Tuscan Style Baby Zucchini Salad

Baby Zucchini Salad 

with Fresh Mozzarella, Sun Dried Tomatoes & Fresh Basil

Sometimes I get such immense cravings for specific flavor combinations that I can't eat anything else until I satisfy it. This happened not so long ago when a craving for Italian food took over. Seeing as I am not one for cooking Italian (I can cook pretty much anything except for some good Italian food) or going out for it as I know I'll carb out and feel gross after, I decided to take a stab at creating a salad that would incorporate the flavors I was craving. I'm sure you noticed that I do this often, as I truly believe it's a great way to eat anything you want while still being healthy. After deducing exactly what flavors in the Italian family I wanted, I went shopping. While at Trader Joe's I saw these adorable, little baby zucchinis and knew immediately that this salad was going to revolve around them. Turned out this was a great choice because the salad was delish! It definitely was a meal in itself, so I wouldn't serve it with anything too heavy. That being said, there was plenty leftover which made for great lunches all week. Hope that it works out for you and yours! Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups baby spinach
• 2-3oz fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 1 package baby zucchini (about 8), sliced in half vertically
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, sliced and not packed in oil
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chiffonaded
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

Heat oven to 350 (or grill these little guys for an even better flavor).  Spray baking sheet with non stick spray. Place zucchinis on backing sheet, spreading out evently. Drizzle roughly 1 Tbsp olive oil on zucchinis, coating evenly. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Once oven is heated, place and bake until soft and slightly browned.

While zucchini is baking, slice cheese and chiffonade basil. Toss spinach with remaining olive oil, salt & pepper. Plate. Top with sliced mozz and sun dried tomatoes. Once zucchinis are done, add them to the plated salad. Sprinkle basil on top. Serve and enjoy!

A Different Side of Lamb

Spinach Salad with Stewed Tomatoes, Feta Cheese  

with Pistachio Dressing

It was my first week on the new job, and the bf's dad was in town staying with us for a few of days. In an effort to avoid eating out all week (yes people, I'm watching my waistline these days as I need to don a bikini in four short weeks) I offered to make us all dinner. Knowing that I needed this meal to be simple and quick, and also knowing I am WAY behind on my blog posts, I decided that a CG salad needed to be part of the meal. I also decided that I would make a couple racks of lamb seeing as it's the favorite meat among the group. After going for a really great run, I came back not wanting anything heavy- too bad I already decided on lamb for dinner. So, I figured I'd keep the lamb as simple as possible, and turn the salad into an accompanying dish, choosing ingredients that one often finds in a lamb dish itself. Turned out that this tactic worked really well and this salad is really good. You can easily serve it on it's own or pair it with another dish if lamb isn't your thing. But if it is, you've found yourself a new meal. Hope you enjoy. Bon appetit!

Ingredients: (serves 4)

• 3-4 cups baby spinach
• 1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes 
• 3oz sheep's milk feta, crumbled
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp pistachio nut meat
•  salt & pepper to taste

Spray small saucepan with non-stick spray. Add grape tomatoes and heat over medium heat uncovered. Add water or vegetable broth as needed so tomatoes don't burn. Remove from stove when soft but still holding shape. Set aside.

Place pistachio meat in a small bowl. Using a muddling tool, grind nuts until they are about the size of peppercorns. Add olive oil, salt and pepper and mix together. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine spinach, tomatoes and pistachio dressing. Toss until evenly coated. Top with feta cheese. Serve and enjoy!

Curried Chicken Salad - The Healthy Way

Curried Chicken Salad 

with Grapes, Walnuts & Celery

As most of you who live in New England know, it gets harder and harder to find fresh greens this time of year. I mean even the kale is looking pretty bad which is saying something. So I figured it was a good opportunity to make some non-green based salads. (Be prepared, there may be a few of these in the next couple weeks) I absolutely love chicken salad, but always feel a bit gross after eating it cause of all the mayo. So, I decided to give an alternative recipe a shot. I really had no idea what I was doing, and mixed & measured until I came up with the taste and consistency I liked. It is super simple, super healthy and packed with protein. I had it a few different ways on a couple different days (the recipe below makes enough for like a week's worth of meals- perf for bringing lunch to work!). The picture below is served over romaine hearts, avocado & red pepper slices, however I also had it in a whole wheat pita, over mixed greens and on its own as a pre-gym snack. It turned out to be super yummy and something I will def be making again. Hope you enjoy! Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 cup red grapes, sliced in half
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 6-12oz non-fat Greek yogurt (more yogurt = creamier)
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• salt & pepper to taste

Cook chicken breasts in a pan or oven, unseasoned. While chicken is cooking slice celery and grapes, and measure other ingredients. Once chicken is cooked, set aside and let cool.

