Category Archives: Salads

My Favorite Meal of the Week – Healthy Curry Chicken Salad

Posted in Dinner, Healthy, Salads by

I love a good curry chicken salad. And for the last couple years, I’ve been relying on the pre-made one from Trader Joe’s. But for some reason, the last two times we’ve bought it, I haven’t liked it as much. I think they started putting too much mayo in it. So I decided it was time for me to just start making my own. But because I don’t really like mayo, I decided to use my mom’s healthy version – with hummus instead. I love throwing it on a bed of lettuce or some toasted bread for lunch.

currychickensalad

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My Favorite Meal of the Week – Kale Salad and Cauliflower Salad

Posted in Appetizers, Dinner, Gluten Free, Healthy, Salads, Vegetarian by

First of all, I want to say how happy I am to be back blogging (if you don’t know where I was, read this). Spending a week at the beach doing very little besides reading, napping, and eating gave me lots of time to do some thinking and planning for the blog. So get excited for a summer full of yummy recipes.

Ok, now onto today’s post. After nine days of heavy meals, I returned to DC very excited to eat light, healthy summer fruits and vegetables. It also just so happened that for my first night back, I was having a friend over for dinner who was about to leave for a work trip to Afghanistan (and thus would be missing out on all the same fruits and veggies I was craving). So in honor of this, I put together the following spread:

Featured:

– Homemade Pesto (with basil from our garden) and Smashed Tomatoes served on Toasted French Bread

– A Lemon Kale Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

– A Cauliflower and Garbanzo Bean Salad

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My Favorite Meal of the Week – Mixed Green Salad with Grapefruit Wedges, Goat Cheese, and Candied Pecans

Posted in Dinner, Fruit, Gluten Free, Healthy, Salads, Summer, Vegetarian by

This week’s favorite meal of the week post is all about the grapefruit. I have always liked grapefruits, but I’ve recently remembered why they are so great. They seem to be the only sweet (and relatively inexpensive fruit) right now. In college, they were sometimes the best fruit in the dining hall at this time of year. And right now, they seem to be the best fruit at TJ’s (the berries are too expensive, the apples and oranges are bad, and it’s too early for a lot of other good things).

Today’s meal is a mixed green salad with grapefruit wedges, goat cheese, and candied pecans with a honey dressing. Pretty simple, and nice and light for the summer.

My Favorite Meal of the Week – Spinach Salad

Posted in Dinner, Gluten Free, Healthy, Lunch, Salads by

I’m all for the easy salad. Lately, we’ve been eating a lot of them (still making up for our trip to Charleston and in preparation of a vacation where we’ll be spending a lot of time in suits). My newest favorite salad involves spinach, bacon, caramelized onions, apple, blue cheese, candied pecans, and a balsamic dressing. I love the combination of flavors!

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My Favorite Meal of the Week – Potato and Tuna Salad

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I tend to stay away from tuna. I’ve cemented the idea in my ahead that mercury is bad and, therefore, I can’t eat it. In reality, as long as you don’t eat it regularly, you’re probably fine. Dave recently found this recipe and I gave in to trying it. And oh my god, so glad. It’s delicious and very easy to make. We’ve made it part of our regular dinner rotation!
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My Favorite Meal of the Week – Flank Steak and Bloody Mary Salad

Posted in Dinner, Entertaining, Salads by
A few weeks ago, I volunteered to have some of our friends over for dinner on the same day that I planned to participate in a bottomless mimosa brunch with friends who were in town visiting. After making the plans, I realized that this was going to make things interesting. I’m not used to preparing a full dinner and dessert after a day of drinking. So when picking out my menu, it was all about finding something that could be done the day before and/or required very little last minute preparation. To find inspiration, I turned to one of my favorite blogs – Smitten Kitchen. I’d been eyeing a couple of her recipes and decided to use several of them for this dinner.
Here is what I pulled together:

1) Blood Orange Margaritas (recipe here)

2) Veggies and Hummus & Crackers and Cheese (all from Trader Joes)

3) Flank Steak and Bloody Mary Salad (recipe here)

4) Dark Chocolate Tart with Gingersnap Crust (recipe on this blog here)
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My Favorite Meal of the Week – Farro, Asparagus, and Mint Salad

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This week I wanted to share one of my new favorite meals with you. It’s from a cookbook my grandmother gave Dave this summer. All of the different flavors in this salad are really what make it great. Plus it’s pretty easy to make!

My Favorite Meal of the Week – Black Bean Salad with Corn, Shrimp, and Avocado

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This salad is one of my favorites for nights when I want something healthy and fast. Although it makes for a great dinner during the summer, it is also good in the winter when you’re still craving something light and flavorful!

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My Favorite Meal of the Week – Pulled Pork and Slaw

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I don’t generally cook lots of meat, especially on week days, but this pulled pork is amazing. We first had it at a friend’s birthday party, and have now made it several times ourselves. It’s a long process, and one that involves being in the house for a while, but it’s totally worth it if you like pulled pork! We always serve it with corn bread (just the box from Trader Joe’s, it’s seriously amazing) and an Asian inspired coleslaw. This coleslaw is delicious, especially if you’re like me and don’t like mayonnaise  I also think the slaw gets better overnight, so I recommend making it a day in advance. It’s perfect for summer picnics or BBQs!

My Favorite Meal of the Week – Pretzels and Fall Chopped Salad

Posted in Gluten Free, Healthy, Holiday, Salads, Vegetarian by

This week, I did very little cooking. Between recovering from Thanksgiving and getting the house all prepared for the holidays (see below), I had no energy left to toil in the kitchen. But after finishing all of our holiday decorations this afternoon, I decided to get a little creative for dinner, and it turned out to be one of the best meals of the week.

I’ve been meaning to make my own homemade pretzels (I have a soft spot for the horribly unhealthy ones you can find in malls and airports), and after sitting on the floor for three hours making my own cranberry popcorn garlands today, pretzels sounded like an amazing dinner. And while yes, part of me wanted to just devour the pretzels by themselves (see the next post for recipe), I added in a fall chopped salad (really just so my mom wouldn’t disown me upon reading that I’d only had pretzels for dinner).

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