Make Your Salads Count

Hey y'all! I wanted to begin by giving an early Happy Father's Day shout out to not only my Dad but my Grandpa and the other important men in my life who are great fathers. My Dad would do anything to make me happy including taking me to football games, Colorado and to see Taylor Swift. He's also been there countless times to bail me out when I needed a hand. I love you Dad!

I also wanted to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to my friend David Earp. I wish that I could celebrate with you on Wednesday and hear your laugh and hug you. I can't do that but I assure you I will be thinking of you. If the shooting in Orlando teaches us anything it's that we need to treat people with kindness and cling to loved ones. David did just that. I miss you every day. Love you! Wherever you are on Wednesday, have a cocktail and a party.

So, I've been making a lot of salads and I know that can seem depressing when you're trying to eat healthy. The thing about me though is that I make sure my salads are big, filling and packed with protein so I don't feel neglected after I'm done. In the first picture, I made a giant salad with grilled chicken breast, a 100 calorie combo pack of walnuts and almonds, feta, olives, onions and light ranch. You can add avocado or sun dried tomatoes or you can substitute the chicken for fish but the nuts add crunch (I also threw in a few everything bagel crackers) and protein and I piled the spinach in the bowl.  I also love making burrito bowls (the salad on the right). I add ground chicken (with taco seasoning), lettuce, salsa, black beans, a little brown rice and occasionally I add the 100 calorie packs of guacamole. The cool thing about burrito bowls is that you can use salsa as your dressing and you pretty much never have to feel guilty about eating salsa. The second picture is a veggie salad that I made. This was gigantic and around 200 calories. All I did was sauté a ton of zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli, green beans and onions and then added it a pile of spinach. This was super healthy but I love veggies so it was colorful and filling. There are lots of ways to keep your salad healthy and make you happy.

I wanted to quickly share the Toasted Sesame Olive Oil that I purchased from the Happy Olive in Fairhope, Alabama. It's my new favorite thing. Olive Oil can be dangerous but the cool thing about flavored oils is that it's potent. I can use spray butter and add just 1 teaspoon of the toasted sesame oil and it adds Asian flare to your veggies. I'm someone who spends a good deal of time throwing random ingredients from my pantry into a pan to stir fry and so it's a perfect addition. Have a good week y'all! The struggle is real as usual. I plan on doing more planning ahead this week. I'm never good flying by the seat of my own pants.