Tag Archives: salad

Tossed Salad & Scrambled Eggs

2 Replies

Need a quick go-to meal that includes protein and veggies? My quick fix meal is tossed salad and scrambled eggs (yes, I’m a fan of Frasier..:-)). You can add all sorts of veggies, cheeses, or leftover cooked meats for a delicious quick meal!

Here’s a my super fast recipe for scrambled eggs. Basically you put some oil in the pan and add whatever raw veggies/meats you wish, cooking for a few minutes, then crack the eggs directly into the pan stirring occasionally until no longer runny. Add cheese at the end, and mix it in by fluffing a bit with fork and serve!

Blog tossed salad eggs

Ingredients

  • Eggs
  • Oil for cooking
  • Veggies (my favorites include chopped asparagus, fresh spinach, artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes)
  • Cheese (my favorite is goat, but try cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan or pepper jack or others)
  • Fresh herbs, spices, salt & pepper (to taste)
  • Cooked meats (bacon, chopped ham, etc)

Directions

  • Heat oil and saute herbs and veggies (onion until it’s translucent and garlic until fragrant if using either) for a few minutes
  • Crack eggs directly into pan and stir occasionally until eggs are no longer runny
  • Add cheese and salt/pepper to taste
  • Serve with tossed salad (salad greens + oil + balsamic vinaigrette)

Enjoy! 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Grilled Chicken, Onion, Plum, and Goat Cheese Salad

5 Replies

I had a craving for the Grilled Chicken, Onions, and Peaches with Avocado Tomato Salsa the other night.  I didn’t have any peaches on hand though and sadly my avocado’s weren’t ripe yet, so I did a variation and used some plums!

It wasn’t as delicious, but a close 2nd… 🙂blog Grilled Chicken Onions and Plum Salad with Goat Cheese Salad-4Ingredients (to serve 4)

  • 8 plums (I used ones that were almost ripe, but still a little on the firm side)
  • 4 boneless chicken breasts
  • 1 large sweet onion
  • 10 cherry tomatos (I used orange ones)
  • 4 Tablespoons of goat cheese
  • Handful of diced almonds
  • 4-6 Cups of salad greens.  Your choice, but I like to use a mix that has both spinach and arugula, because those wilt nicely.
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil (amount not measured, but will describe in instructions :))
  • Sea Salt and Pepper
  • Trader Joe’s Reduced Balsamic Glaze.

Directions

  • Light your grill and set it to a medium heat.
  • Cut your onion into 1/2 inch slices
  • Season the chicken breasts and onion with olive oil, sea salt and pepper.
  • Set both on the grill for 8-10 minutes (depending on the size of your chicken breasts)
  • Cut plums in half and lightly coat with olive oil and a little bit of sea salt.
  • At the 8-10 minute mark, flip both the chicken and onion and add the plums to the grill.
  • Cook everything for another 8-10 minutes until chicken cooked all the way through.blog Grilled Chicken Onions and Plum Salad with Goat Cheese Salad-2
  • During the cooking, cut tomatoes and break up the goat cheese over the salad greens in a big bowl.
  • Layer everything together.  Drizzle a little bit of olive oil and Trader Joe’s Glaze over each serving and ENJOY!!! 🙂blog Grilled Chicken Onions and Plum Salad with Goat Cheese Salad-8dit-elle-Lauren

 

Costco Hack- Grilled Chicken and Onion Salad with Kale, Broccoli, and Avocado

Leave a reply

As a working mother of 2 teenage stepsons and a toddler, dinners aren’t always what I imagine or want them to be.  If I can make them reasonably healthy, easy, and edible I count it as a major win!  So, you know who gets a lot of our grocery business?  Costco!  I don’t have the time, patience or wallet to go to all the various grocery stores, and if you have a bigger family-Costco is a home run.  So, I do a lot of what I like to call “Costco Hacks”.  The term “Ikea Hack” has become pretty well known as a term of making something inexpensive into something that doesn’t look inexpensive at all, and I think that the same can be made of food!

You can totally do that with Costco/Trader Joe’s too!  Especially if you have a family.  Gather a bunch of ingredients, and then make them into meals that are healthy, relatively easy, and enjoyable across the board!  And above all…share with the rest of us!!!

