I can recall learning about food groups and nutrition back in first grade. At some point my teacher started asking students what their favorite food was and then asking what food group(s) that might fall into. Naturally, most kids were choosing dishes like pizza, ice cream or tacos. Not me. Nope, this little odd ball proudly responded with “Salad!” Seriously?!?!? What kind of six-year-old declare salad as a favorite food? It was true though and to this day I’d be happy to sit down to a really great salad over most other dishes. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still like to chase those veggies down with some kind of dessert but an awesome salad is hard for me to resist.
With this lifelong love of salad you might think that I would eat them on the regular but I don’t. Inevitably, I’m too lazy to chop the vegetables or the produce I bought went bad before I found the motivation to pull out the knife and cutting board. This week I was determined not to use up what I already had in the fridge and then added one or two items that were on sale at the grocery store. Healthy eating and cheap??? YES!!! I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!
Tips:
- Grill the chicken ahead of time, it tastes great cold on this salad. You could also sub out the chicken for shrimp, salmon or even steak if you’re trying to use up some leftovers.
- If you don’t have a jar on hand for the dressing, mix the ingredients in a bowl with a whisk.
Green Salad with Grilled Chicken
Serves 3
Salad Ingredients:
5oz bag baby spinach
5oz bag baby arugula
1 cup cucumber, diced
½ cup radish slices
1 cup broccoli florets
1 avocado, pitted, peeled and diced
¼ cup shredded parmesean cheese
¼ cup sunflower seeds
2 chicken breasts, grilled and sliced or chopped
For the dressing:
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Directions:
Add all salad ingredients into a large bowl, toss to combine. In a mason jar, add all dressing ingredients, cover jar with lid and shake to blend well. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss so salad is evenly coated.
