Grilled Stone Fruit and Bleu Cheese Spinach Salad with Honey Vinaigrette

I get so excited about salad…seriously. And summer is the best season to play around with different combinations of flavors and textures because there’s such a wide variety of in-season fruits and veggies to try.  Salads, though historically considered the forgotten side dish (or first course) – something you have to endure in order to get to the “star” of the meal – the main course- do not only serve as a mere opportunity to consume some veggies, but can actually serve as the star of the meal. Yes, I do mean the main course! For lunch or dinner (or why not for a snack?), salads offer a pallet of different colors, flavors, and textures.  It’s artistic, really. The beauty of salad is, you can’t really go wrong.  No matter what base you use or ingredients you add in, you never wind up with a bad combination.

The basics:

• Greens – Dark, leafy greens such as spinach, kale, Romaine lettuce, and arugula serve as not only a beautiful, rich base upon which to pile up colorful toppings, they are super healthy and tasty. Water-based lettuces such as iceberg lettuce are also a good base because they are incredibly refreshing especially on the hottest of summer days.
• Tomatoes – Deep red tomatoes (grape, cherry, or sliced wedges of larger tomato varieties) are always a hit.  Try heirloom varieties that add different color impressions – purple, yellow or orange tomato varieties.
• Other Veggie Add-Ins – shredded carrots, thinly sliced radishes, purple onion slivers, colorful bell pepper strips (red, orange, yellow, purple), and, of course, cucumbers
• Protein – If serving salad as a main course, protein is an important consideration. Add meats such as chopped turkey breast or ham, grilled or roasted chicken, tuna fish (canned or fresh), other seafood such as cooked salmon, or shellfish such as shrimp and crab meat are awesome add-ins. Even hard-boiled eggs. The possibilities are endless. If going meatless, add beans, any variety or a mix of a few different varieties – garbanzos, kidneys, black-eyed peas, etc. Again, endless possibilities
• Fruit – berries of any kind – blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, apple/pear slices. Try grilling fruit such as peaches, plums, apricots, watermelon, pineapple. So Good! Add dried cranberries. Try citrus fruit such as orange or grapefruit segments.
• Crunch – I like some crunch in my salads. In my opinion, they make salads more satisfying. Opt for the traditional crouton (you can make these yourself), or try nuts (almonds, peanuts, chopped walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts).
• Cheese – I don’t know about you, but I love cheese in my salad. It just adds another level of flavor and texture that’s so satisfying. Sharp, flavorful cheeses take salad to the next level.  Try feta, goat cheese, bleu cheese, fontina, parmesan, or ricotta salata (similar to feta). Sharp cheddar is an excellent addition, too. Cubed, shredded, or crumbled, you can’t go wrong with a little cheese atop your salad 🙂
• Dressing – You can’t go wrong with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and any kind of vinegar – balsamic, wine vinegars, apple cider vinegar, squirt of lemon juice, etc.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY BOTTLED SALAD DRESSINGS! It’s taken me awhile to realize this.  I always stocked my fridge with bottles upon bottles of salad dressing. Not anymore! Dressing is so easy and inexpensive to make yourself with ingredients you have on hand.

The salad featured in the photo is a Grilled Stone Fruit and Bleu Cheese Salad with a Honey Vinaigrette Dressing. So easy and good!  Here’s how I did it:

Spinach/Kale mixed greens
Grilled Peach and Apricot Slices – Spray a grill pan with non-stick cooking spray, and preheat over medium heat. Slice stone fruit around pit and remove (similar to how you would slice an avocado). Slice in wedges and place on grill. Grill for about 4 minutes per side.
Crumbled Bleu Cheese
Chopped walnuts
Handful of dried cranberries

For the dressing:
Most dressing recipes you read will call for a 2 to 1 ratio of oil to vinegar. I say “bunk”! I use equal amounts of oil and vinegar; otherwise, all you taste is the oil. Also, use good quality extra virgin olive oil. A little dressing goes a long way here.

1 tbs honey
3 tbs apple cider vinegar
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
dash of salt & pepper to taste

Whisk all ingredients together and pour over salad right before serving. Couldn’t be easier!

Clean-Eating Turkey Wrap

Things get crazy when I’m home alone during the day.   Since I don’t teach in the summer, I’m trying to figure out what kind of trouble I can get myself into…and I think I found it.

As I embark on this adventurous transition toward clean-eating, I’m buying more clean ingredients and incorporating them into my family’s diet gradually.  As boredom is already beginning to set in for the summer, I decided on my first day home to see what kind of quick, easy, and clean, yet satisfying and healthy lunch with inexpensive ingredients.

I can’t tell you how this came together so seamlessly and so perfectly, yet so easily.  I use turkey breast sliced at my grocery store’s deli counter.  I look for low-sodium varieties that are on sale.  I also look for turkey breast that is not processed with a lot of water, broth, or fat.  Boar’s Head is my favorite brand, and although it is a bit pricey, it is very often on sale in my market.

Avocados are, in a word, awesome and are almost always on sale. Avocados have many health benefits. In the grocery store, choose avocados that are evenly shaped and not too nicked.  If you want to use an avocado the same day you buy it, choose fruits that are softer to the touch, but not mushy.  If you press lightly with your thumb, you should feel a little “give” in the flesh.  If the avocado is perfectly ripe, the skin should sort of bounce back upon release of your thumb.  If your thumb mark remains in the skin, leave it; it’s almost rotten.  Generally, darker skinned avocados are riper.  The ones that appear green are usually rock hard.  You can buy them, but don’t plan to use them for at least a day or two. Check out this video for slicing avocados.