Dice chicken into 1/2 in chunks. Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl until fully mixed. Add salt & pepper to taste as you go. Enjoy!

The Quickie

Avocado, Feta, Tomato & Mixed Pepper Salad

It seems that salad greens of any sort are always the first to run out in my house. This is probably because I use them for more than just salad, but regardless by middle/end of the week my fridge is usually stocked with veggies sans the greens. This was just the case the other night when I came home late one evening starving. I hadn't eaten dinner (did I mention it was late?) and wanted something before crashing but nothing heavy. Naturally, I started to rummage around for salad fixings and realized I was out of greens. Too hungry and too tired to think of a new game plan, I started pulling out whatever veggies were left and made the delish concoction below. This literally took about 7 minutes to make and hit the spot. Sometimes that's all you need. Hope you enjoy! Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 avocado
• 1 oz sheep's milk feta
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• 3 hot peppers
• 1/2 Meyer lemon
• 2 tsp olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

In a bowl combine all ingredients. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Enjoy!

The Non-Burger Burger Salad

Sauteed Mushroom, Onion & Grass Fed Steak Salad

with Chevre & Slivered Almonds

I had been craving a burger for days. Usually I would have just satisfied this craving and had a burger, (yes people, I believe that if you crave something you should eat it otherwise if you're anything like me, you'll end up eating all sorts of others things that you don't actually want or need until you have that burger) but we had already been out for dinner once this week and I have another dinner date coming up before the week's out. I try to only eat out once a week (obvi this doesn't always happen) as I find that the weeks I don't I easily end up carrying around an extra pound or two. Knowing that this week eating out more than once was unavoidable, I tapped into what exactly about the burger I was craving. For those of you that don't know me, I eat my burger the same way every time if possible- sauteed mushrooms, onions (peppers on occasion), cheese, lettuce, banana peppers (if available) and Russian dressing. Delish, right? Yeah, I know. After thinking about this decadent burger I realized that what I wanted was the meat, and the creamy goodness of those sauteed veggies and cheese. So how to have that while still eating clean? The salad below spells it out nicely. It was super tasty, hit the spot, and killed the craving. Bon appetit!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 3-4 cups mixed greens
• 1 grass fed top sirloin steak (or any other cut of lean steak)
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced into thin strips
• 1/2 pkg baby bella mushrooms, pre-sliced
• 1 oz soft goat cheese
• 1 tsp slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp Bosari original seasoning
• salt & pepper, to taste

Spray medium saucepan with non-stick spray. Add onions and let them sweat. Add mushrooms and vegetable broth. Stir occasionally until veggies are fully cooked. 

Set over to broiler on high temp. While veggies are cooking season steak, place on broiler pan, and pop into oven. Cook steak to desired temp (I like mine medium rare which was about 10min in the broiler plus rest time), pull from oven and let rest 5-10 minutes.

While steak & veggies cook, toss greens with olive oil in a large bowl. Plate greens.

Remove onions and mushrooms from pan and top greens with them. Crumble goat cheese on top of cooked veggies. Add almonds to the goat cheese. 

Once steak has rested, slice and plate with salad. Enjoy!
   