So…for my first official “Costco Hack” installment… Everything in this salad is from Costco.

And sadly, I know I could have made it look better, but I got the idea to take pictures after I had tossed it all together.  Which jumbled it all and made it look messy.  I guarantee it tasted a LOT better than it looked 🙂

There’s something about the grilled onion diced up into the salad.  It added such a yummy flavor, that I do it almost every time we grill for dinner!Blog Costco Grilled Chicken and Onion Kale Avocado Brussel Sprout Salad-3 Blog Costco Grilled Chicken and Onion Kale Avocado Brussel Sprout Salad-2 Blog Costco Grilled Chicken and Onion Kale Avocado Brussel Sprout Salad-1Ingredients

  • 4 Individual Chicken Breasts (frozen then defrosted)
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • Olive oil and salt and pepper to coat both chicken and onions (to taste)
  • 1 Avocado
  • Handful of Cherry Tomatos
  • 2 Handfuls of Mixed Greens
  • 2 Handfuls of the “Sweet Kale Frise Chou Doux” Mix
  • One pouch of the Poppyseed Dressing.
  • Cheese of your choice.  I was going to do some goat cheese, but I had some Parmesan on hand and that was yummy too.  A little goes a long way with all the other flavors, so use sparingly and it will still be delicious!

Directions

  • Heat your grill to medium heat.
  • Marinate defrosted chicken in olive oil and salt and pepper
  • Slice your onion to 1/2 inch thickness and coat with olive oil and salt and pepper
  • Place Chicken Breasts and Onions slices on grill for 8-10 minutes (depending on size) then flip and cook again for 8-10 minutes (depending on size)
  • Toss the various greens together.
  • Add Avocado and tomatoes.
  • Once chicken and onions are done, dice them up and add them to the mix.
  • Sprinkle with cheese of your choice, add dressing and toss to ENJOY!

Kale Salad with Chicken and Avocado

Leave a reply

This is a wonderful paleo salad with Creamy Lemon Garlic Dressing – add chicken and avocado – and call it dinner!

Blog kale chicken avocado salad-2 Blog kale chicken avocado salad-1

Ingredients

  • large bunch of kale deveined and chopped finely
  • 1/2c dried black current, raisins or cranberries
  • 1/2c. toasted sunflower seeds
  • 1 avocado, peeled and sliced
  • 2-3 cups of chopped cooked chicken or turkey
  • One batch Creamy Lemon Garlic Dressing

Thanks for the inspiration: http://cavemanstrong.com/2014/08/paleo-kale-salad/

dit-elle-Esther

Creamy Lemon Garlic Dressing

2 Replies

This is a wonderful paleo dressing – great for salads, on roast chicken or as a dip! On Thursday I’ll post a recipe for Kale Chicken Avocado salad with this dressing! 🙂

Blog garlic lemon paleo dressing

Creamy Lemon Garlic Paleo Dressing

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c olive oil
  • juice from one entire lemon
  • 1 garlic clove (large)
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1/4 c walnut pieces
  • pinch of sea salt
  • pinch of pepper

Directions

  • Add all items to a food processor (or use an inversion blender) and blend until smooth
  • Refrigerate till ready to use

Thanks for the inspiration: http://cavemanstrong.com/2014/08/paleo-creamy-lemon-garlic-dressing/

dit-elle-Esther

Strawberry, Mint and Goat Cheese Salad

1 Reply

Strawberry season is in full swing – ripe, sweet, juicy strawberries. Love strawberry salads? We do too! Add some roasted chicken to make it a meal!

Blog strawberry_mint_goatcheese_salad (2) Blog strawberry_mint_goatcheese_salad (1)

Ingredients

  • 3 cups quartered strawberries (about 1 lb)
  • 1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • salt/pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese (tip: chill goat cheese in freezer for five minutes to make crumbling easier!) (omit cheese for dairy free and paleo)
  • 4 cups mixed greens or spinach
  • 1 cup cooked chicken (optional)

Directions

  • Combine quartered strawberries, mint, vinegar, salt & pepper and toss gently to combine
  • Cover and chill for an hour
  • Divide mixed greens on to four plates with strawberry mixture and sprinkled with crumbled goat cheese
  • Serve immediately
  • Enjoy! 🙂

dit-elle-Esther

Greek Salad with Roasted Chicken

1 Reply

Love greens, veggies and chicken! This is really a variation on the classic Greek Salad but adding chicken makes it a wonderful meal in and of itself! And paleo!