Add a slice or two of turkey bacon, a drizzle of organic or homemade ranch dressing, and get the party started. Wrap that party up in a flavored tortilla wrapper which come in so many fantastic flavors. The one pictured above is jalapeno cheddar. Change it up, add some different ingredients. Let me know different ways you wrap up your lunch.

Easy Clean-Eating Turkey Wrap

• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients
1 large tortilla wrapper, any flavor
1 tbs ranch dressing, organic or homemade preferred
2 slices thin turkey breast
2 slices turkey bacon
1 slice cheddar cheese
1/2 avocado sliced

Method
Lay tortilla wrap flat on a plate or board. Leaving a 1 to 2-inch space on sides of tortilla wrap, drizzle ranch dressing in a straight line across middle of bottom half of tortilla. Lay turkey slices over dressing. Lay avocado slices over turkey. Place cheddar slice over avocado. Fold bottom of tortilla up part way over filling. Fold in both sides of wrap, and tightly roll up the whole wrap. Slice wrap in half diagonally for pretty presentation.

Greek Yogurt Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes – No Eggs

Who was awake at 6:30 AM on a Sunday morning developing this recipe?  This gal!  On Sunday mornings, I like to cook a really nice breakfast for everyone since weekday mornings are too hectic.  No, I don’t buy frozen pancakes or boxed powdered pancake mix that’s full of chemicals and preservatives.  It’s so easy to make awesome pancakes from scratch.  I’ve been playing with a few different recipes, and this morning, I realized I had a whole tub of Greek yogurt, a banana I needed to use up, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. These pancakes are full of protein and fiber 🙂

Why not eggs?  Truthfully, I absolutely love eggs, and I eat them almost every morning, but I don’t like adding eggs to my pancakes because I don’t want to have to worry about whether my pancakes are sort of underdone on the inside.  This way, if they are a bit underdone (which they never are, but ya know…) I don’t have to worry about safety of the pancakes.  Here is the recipe…and yes, I did measure the ingredients this time.

• Servings: 8-10
• Time: 1 hr
• Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar (optional, only use if your banana is not overripe)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 overripe banana, mashed
1 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Method
Spray a griddle with non-stick cooking spray and preheat griddle. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, add flour, baking powder, sugar (if using), and ground cinnamon. Quickly whisk to combine. Set aside.

In another medium bowl, mix mashed banana, Greek yogurt, milk, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Add wet mixture to flour mixture bowl, and whisk all ingredients together until just combined. Batter will be lumpy. Fold in chocolate chips.

Test that your griddle is ready by dropping a very small drop of water onto it. If water-drop sizzles and disappears, griddle is ready.

Use a 1/4 cup dry measure to scoop batter onto griddle. When bubbles form and pop on top of pancakes (after about a minute or 2), flip with a spatula. Allow to cook for another minute or 2 until pancakes are set, and remove. Repeat with remaining batter.

Top with pure maple syrup.

High Protein Breakfast Sundae

Who would have thought you could have a sundae for breakfast?? In my wildest dreams, I never would’ve thought it was possible, but am I glad it is!

Since I usually teach right through lunchtime (college courses don’t always allow for a lunch break), I have to make sure I have a breakfast that’s chock full of healthy ingredients, tastes good, is easy and quick to prepare (while I multitask a million other chores), inexpensive, and, most importantly, keeps me going and full for the better part of the day.

Thus, I’ve created the Breakfast Sundae.  No, there’s no ice cream, but this is so decadent (and over the top healthy), I don’t even miss the ice cream.  I can have this ready in literally 5 minutes most mornings – 1 minute on super busy mornings (using quick-cooking oats).

Here’s how

First, wash any fresh fruit you have in the house.  Here I used strawberries and bananas. Quarter the berries, and slice the banana.

Next, bring 1 cup of lowfat milk to a boil over medium heat. NO SALT!! (This literally follows the instructions on the back of the rolled oats container).

Then, gently stir in 1/2 cup rolled oats (you can use quick oats, steel cut, whatever, just follow the prep instructions on the back of the container).

Continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.

When desired consistency is reached, pour steaming hot oatmeal into bowl.  Sprinkle generously with ground cinnamon. Cinnamon gives the immune system a generous boost!

Throw in the sliced fresh fruit. If you want, you can swirl in a tablespoon or so of 100% maple syrup, honey, or agave nectar.  I DO NOT USE ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS – You won’t find any derivatives of stevia, etc. in any of my recipes.

Dollop a heaping teaspoon of REAL peanut butter on top.  If you make your own peanut butter, fantastic!  Use it!

I’ll admit, I had some chocolate syrup in the door of the fridge, so I treated myself to a quick “squirt”. It’s all good, since I didn’t add any artificial sweeteners 🙂

Gear up for a high-energy day!

*I do not promote nor advocate for skipping meals.  It is very important to eat 3 meals per day if possible, but some days that’s just not possible for me.

*Though I highlighted using strawberries and bananas in this post, other add-ins I’ve used are blueberries, chopped apples, peaches, pear slices, dried cranberries, dried mango, nuts (n place of peanut butter), raisins; any combination would be awesome.  Try experimenting, and let me know the results.