Jicama, Avocado & Sauteed Shrimp Salad

Jicama, Avocado & Sauteed Shrimp Salad

with Walnuts in a Citrus Vinaigrette

I love the word jicama. I like writing it, I like saying it and I LOVE using it as an ingredient in salads. It had been a crazy week for us and by Friday night not only was I exhausted but I was starving by the time I got home from the gym. I knew this was going to most likely be the case, so I had prepped this salad before heading out the door leaving only the sauteing and plating to do when I returned. After a brutal workout, my body was in desperate need of fresh foods and vitamins. It was also Feb 1st and a number of us have decided to really focus on clean eating for the month of Feb, mainly to wash out all that holiday indulgence. Anyway, I made the salad and boy was it good! It was simple, clean, delish and FAST. Perfect too-tired-to-cook dinns. I highly recommend it as we really enjoyed this one. Hope you do too! Bon appetit!

Ingredients*:

• 4 cups spring mix greens
• 16 medium count deveined & peeled shrimp, raw (no idea what a real serving size is but I was HUNGRY)
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/4 jicama, peeled & sliced
• 4 tsp walnuts
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 Tbsp citrus champagne vinegar
• 2 tsp Adobo seasoning, with pepper
• 1/8 cup fat free chicken broth
• 2 sl Meyer lemon (optional)
• salt & pepper to taste

*Serves 2
 
Peel and slice jicama into thin strips. Set aside. 

Spray a medium sauce pan with non-stick spray. Once heated add shrimp, Adobo & chicken broth (you can substitute water here if you like). Let shrimp cook until done, stirring occasionally.

While shrimp cooks toss greens in olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper. Plate. Top greens with jicama. Slice avocado and add to plate. Remove shrimp from stove, add to plate. Top with walnuts and serve with slice of lemon. Enjoy!

Endive & Beet Salad

Endive and Beet Salad 

with Chevre & Almond Slivers

I only have one homemade salad dressing recipe. Perhaps this is because 1. it's only been recently that I ever followed any recipes (I don't bake), and; 2. it's the only salad dressing my mom ever made. Realizing I had yet to share my childhood Dijon vinaigrette, I brainstormed a salad that would really show it off and came up with this little gem. This is by far the easiest, least prep salad on the blog to date (or it is if you buy ready to eat beets like I did). It is also a salad that will not be to everyone's taste as many folks don't like beets, or endives for that matter. However, I adore these flavors and this made for a perfect lunch. I recommend chopping the salad for easier eating; the picture below was only for presentation, promise. Hope you enjoy as much as I did! Bon appetit!

Salad Ingredients:

• 2 endive 
• 2 baby beets (I used the Trader Joe's ready to eat & serve kind found in the refrigerated section)
• 1 oz goat cheese (chevre)
• 2 tsp slivered almonds, unsalted

Dressing Ingredients*:

• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• 1 fl oz balsamic vinegar
• 2 fl oz red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• salt & pepper, to taste 

Dressing:
Separate egg yolk. Place yolk in bowl or jar. Add remaining ingredients to yolk. Whisk until blended, smooth and egg yolk & mustard are thoroughly dissolved.

Salad:
Remove outer leaves of endive if any are brown. Chop endive and beets, place in a salad bowl or plate. Add goat cheese and almonds. Drizzle with 2-3 tsp of vinaigrette. Add fresh ground pepper if desired. Enjoy!

*Recipe yields 1/2 cup of dressing. Use left overs in future salads!

Playoffs Salad Round II

Baby Spinach Salad

with Granny Smith Apple, Walnuts & Brie

Last weekend was packed with great football. I woke up Sunday morning beyond excited for the Pat's game, and we decided last min to have some people over to watch. This of course meant preparing a feast of snacks. I knew that I wanted to make a healthy version of some of my fav pub food and I wanted a salad to pair with it. I also knew that I had about an hour to prep and cook everything seeing as we had to take the tree down (I know, we've been busy!) and I had to shop. Luckily I was able to get it all done by game time and if you follow me on Instagram you've seen the spread I put out- it was intense. I went with this salad for a couple reasons. 1. It's super easy, quick and delish. 2. I felt that the brie added an indulgence that for me is synonymous with football snacks/pub fare. The salad turned out great and as you can see below I made A TON. I kept the dressing on the side so the good news is that we had yummy leftovers for lunch and dinner this week. Hope you enjoy as much as we did. Bon appetit!

