This is a perfect salad a hot day when you want something simple and fresh. I made it last night to go with our spicy lemon shrimp and together it made a great meal for a 90* day.

Even our little chef agreed!

Massaged Kale Salad with Avocado

• 1 bunch of kale or a bag of kale, stems removed and pieces chopped
• 1 lemon, juiced
• olive oil for drizzling
• 2 tsp. honey
• salt and pepper
• 1 avocado, diced

1. In large bowl, add the kale, half of lemon juice, a drizzle of oil and a little kosher salt.
2. Massage until the kale starts to soften and slightly wilt, 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Set aside for a few minutes.
4. Just before serving, drizzle kale with a little more olive oil, honey and the rest of the lemon juice.
5. Add salt and pepper and diced avocado.
6. Serve!

No one can say they don’t like kale until they try this. Or delicious kale chips.

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So… I have been up since 1:36am and it’s now 6:00am. Anna had the worst trouble sleeping last night (or should I say, this current night since it’s still pitch black out). She woke up crying and just wouldn’t go back down, not with me, not in her bed, not at all. I got desperate and let her watch an hour of Elmo on the portable DVD player in our bed and she didn’t doze at all. Then after I tried putting her back in bed, she just would not have it. So I threw in the towel and started the coffee around 4am.

Now, she is comfortably snoozing on the couch. Not sure what the day will bring for us, but at least I have gotten quite a bit done this am since I am going to need a nap.

Anyways, I can’t complain too much. She has not had a rough night in a really long time and she was pretty hilarious around 2:30am, as she attacked me with kisses.

We shall see how teaching Total Conditioning goes this morning. I can’t make any promises, but I did spend a while this morning coming up with new moves. Let’s just hope my sleep deprived brain didn’t get carried away with all of the BodyRock tv I watched this morning.

As for meals, this salad is the perfect combination of sweet, salty, roasted and creamy. It fits every need for salad and it’s pretty!

Roasted Beet and Strawberry Salad

• 3 medium beets, washed and diced
• 5 medium strawberries, rinsed and diced
• romaine and spinach mix
• 1/3 c. fresh crumbled goat cheese
• 1/4 c. walnut pieces
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• honey
• white balsamic vinegar

1. Line a baking sheet with foil. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Spray foil with cooking spray and roast diced beets for 20-25 minutes, stirring at least once.

3. While they roast, chop lettuce and spinach and berries.

4. When beets are done, allow to cool and sprinkle on salad with goat cheese, berries, and walnuts.

5. Drizzle a little olive oil, honey and white balsamic vinegar onto salad

6. Enjoy!

What are your plans for the day? Any good salad combinations recently?

Don’t forget to enter the juice giveaway!

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It’s light but full of protein. Easy to make but hard to resist. And fresh and flavorful!

This recipe was adapted from a fabulous salad I had at The Sweet Spot in Chautauqua, New York. The Sweet Spot is a great cafe that offers a wide variety of lunch and bakery items. They are becoming famous for their daily special soups and sandwiches, their giant cookies and their to-die-for cheesecake. If you are ever in Chautauqua, check them out (located in Mayville).

Lemon + Feta Quinoa

• 2 c. quinoa, cooked as directed
• 1/3 c. fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, pressed
• 1 can of drained and rinsed chickpeas
• 2 med. scallions or green onions, diced
• 1/2c. or 2/3 c. fresh parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 c. of feta cheese, crumbled

1. Cook quinoa as directed.
2. In a small bowl, make dressing by mixing lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper, and olive oil. Stir to combine.
3. Add chickpeas, scallions, parsley and feta to the quinoa and mix.
4. Add dressing and let set.
5. It’s better the next day so let it set in the fridge and serve

It’s perfect to go inside of a wrap or to top a salad with!   

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I really have no reason to complain, though. We had a really nice weekend filled with friends and fun. We even took the necessary trip to Home Depot and Target on Sunday morning and got things crossed off our to-do list. Now we are counting down the days until we are lounging chasing Anna around the beach in Mexico.

This morning I taught spinning at 6 – it was nice since I was already up for a few hours before hand and could have a few cups of coffee. Then we had a play date with Patty and came home for Anna to nap. After nap we dropped off dinner at a neighbors and stopped for play date # 2 at Allison’s.

