It is no surprise to anyone that I enjoy food, but I wasn't always a huge fan of salads as meals. I've always loved a nice salad as a side, but the idea of only eating a salad as my entire meal always seemed like a horrible idea. I thought I would be hungry an hour later. What about the meat? The carbs? The protein? It turns out, those are what make a delicious salad delicious. The avocado, the cheese, the nuts, the dressing, the fruit, and of course the vegetables. :-)
I've gotten more into salads over the last year, and I came across the following recipe online. I've made it two nights in a row now, each time doing it a little different. I doctored it up a bit, and it turned out to be a very filling, satisfying, delectable meal. As the weather warms up, summer produce begins to sprout, and I crave more light, heart-healthy foods, I plan to make a version of this salad weekly.
Changes I made:
I left out the red onion and tomato, because I didn't have any on hand.
I added cucumbers, strawberries (hooray for delicious organic strawberries!), and slivered almonds (toasted for about 3 minutes in the toaster oven).
I added about a cup of shredded rotisserie chicken (picked up the cooked chicken at Whole Foods, and this is the second meal in which I've used it)
I also used a blend of organic mixed greens instead of just spinach.
Last night I made the dressing using raspberry preserves, as it calls for, and tonight I used strawberry preserves. I slightly preferred the raspberry, though both were pretty yummy.
Who doesn't love a super healthy meal you can make in 10 minutes?!? And the best part (for me, anyway), was that I could just chop up some avocado and chicken super fine for my 9 month old, and she gobbled it up. :-)