Ingredients (for single serving):

•  1-2 cups baby spinach
• 1/4 granny smith apple, sliced thin
• 1/8 cup walnuts, halved or chopped
• 1/8 oz brie (if you want a healthier version swap regular brie for goat brie)
• 1 Tbsp Fig-Walnut Vinaigrette*

Put brie in fridge to harden (makes it easier to slice). Slice apples. Plate spinach. Top with apple, brie and walnuts. Let salad sit until brie has softened. Dress and serve. Enjoy!

*I use Lucini which can be found at Whole Foods or online here.

Baby Kale & Blood Orange Salad

Baby Kale & Blood Orange Salad

with Shaved Fennel & Sheep's Milk Feta

Yes people, it's true, I am OBSESSED with kale. So much so that I want to eat it at almost every meal (which is killing the bf). I'm also obsessed with this salad. It was almost too good. Def one that I will be making time and again. Borrowed and reworked from a Bon Appetit recipe that a friend passed along (that one called for grapefruit & avocado with the kale), this is a new fav. I know that sheep's milk feta was used in the salad last week, but I have a lot left over and don't want it to go to waste. This salad could def go without the cheese altogether or goat cheese would be a nice substitute. I will also say that if you can't easily find blood orange infused olive oil, juice a couple of sections and mix it into some regular olive oil to get the flavor in the dressing. I served this with seared tuna (and whole wheat couscous for the man). All in all it was a hit. Hope you enjoy! Oh, and please pardon the unattractive looking fennel shavings- haven't gotten that technique down yet. Bon appetit! 

Ingredients:

• 1-2 cups baby kale
• 1 blood orange
• 1/4 fennel bulb, shaved
• 1-2oz sheep's milk feta
• 1 1/2 Tbsp blood orange infused olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Shave fennel and set aside. Peel and section blood orange. Slice sections in half and set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl toss all ingredients together. Plate and serve. Enjoy!

Sauteed Portabella Mushroom Salad

Sauteed Portabella Mushroom Salad

with sheep's milk feta

Back in the day, for a number of years, I worked as a server at Baba Louie's Pizza in Gt. Barrington, MA. If you've never been to GB or Baba Louie's, you gotta go. Not only is the town picturesque and the pizza some of the best I've ever had, both places are also home to some of the best people on earth. It's probably only fair to credit my salad obsession to Baba Louie's. As you can glean from their menu, they have some of the most incredible salads. As a server we got to experiment a lot in the kitchen, often creating some interesting salad concoctions. The salad below is an amendment to one of my favs on the menu. It will never taste quite like it does coming out of the Baba's kitchen, but it's pretty damn close. Hope you enjoy as much as I do. Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

• 1-2 cups mixed greens
• 1 portabella mushroom, sliced
• 1 oz sheep's milk feta
• 2 tsp balsamic vinaigrette (of choice)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

Spray small sautee pan with cooking spray. Once pan is heated add mushrooms. Sprinkle mushrooms with salt & pepper. Add 2 tsp balsamic vinaigrette and evenly coat mushroom slices. Sautee mushrooms until lightly browned and all liquid is cooked off. Add 1/4 cup water to the pan & cover until mushrooms are thoroughly cooked.

While mushrooms are cooking, toss greens with olive oil. Place greens on plate and top with feta & cooked portabellas. Enjoy!

Keeping it Simple... and Light

Arugula & Tomato Salad 

with walnuts

New Years Day turned out to be a day of nursing the sick. It also meant an opportunity to finally get past the holidays and back to normal, healthy meals. I woke up New Years morning craving seafood. I wanted everything from New England clam chowder to filet of sole. A quick trip to Whole Foods to get the necessary meds for the ill boyfriend led me to exploring the fish counter. Without hesitation, I immediately decided that crab cakes would be the dinner that rang in 2013. After getting home with the groceries, I also realized that I didn't plan a single side dish let alone a salad. Luckily I had a few staples in the house which led me to this super simple, super healthy and super tasty salad below. It is by no means creative genius, but it leaves plenty of room for those that want to add ingredients and spice it up. It's a great compliment to any light seafood meal and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups arugula
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 chopped walnuts
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

 In a mixing or salad bowl combine all ingredients. Toss until evenly coated with lemon juice & olive oil. Plate & serve. Enjoy!