Speaking of play dates, here is a pic from a play date at our house last week.

Girl party!

And since this has been random so far, we shall continue with the randomness.

Try this combo for your next salad.

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Goat Cheese and Cranberries

• Mixed greens
• Brussel sprouts – diced in half
• Sweet potato – diced into small pieces
• Asparagus – cut into 1 in. pieces
• Goat cheese
• Dried cranberries
• Balsamic vinegar – aged
• Olive oil
• Honey

1. Chop brussel sprouts, sweet potato, and asparagus and roast in a light coat of olive oil at 425* for 25-30 minutes.
2. While that bakes, place a big layer of mixed greens on a plate.
3. When veggies are done, top with roasted vegetables, goat cheese, and a sprinkle of cranberries.
4. Drizzle with a little olive oil, honey and balsamic vinegar.
5. Enjoy.

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Part of today’s usual included some leftover quinoa turned into a new favorite recipe.

I love that quinoa is so versatile and can go with anything. From Asian to Mexican, Greek to Italian and everything in between – quinoa is the perfect base to a meal.

Healthy Week Tip: If you are short on time this week, make a giant pot of quinoa. Eat it plain the first night then add veggies, a light dressing and a little sprinkle of strong cheese and have it again for lunches during the week.

Quinoa with Pear, Cranberries and Almonds

• 2 c. cooked quinoa
• 1 pear, diced
• 1/2 c. dried cranberries
• 1 c. chopped spinach
• 1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese
• 1/3 c. slivered roasted almonds
• 2 T. EVOO
• 2 T. balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

1. In a bowl, place quinoa, diced pear, feta, spinach, almonds, and cranberries.
2. Toss in vinegar and olive oil.
3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Serve.

Coming up: Review of Green Smoothie Bible.

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If that’s the case, try making this salad. You can even eat it it with a large marg if it’s that kind of day.

One of the best things about this salad – besides the amazing color and dance party of flavor is the fact that you probably have most of the ingredients right now. So there is no need to make an extensive grocery list with 50 items.

Run over to your pantry and check for the following basics:

canned corn – black beans – salsa – chili pepper sauce – cumin

Then head to your fridge and look for these everyday foods:

an avocado – a frozen bag of shrimp – romaine lettuce – carrots – fat free greek yogurt – a few tomatoes

If you’ve got them then you are ready to go.

Southwest Shrimp Salads

• 1 lb. frozen shrimp, already cooked when you buy it, remove tails if needed
• 2-3 T. red chili pepper sauce (depending how hot you like it)
• 2 t. cumin

• large bed of romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1/2 can of no-salt corn, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 can of low-salt black beans, drained and rinsed well
• handful of carrots, chopped
• 3 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 avocado, diced

• 2/3 c. salsa
• 1/4 c. greek yogurt
• a dash of cumin

For the shrimp:

1. Thaw or simmer the frozen cooked shrimp until it has just thawed.
2. Drain the water left from thawing or simmering the shrimp.
3. Mix the shrimp with chili pepper sauce and cumin and simmer for about 3-6 minutes on medium heat.
4. The shrimp should firm up and be coated in sauce.
5. Set aside to cool.

For the salad:

1. Chop the lettuce.
2. Layer beans, corn, carrots, tomatoes and avocado onto lettuce.
3. Place cooled shrimp on top.

For the dressing:

1. Mix greek yogurt with salsa and cumin.
2. Stir to combine.

That’s it. There is no way to mess it up.

Once you have loaded up on fresh veggies and tasty shrimp, find your favorite baker and ask them to bake you a fresh batch of cookies.

Make sure they mix the cookies and frosting in the bowl together and that they store their mixer in the oven. Once you find that, you are all set. If you can’t find your own special baker, I am sure I can share mine.

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It had spinach, black quinoa, roasted beets, goat cheese and almonds. So tonight when I re-created it.

De-LUXE Salad

• spring mix greens
• goat cheese
• roasted, salted almonds, cut into pieces
• diced beets, I used canned – drained and rinsed but next time I would roast fresh beets
• cooked quinoa

Then I drizzled House of Balsamic Saporoso Riserva and a little Prelibato-White Balsamic Vinegar for dressing. It was fantastic.

Have you ever roasted canned beets? Would that work?

