For this post I am going to express one of my favorite simple recipes, and a very healthy one at that–Grilled Chicken Salad.
Now your probably thinking, this is probably too simple to be expressed on a Blog. Well I disagree. If a little extra time is spent with preparation, this can be one of those great easy meals, that you can remake again and again. This meal is such a staple that in our house, we designate one night a week as Grilled Chicken Salad Night.
In order to make up this meal, you need to grab some boneless chicken fillets from your local grocer’s freezer. Simply grill up the chicken over a charcoal or propane grill until the chicken is cooked through and crisp, but not burned. While cooking, cover the chicken with basic seasoning to improve taste. For my super delicious chicken salad, usually a little well done on the chicken makes for a tastier meal.
If you lack the potential to grill, chicken actually bakes well in the oven under steady supervision of flipping the chicken to ensure the chicken is baked all the way through. To bake it use the same formula as you did for grilling, but just expect a little more production time. In either case, slicing open the raw chicken at various parts will help cook the bird and let the seasoning soak in more.
A cool summer salad is the perfect side dish complement for a summer barbecue or dinner on a warm evening. Many summer salads are mayonnaise based though and typically not too healthy. Here’s a simple, healthy, and quite delicious antipasto salad.
Here are the ingredients that you’ll need. As always, I strive for the most local and organic products that I can get my hands on.
3 cups (2inch) sliced asparagus (about 1/4 lb)
3 cups quartered mushrooms (about 3/4 lb)
1 cup red bell pepper strips
1/2 cup pitted ripe olives
3 oz mozzarella cheese cubed (omit or replace with firm tofu, seitan, or soy cheese if you want to make the recipe vegan)
1 lb (or a 14 oz can if you’re feeling lazy like I am sometimes) quartered artichoke hearts drained
1 (11.5 oz) jar pickled pepporoncini peppers drained
Ok now, we all know the dangers of eating fried foods and food loaded with trans fats, sugar, and other unhealthy ingredients. Right?
Well apparently there are still plenty of people out there who either don’t know…or don’t care. When I first saw this website I was shocked by the foods on it, it’s a meat-filled calorie bomb photo gallery you wont believe! (Who knew you could batter and fry just about anything imaginable, and/or cover it in bacon? Yuck.)
Fuyu Persimmon and Duck Salad with Hazelnut-Sherry Vinaigrette
What in the world is a Fuyu persimmon? The Fuyu (pictured at the right) is a non-astringent persimmon variety. It is sweet and delicious when it becomes orange to orange-red in color and is still firm. The Native American persimmon grown in the southern U.S. and the more common pointed Hachiya persimmon are astringent varieties that do not lose their bitterness until the fruit becomes soft.
Why do we care? Ripe Hachiya persimmons are great for making cooked dishes such as chutneys, relishes, steamed puddings or even pies. The Fuyu persimmon is perfect for this salad because its sweetness will cut through and balance the richness of the duck while maintaining its crisp texture.
…[the persimmon's] bitter power of astringency is surprising, and seems capable of suspending for a time all the faculties of the lips, and binds up the risible muscles of the sufferer to the same extent that it excites those of a spectator.
- Charles Augustus Murray
Most Americans aren’t familiar with this delicious but misunderstood tree fruit. Not surprising, since it’s native to China and more prominent in the Far East, Middle East and Western Europe.
You’ll find persimmons in the market right now since they are usually available from late fall through the winter. There are over 500 varieties planted in the United States (originally introduced to California in the mid 1800’s) - each with a slightly different color, texture, shape and astringency. Persimmons can be classified into two general categories: those that bear astringent fruit until they are soft ripe and those that bear nonastringent fruits
From our friends at ZapRoot: Farmers take it to the extreme to protect their crops. The Auto Alliance has jump on the green bandwagon. These Guys are Full of **it returns.
Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes designed to showcase produce gathered from local farms or grown in my own garden.
Gardening brings so much pleasure and beauty to my life. I’m really pleased with how my little plot has been progressing over the past few months. A friend who stopped by my garden the other night asked me to explain my broad sweeping goals for [...]
A 2007 McDonald’s billboard near Chicago featured growing lettuce plants stating, “Fresh salads”. Considering the short life span of such a billboard, McDonald’s reputation for rainforest destruction, and the fact their salads are not organic, fresh (they are prepackaged), or healthy, I can’t embrace this campaign. Still, using plants for advertising is definitely a unique idea. You can watch the billboard grow in this video.
Well, after my last post on eco-friendly junk food, I feel like I need to redeem myself a bit with another healthy salad. (See, my Kale, Quinoa and Avocado Salad recipe for the first installment of this series.) This recipe came about when I had a craving for home made spring rolls, but couldn’t find any sheets of rice paper in the five block vicinity of my apartment that I was willing to walk.
I changed up the ingredients a little bit, and Spring Roll Salad was born. Depending on what you’re in the mood for, you can make this more of a green salad and go heavy on the lettuce and cabbage, or more of a pasta salad, heavy on the vermicelli.
I’ll simply list my ingredients and let your taste guide the quantity.
Sorry, Popeye. Your tin can of spinach just can’t compete with the brawny nutritional wallop from a bunch of fresh greens from a local farmers’ market or home garden.
Too bad Popeye didn’t know Angie Tagtow, an environmental nutritionist based in Iowa and a leading advocate championing public access to fresh, affordable, sustainably raised food. “Local food is a dream team blend of nutrients and health benefits,” explains Tagtow. “Food’s nutrient value starts to decrease right after it is harvested. Local food is picked and then quickly eaten at the peak of ripeness. It’s thereby fresh, tastes great and packs a more nutritious punch than what might be shipped and processed 1,500 miles away.”
Local, fresh spinach would have also gifted Popeye with a decent long-term health insurance plan.
Ok, so according to the calendar, it may not be summer quite yet, but in California, the avocados are just starting to ripen, which is how I mark the start of the season. And when the weather starts getting warmer, I start turning to lighter, fresh meals. This quinoa-based salad is easy to prepare, and contains so many of my favorite healthy ingredients.
I’m always surprised that quinoa hasn’t caught on mainstream, given how easy it is too cook, and its high nutritional content. Despite the fact that in cooking it’s treated like rice or barley, quinoa is actually a seed, not a grain. Known as the staple of the Incas (and also a staple of the vegans, as it’s a complete protein), this crop originated in the Andes Mountains. It’s used more often in Mexican dishes, but I really enjoy it in this Asian-inspired salad.
The kale is chock full of iron and the nori is rich in calcium and iodine. If you opt for a fat-free dressing, then the only fat comes from the avocado. (Which is, you know, a good fat… at least that’s what I tell myself when I’m scarfing down guacamole.) Here’s the full recipe:
What in the world is a Fuyu persimmon? The Fuyu (pictured at the right) is a non-astringent persimmon variety. It is sweet and delicious when it becomes orange to orange-red in color and is still firm. The Native American persimmon grown in the southern U.S. and the more common pointed Hachiya persimmon are astringent varieties that do not lose their bitterness until the fruit becomes soft.
