for me to eat out while on the Whole 30 was a burger, oddly enough. Of course I became that annoying customer who had to modify just about everything, but I had ordering burgers down to a science (“I’ll have the Classic Burger, no bun, no condiments, and can I add avocado on top?”).

Then one day the most magical thing happened – I discovered the burger bowl! One of our favorite burger spots in town actually makes a deconstructed burger in a giant bowl. It was amazing! It was pretty much made for anyone who is eating Paleo. It didn’t have any condiments or dressing and I didn’t have to change anything on my order (“One burger bowl, please!”). It felt so good not to be the high maintenance customer again. I knew I had to add this to my list of Whole 30 meals!

The burger bowl is incredibly easy to put together. I start with a bed of romaine lettuce that I tossed in lemon juice and olive oil. I then added some thick slices of tomato, grilled onions, and some roasted sweet potatoes (to add that french fry element). Then I topped it all with a 4 ounce burger patty that is simply seasoned with salt and pepper.

I actually topped this off with some condiments because I had to cut this round of Whole 30 short thanks to an ill-timed case of food poisoning. I wanted to add just a little bit more flavor (and color) to the bowl, but its not like it really needed it.

And just like the burger bowl at Bang Bang burger, this one totally hit the spot! It satisfied that craving for a juicy burger without that pesky bun. Who needs a bun anyways?

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:31]

Thai Salmon and Spiralized Vegetable Salad

April 22, 2016

I had something else planned to post today, but I couldn’t wait to share with you how I used my new spiralizer! As some of you may have seen on Snapchat, I picked up a spiralizer attachment for my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer this past weekend. I immediately came home and spiralized just about everything I could find…or everything in my fridge that could be spiralized (and a couple things that couldn’t). In the end I was left with a huge bowl of zucchini, cucumber, carrot, and bell peppers. What is a girl to do with all those veggie noodles.

It only seemed appropriate with the mix of vegetables that I do something Asian inspired. And since I had some salmon in the freezer, Thai Salmon it was! I knew it would go perfectly with the cashew dressing I had in mind for the veggie noodles!

For the salmon, I marinated it in a mixture of soy sauce and chili powder for about an hour, then broiled it for a few minutes until it was cooked through. It was so easy! Sometimes I forget how easy salmon is to cook at home.

The cashew dress was a little bit more complicated, but it was oh, so worth it! Normally I would make a peanut dressing using peanut butter, but I’m avoiding that right now (thanks, Whole 30) so I used cashews instead. If you don’t like cashews, you can easily replace the cashews with peanuts (or peanut butter). Since cashew butter is hard to find, I just ground up some cashews into basically a butter consistency, then mixed in some soy sauce, coconut milk, chili powder, and cilantro.

Once the salmon and dressing were done, all that was left was to load up a bowl with some spiralized noodles and top it with the Thai salmon and cashew dressing.

Not only did we have this for dinner, but I also had it for lunch the next two days. It was so good! And that’s saying a lot for a girl who doesn’t totally love fish. The cashew dressing is delicious and the marinade on the salmon is so flavorful and just a little bit spicy. Enough to hide the fishy taste, which is very important for me.

If you aren’t a salmon lover, you can make this same salad with with chicken. You don’t have to replace any of the ingredients! I can see myself making up a big batch of spiralized vegetables and chicken for my lunches during this round of Whole 30, and even afterwards. That’s what I love about this recipe, is that even though it is Paleo, it’s not rub-it-in-your-face Paleo. Which is the best kind of Paleo.

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:22]

Berry Quinoa and Kale Salad

March 23, 2016

Kale-SaladB-1

I have been posting so many cookie and cake recipes lately I thought I should break it up and post something a bit healthier. Even I am starting to get a stomach ache from reading all these sugar-filled posts (yet as I write this, I am eating left over birthday cake)! So what better recipe to lighten things up than a kale salad?

I know kale isn’t everyone’s favorite. I only tolerate it because it is so healthy and I know I am being good to my body by eating it. That is, until recently when I finally figured out how to prepare kale for salads that makes kale more than tolerable…it actually makes it taste pretty good!

