Salmon Topped Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Managing healthy eating and a busy lifestyle is possible with advance planning! I am not one to meal prep the same meal for 5 days straight, but I do plan the week’s meals ahead. This allows me to spend more of my valuable time with my family since I only have to go to the grocery store once a week. Tonight’s dinner was prepped earlier in the day with directions for my husband to cook the salmon while I was at the gym. I got to come home from a killer CrossFit workout and enjoy a protein and veggie packed dinner waiting for me! Even better? Leftovers are ready to go for tomorrow’s lunches! This recipe makes enough deliciousness for four large salads.

This one isn’t only delicious for adults. Check out my 5 year old’s plate that she inhaled! She’s not a lettuce fan, so we improvised.

Ingredients:

• 4 serving sized pieces of salmon – 5 oz. each
• 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic – minced super fine
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• Salad Fixings (I divided the following among 4 salads: 3 hearts of romaine, 1 pt. grape tomatoes, 1 English cucumber, 1/4 thinly sliced onion)
• 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking pan with foil and place the salmon with skin side down on it. Squeeze the juice of half of the lemon on the fish. Sprinkle with thyme, salt & pepper to your liking, and half of the garlic. Cook for 13 minutes or until salmon flakes with a fork. While the salmon is cooking, prepare the salad veggies according to your taste on 4 plates and refrigerate until ready to serve. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 lemon’s juice, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper. When the salmon is cooked through, dress the salads with the vinaigrette and top with salmon. If saving portions for later, dress when ready to eat.

Fig & Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Salad

When explaining the paleo diet to people, they often say “no dairy means no eggs?!”…. Then I kindly remind them that eggs do not come from cows.  Neither does goat cheese.  While it isn’t the most paleo-friendly option, it sure is delicious!  This was so yummy and the ooey gooey goat cheese made it even better! Yes, “ooey gooey” is a technical term!

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

1 sprig thyme

1/4 cup goat cheese crumbles

6 fresh figs

2 plates fresh greens

1 pear – thinly sliced

1 Tbsp. honey

1 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp. olive oil + a drizzle

Salt and pepper to taste

1.  In a small bowl, mix half of the goat cheese and two figs diced.  Place a small slit in each chicken breast to create a pocket.  Stuff with goat cheese and fig mixture and seal shut with toothpicks.  Season with thyme leaves, salt, and pepper and set aside.

2.  Lay fresh greens on two plates.  Top with pears, half of the goat cheese and remaining figs that have been halved.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

3.  Whisk together white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and honey and set aside.

4.  Preheat a drizzle of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat.  Cook chicken while covered for 7-8 minutes per side.

5.  Top salads with chicken (remove the toothpicks too!) and pour the honey balsamic dressing over it.

Avocado Salsa Ahi Tuna Salad

If I am ever stuck for an idea for dinner, I know that Trader Joe’s will have a product that will inspire me.  I stumbled across their Avocado Salsa this week and decided that I just had to try it.  Wow, yum!  I could eat avocado on pretty much anything, so when I saw it turned into salsa I was delighted!  Don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you?  Use your favorite salsa instead!  Super easy, super fast, super yummy!!!

Tropical Shrimp Salad

You learn something new every day!  Did you know that the same substance that makes people allergic to poison ivy is in the skin of a mango?  I have spent my entire relationship with my hubby refraining from eating mango because he had a reaction to it.  Well, we just found out that it’s just the peel of it, so as long as I had it all prepared we could enjoy it!  Thank goodness, because this meal was delicious!  As the weather is warming up, fresh crisp salads seem to taste even better than usual!

Salmon Topped Power Greens Salad

This is such a refreshing meal that will leave you completely satisfied!  It is so nutrient dense that you will know you are treating your body right as you nosh on this tasty meal!  My local supermarket has bagged “power greens”.  It’s a mix of spinach, baby bok choy, and baby red & green chard.  If you cannot find this are your store, you can substitute baby spinach and it will be just as tasty!

Chop ‘n Stir Avocado Salad

When you have great ingredients, any salad instantly becomes better! Keeping with the theme of trying to keep up with my garden. This was a super easy and delicious side dish to our dinner tonight. Make sure to make the tomatoes and cucumbers in advance, but wait on the cucumbers so that they don’t turn brown.

Ingredients:
1 large tomato
1 cucumber
1 avocado
10 basil leaves – finely chopped
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

1. At least one hour prior to serving, chop tomato and avocado. Mix in a medium bowl with the lemon juice, olive oil, and basil. Stir, cover and refrigerate.
2. When ready to serve, peel and chop avocado and mix in with salt and pepper to taste.