Blog greek chicken salad

Dressing

  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 tsps. tahini (sesame-seed paste)
  • 1 tsp minced garlic (fresh or bottled)
  • salt & pepper, to taste

Salad

  • 1 lb chicken breast, roasted & cubed
  • 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
  • 1 cup peeled chopped English cucumber
  • 1 cup chopped tomatoes (grape tomatoes halved work well)
  • 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
  • 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese (minus the cheese for dairy free and paleo)

dit-elle-Esther

Paleo Warm Peach Salad with Apple Cider Dressing

4 Replies

I used the dressing from the Warm Butternut Squash Salad recipe, and basically just threw some perfectly ripe peaches in there instead of the butternut squash.  It was easy and delicious!Blog Paleo Warm Peach Salad-1

Ingredients

  • 1-2 Ripe Peaches (depending on their size and how many people you need to feed)
  • Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 3/4 C Pure no sugar added Apple Cider
  • 2 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 2 Diced Shallots or I’ve also used 1/3 C diced red onion
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 4-5 cups (or really, you choose depending on how many mouths you have to feed!) of spinach or arugula.  I personally LOVE arugula, but our boys don’t.  When I make this for friends, it’s arugula.  When I make it for the family-spinach.  It wilts down a little when you pour the warm dressing over it, so put in more than you think you need.

Directions

  •  Combine cider, vinegar, onions/or shallots, and a little salt and pepper in a small sauce pan.  Bring that to a boil and stir for about 6-7 minutes so that it reduces.  Take off heat and whisk in mustard.  (original recipe calls for adding a 1/2 a cup of olive oil now, but I forgot to do that once.  It tasted fine, so I’ve left it out ever since :))  You choose!
  • Place salad greens in a large bowl.  Toss in peaches and dressing.  Pepper to taste.
  • You can also toss in nuts of your choice and sprinkle with a cheese of your choosing.
  • dit-elle-Lauren

Greek Salad

1 Reply

Tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives and feta drizzled with olive oil, lemon juice and a dusting of oregano sound good? Yes please! Here are two easy ways to make Greek Salad!

blog greeksalad_veggies1 blog greeksalad_veggies2 blog greeksalad_greens2 blog greeksalad_greens1

Ingredients

  • Tomatoes, diced
  • Cucumbers (English hothouse cucumbers work well), peeled and cubed
  • Kalamata olives
  • Feta cheese, crumbled (omit for paleo version)
  • Mixed greens

Dressing

  • Olive oil
  • Lemon, freshly squeezed
  • Oregano, 1tsp dried or 1 Tbsp fresh chopped
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

  • Mix the veggies and toss with dressing
  • Crumble feta cheese on top
  • Serve

dit-elle-Esther

Endive Salad with Bacon, Blue Cheese and Pears

2 Replies

Bacon, Blue Cheese and Pears, oh my! This tasty salad could be served as a side, but it’s so yummy you may want to make it an entrée with optional roasted chicken as extra protein!

What’s endive? I didn’t know either. It’s a slightly bitter tasting leaf vegetable that is perfectly balanced in this salad with the sweetness of the pears and salty bacon.

Blog Endivebaconsalad (1) Blog Endivebaconsalad (2)

Ingredients

Directions

  • In a large bowl, combine vinegar, mustard, honey, shallot and garlic. Let sit 15 minutes to soften shallot and garlic and to infuse flavor. Slowly whisk in the olive oil to create an emulsified dressing. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Add endive and arugula to the bowl; toss to coat. Divide salad between 6 plates and sprinkle with bacon, blue cheese, pistachios and sliced pears.

Thanks PCC Natural Markets for the inspiration!

dit-elle-Esther