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Today the plan is to head to the Ferry Building to walk around the farmer’s market after we go on a run to explore Cal Berkley. Not sure what the rest of the day will bring!

One thing I do know is there is going to some major clean eating going on next week after this Foodbuzz Festival weekend of indulgence! Here is one thing that will be on my menu.

Roasted Squash Salad

• 1 head of romaine, chopped
• 2 cups of fresh baby spinach, chopped
• 1 butternut squash, diced and roasted
• 1 T. Mrs. Dash
• 1/3 cup honey roasted peanuts
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• 1/3 block of sprouted tofu, diced

Champagne Vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup champagne vinegar, or white-wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp. honey
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1. Peel the butternut squash then dice it into small pieces.
2. Place squash on a olive oil sprayed cookie sheet and sprinkle with Mrs. Dash.
3. Roast the diced squash at 450 for about 30 minutes.
4. While the squash is roasting, chop romaine and spinach and put in a large bowl.
5. Add avocado, tofu and peanuts.
6. Make dressing by combining all dressing ingredients and whisking together until well combined. Allow dressing to sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.
7. When squash is done, add it to the salad and dress!

This would be great with the addition of diced beets and goat cheese – like the Northstar winter salad!

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This roasted squash orzo salad was way better than I thought it was going to be. When I was trying to think about what to have for a side dish to go with the fish I was making for John and Hallie, I knew I wanted to use butternut squash. After glancing at my produce drawer, I quickly saw I needed to use a few straggling summer squash and zucchini that I didn’t want to go bad. This is how the Triple Squash salad was born.

Warm Roasted Squash Orzo Salad with Feta

• 1 box of orzo, cooked according to directions
• 2 med. yellow squash, diced
• 2 med. zucchini, diced
• 1 4oz. container of feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 lg. butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 2 tsp (broken into 2 – 1 tsps.). all purpose spice mix (I LOVE Two Brother’s spice from Heinens)
• 2 T. EVOO
• salt and pepper

1. Cook orzo according to the package. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan, heat 1 T. EVOO with all of the diced zucchini and summer squash. Simmer with 1 tsp (or more) of spice mix and until softened and golden brown.
3. While yellow squash and zucchini are cooking, place the diced butternut squash on a cookie sheet with 1 T. EVOO and the rest of the spice mix. Make sure all squash is coated with EVOO and spice.
4. Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes or until squash is roasted and soft.
5. Mix butternut squash, zucchini and summer squash into the orzo.
6. Add the container of feta and mix well.
7. Serve warm!

This was one of Anna’s favorite meals lately!

Don’t forget, just a few more days:

Leave a comment on my 6 ingredient meal (Macadamia Crusted Wild Cod with Coconut Black Bean Brown Rice) for a chance to win a $100 giftcard from American Express

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This roasted squash orzo salad was way better than I thought it was going to be. When I was trying to think about what to have for a side dish to go with the fish I was making for John and Hallie, I knew I wanted to use butternut squash. After glancing at my produce drawer, I quickly saw I needed to use a few straggling summer squash and zucchini that I didn’t want to go bad. This is how the Triple Squash salad was born.

Warm Roasted Squash Orzo Salad with Feta

• 1 box of orzo, cooked according to directions
• 2 med. yellow squash, diced
• 2 med. zucchini, diced
• 1 4oz. container of feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 lg. butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 2 tsp (broken into 2 – 1 tsps.). all purpose spice mix (I LOVE Two Brother’s spice from Heinens)
• 2 T. EVOO
• salt and pepper

1. Cook orzo according to the package. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan, heat 1 T. EVOO with all of the diced zucchini and summer squash. Simmer with 1 tsp (or more) of spice mix and until softened and golden brown.
3. While yellow squash and zucchini are cooking, place the diced butternut squash on a cookie sheet with 1 T. EVOO and the rest of the spice mix. Make sure all squash is coated with EVOO and spice.
4. Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes or until squash is roasted and soft.
5. Mix butternut squash, zucchini and summer squash into the orzo.
6. Add the container of feta and mix well.
7. Serve warm!

This was one of Anna’s favorite meals lately!

Don’t forget:

Leave a comment on my 6 ingredient meal (Macadamia Crusted Wild Cod with Coconut Black Bean Brown Rice) for a chance to win a $100 giftcard from American Express

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