Tomato Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette

O. M. G. How has no one ever come up with this before?! Ok, that is a bold statement, but I have never seen a dressing come close to this. I hope to say that I was the very first person ever to think it up, but there is no way that no one else has stumbled upon this incredible concoction before!

Our basil is starting to grow like a weed, a good weed that is! I was looking for a side salad to have with out meal tonight, so I decided to whip this up. It is absolutely scrumptious.

Ingredients:
2 large ripe tomatoes
10 leaves basil
1 Tbsp. pine nuts
1 small clove garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Cut tomatoes into wedges and refrigerate to get cold.
2. Place remaining ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Drizzle dressing over tomatoes, toss, and enjoy!

Spicy Asian Sugar Snap Salad

Tis the season for outdoor barbecues! Fa la la la la, la la la la.

We are psyched to go to my parents’ house this evening for some grilling and fireworks! Being on the Advocare 24 Day Challenge, it makes eating dinner away from my kitchen a bit sketchy. By bringing my own side dish that could double as my dinner just incase I can’t find anything else, it takes the pressure off me.

Our garden is thriving, and I want to share its yumminess with my family at tonight’s get together. The sugar snap peas won’t last much longer, so I decided to whip together a refreshing salad with them!

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar snap peas
1 can sliced water chestnuts – drained
1 Tbsp. hot chili sesame oil
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. crushed ginger
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. sesame seeds
1 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)

1. In a small bowl, create dressing by whisking together hot chili sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic powder, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes.
2. Place sugar snaps and water chestnuts in a large mixing bowl. Pour dressing over and gently mix.
3. Transfer to a serving bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

Paleo Coconut Crusted Crab Cake Salad with Lemon Vinegrette

This meal is scrumptious! These crab cakes can be served over salad as per the recipe, on their own as an appetizer (make them mini!), or even on a sandwich!

There are many substitutions that can be made as well. Not here for paleo? Substitute bread crumbs for the almond meal. Mayo can be any mayo of your choice – paleo, low fat, or good old Helmans! Don’t have scallions? Throw in chives or leeks. Not a fan of coconut? Skip it and replace with either almond flour or breadcrumbs.
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Crab Cake Ingredients:
8 oz. lump crab meat
1/4 cup finely chopped red and green bell peppers
2 Tbsp. chopped scallions
1 egg
1 Tbsp. paleo mayonnaise
2/3 cup almond flour
1/4 tsp. pepper
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup coconut flakes

Salad Ingredients:
1 head of lettuce
1 tomato cut in wedges
Remainder of peppers from crab cake ingredients – chopped

Dressing Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
Juice of one lemon
1/4 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
1/4 tsp. pepper
Pinch of salt

1. Whisk together dressing ingredients in a small measuring cup and set aside.
2. Create two plates with a mound of salad ingredients and refrigerate to chill until ready to serve.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, fold together all crab cake ingredients EXCEPT coconut flakes (hands work best).
4. Form 2 inch patties out of the crab cake mixture and place on a plate or cookie sheet. Sprinkle coconut flakes on both sides of each patty.
5. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium high heat, and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Sauté cakes until brown on both sides (about 3 minutes per side).
6. Plate crab cakes on top of salads and drizzle with dressing

Sweet Grilled Beet and Chicken Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette

I started the Advocare 24 Day Challenge again today in preparation for our wedding that is very rapidly approaching. I started this blog because recipes were so hard to find while on the challenge, so expect a lot of postings in the near future.

As I have said before, I am a beet freak. Well, our garden beets are ready! This will be our first time tasting our garden creation! My fiancé and his kids went strawberry picking last weekend, which has led to a surplus of strawberries around here, so why not turn the, into a delicious dressing?

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
3 medium beets – peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 head of lettuce – washed and cut into salad sized pieces
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegrette
3 strawberries
2 Tbsp. chopped walnuts
Salt & pepper

1. Preheat the grill to medium high.
2. In a mixing bowl, stir together beets, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Grill for 20 minutes, turning halfway through.
3. While the beets are cooking, drizzle 1Tbsp. olive oil, 1 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper over the chicken breasts. Grill for about 5 minutes per side until done.
4. While chicken is cooking, blend together the strawberries, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender until smooth and set vinaigrette
aside.
5. Top a large pile of lettuce with chicken, beets, and walnuts, and drizzle vinaigrette on top.