Kale Salad-1

I learned this trick from a friend of mine who always makes the best salads. Her trick to making kale edible is to massage the kale with lemon juice and letting it sit for about 10 minutes before adding on the extra toppings. Pretty high maintenance, I know…but it really makes a difference! The lemon juice helps to break down and tenderize the kale, plus it adds some extra, much-needed flavor.

Now my trick to making kale tolerable is to pile on all my favorite salad toppings like avocado, strawberries, and goat cheese.

Kale Salad-3

The best part is that each of these toppings is delicious on their own but they all have their own super power making this salad extra healthy!

Kale is packed with lots of fiber and is incredibly nutrient rich. Avocado and walnuts are loaded with heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids. Strawberries and blackberries are an excellent source of vitamin C. Chickpeas and quinoa are a great way to get some protein. And goat cheese adds some calcium to the party.

Kale Salad-5

Because there are so many flavors going on with the toppings, I didn’t want to over power the salad with a heavy dressing. I made a simple vinegrette with honey, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. It added the perfect amount of sweetness to cut through kale’s bitterness, and just a hint of acidity.

Kale Salad-6

This will surely be one of my go-to salads to make for lunch this Spring and Summer. It is light and refreshing, but is still hearty enough to make a complete meal. As different fruits and berries come into season, this salad is easily adaptable to other yummy ingredients.

What’s your favorite way to eat kale?

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:10]

Pear and Bacon Salad

November 16, 2015

There is nothing like a big healthy salad, topped with juicy, fresh pears and grapes and toasted pistachios. Then ditching the healthy part and throwing on a hefty portion of crispy bacon and goat cheese. Because just about everything is better with bacon and goat cheese….especially salads.

Since it is pear season, I have been picking up a couple at the grocery store every week hoping that they would inspire me to bake something with them. But instead they just sat there staring at me offering little inspiration. And before they get to squishy I would just eat them.

After a few weeks of this routine, I started to think outside of my normal “baking” box and decided make a salad with the pears. While I love salads, they are normally outside of my cooking comfort zone – I never have the right toppings on hand to make a killer salad and they end up just disappointing me. Until now.

I added in some grapes to accompany the pear and then some salty and crispy bacon and creamy goat cheese. The bacon and goat cheese also helped win my husband over who doesn’t even look at a salad if it doesn’t have meat and cheese. I will admit that the bacon does make this salad a bit heartier and transitions this into a main dish from a side dish.

So this salad has juicy pears, crisp grapes, salty bacon, and creamy goat cheese. What else does it need? Crunchy pistachios!! I toasted the pistachios in the oven while I prepped the rest of the salad, then sprinkled them on tip at the end. Once they everything it tossed together, it balanced out the textures from the rest of the ingredients.

To dress the salad, I made a simple vinaigrette with a white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. I actually used a pear cranberry balsamic which was lovely, but any balsamic will do just fine. There are so many flavors going on in the salad, the dressing shouldn’t over power them.

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Strawberry Caprese Salad

July 29, 2014

I love salads, but I am actually a little intimidated to make them at home. Restaurant salads include a variety of ingredients that 1) I normally wouldn’t pair together, or, 2) don’t keep on hand. If you told me to go make a salad right now all I could throw together is lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and baby carrots.

Which is why whenever I make a salad at home I default to a classic: the caprese. A traditional caprese salad is usually just fresh mozzarella, tomato slices, and basil. For a little jazzed up version I added fresh strawberries and crispy pancetta.

I started with a few strawberries I had left over from the farmers market, a plump tomato, and some freshly picked basil.

I also cubed up some left over bread, tossed them in a bit of olive oil and toasted them in the oven until they were crunchy and golden brown.

And I threw in the meat so that my husband would think of this as a meal and not just a side. I browned a small package of pancetta that I picked up in the deli section of my grocery store. If you want to make this recipe and can’t find pancetta, bacon would be the prefect substitute.

For the dressing I stuck with a simple homemade balsamic. There is so much flavor from the strawberries, tomatoes, and basil, you don’t really need anything too extravagant. To make the balsamic dressing I mixed 2 parts oil with 1 part balsamic, then added salt, pepper, and minced garlic to taste.

Then mix it all up and you got yourself a beautiful, and filling, salad!

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