Tag: Lunch
Spinach Salad with Mahimahi, Grapefruit, and Avocado
I’ll be honest. This is a rather polarizing salad. At least in my house it is. I contend that the flavors of tart grapefruit, mild mahimahi, creamy avocado, and a lime-honey vinaigrette all mixed up together make for an explosion of deliciously contrasting flavors and textures. The rest of my family, on the other hand, is not so keen.
Grapefruit isn’t just an acquired taste. Apparently our taste perception of it and several other bitter foods depends on our genetics. (So I can give my husband and kids a pass.) But if you’re one of those fortunate people who can enjoy grapefruit, now is the time to do so–at least in Arizona, where we live.
This grapefruity recipe comes from Real Simple, a magazine that generally lives up to its name. But to take a simple recipe and make it even easier for weeknight dinnertime, I swapped out grilled fresh mahimahi for Trader Joe’s frozen mahimahi burgers. They may not be quite as pretty as grilled fillets, but these burgers, diced, turned assembly of this salad into a total breeze. Plus, they’re a WHOLE lot less expensive than what my regular grocery store charges for mahimahi.
I enjoyed this flavor combo so much on Thursday evening that I recreated it for my Lenten Fish Friday. If you observe Lent or just need a light, refreshing, easy lunch or dinner, you can’t go wrong with this healthy salad…
…unless you’re genetically predisposed to hate grapefruit.
Spinach Salad with Mahimahi, Grapefruit, and Avocado
An explosion of varying tastes and textures, this salad is a light, healthy meal!
Prep Time20 mins
Total Time20 mins
Servings: 4 as a main dish
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 1 package 4 frozen mahimahi burgers, such as Trader Joe's
- 8 c. fresh spinach
- 1 grapefruit, sliced into 1/2-inch segments
- 1 avocado, diced
For the dressing:
- 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
- 2 tsp. honey
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. pepper
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
Instructions
- Prepare mahimahi burgers according to instructions on box. Meanwhile, spread spinach on a large platter. Top with grapefruit segments and diced avocado. When mahimahi burgers are done cooking, slice them into pieces and spread over salad.
- Make the dressing: in a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together all ingredients. Toss salad with dressing or serve on the side.
Notes
Adapted from Real Simple.
Harvest Chopped Salad
Back in September, I posted about the chopped salad that was my top choice for my birthday dinner. Since then, I’ve been overwhelmed at the amount of attention that post got! I guess the internet was hungry for the funky-but-delicious combo of smoked salmon, dried sweet corn, cranberries, and arugula (among other ingredients) topped with a creamy pesto dressing.
Writing about–and eating–the Stetson Chopped Salad got me thinking of other variations on the theme of salad ingredients layered neatly in rows. I mean, really, you can’t go wrong with a chopped, layered salad. It’s just so dang appealing, with its colorfulness, its order, and its symmetry. This Harvest Chopped Salad featuring apples, pears, cranberries, pecans, bacon, and blue or goat cheese is the product of these recent salad daydreams.
It couldn’t have come at a better time, either.
Not long ago, I started volunteering on a monthly basis as a cooking demonstrator at my local Natural Grocers. It’s a fun volunteer activity, but it’s tougher than you might think coming up with recipes that are 1.) gluten-free (Natural Grocers keeps a gluten-free kitchen), and 2.) conducive to demonstration. When you watch the Food Network, you don’t really notice that TV allows for time-lapsing cooking, or simply producing a finished version of something that took who-knows-how-long to cook or bake. In the real world, it’s not that easy. Like, if I’m demo’ing a recipe with roasted vegetables, uhhhh, what do I talk to my audience about for 45 minutes while the oven does its job?
Awwwwwwkwaaaaarrrrd.
So for the purposes of my October demonstration, the Harvest Chopped Salad is a saving grace. And maybe it will be for you, too, some autumn weeknight. There may be quite a bit of slicin’ and dicin’, but this recipe requires no lengthy cook time and can get dining-ready in no more than 30 minutes.
In fact, this recipe seems to be such a winner that I was contacted by someone at Natural Grocers’ corporate office to ask if it could be featured on their website! Of COURSE, I said! (Link coming soon.)
If you live in the Phoenix area, join me for my demo (and samples!) of this yummy fall main dish this Thursday, October 19th, at 6:30 at the Natural Grocers at 2151 E. Baseline Rd. in Gilbert.
Harvest Chopped Salad
A hearty fall salad that's as tasty as it is pretty!
Prep Time30 mins
Total Time30 mins
Servings: 5
Ingredients
- 10 c. romaine lettuce, chopped
- 8 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 3/4 c. pecan pieces
- 4 oz. crumbled goat cheese or blue cheese
- 1 c. honey crisp or other apple, chopped
- 1 ripe pear, chopped
- 3/4 c. dried cranberries
- 1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp purchased poppyseed dressing
Instructions
- On a large platter or five individual plates, spread romaine in a single layer.
- Cover with layered rows of bacon, pecans, crumbled cheese, diced apple, diced pear, and dried cranberries.
- Serve with purchased poppyseed dressing drizzled on top or on the side.
Notes
A Love Letter to Food Original Recipe, loosely based on this recipe from Iowa Girl Eats.
Roasted Chickpea Pitas
I think if I were a chickpea, I wouldn’t be very happy. Poor chickpeas. They’re always getting mashed, pounded, and ground up for things like hummus and falafel, or playing second fiddle as a side dish to meat. It’s rare that you eat anything in which chickpeas in their whole, unadulterated form take center stage. Can’t we give these little guys their time to shine?
Why yes, we can, in the form of Roasted Chickpea Pitas!
This tasty vegetarian Mediterranean meal features whole chickpeas roasted in a piquant blend of seasonings and paired with caramelized red onions. Finished off with some spinach, tomato, and creamy tzatziki sauce in a whole wheat pita, it’s a super healthy choice for dinner or a one-dish lunch. Every time I eat it, even without adding a side, it keeps me full for hours–probably because of all the “good carbs” found in the whole wheat and beans. Plus, chickpeas contain plenty of protein and even a little unsaturated fat. Can you really go wrong by adding more of them to your diet?
So if I were a chickpea, I’d like to think I’d approve of this recipe (even though I’d have to be roasted in a 400 degree oven). Worth it.
Roasted Chickpea Pitas
Spiced roasted chickpeas and cool tzatziki sauce make a hearty filling in these pitas.
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Total Time35 mins
Servings: 4
Ingredients
For the roasted chickpeas:
- 2 15-oz. cans garbanzo beans/chickpeas
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. paprika
- 1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp. salt
For the tzatziki sauce:
- 3/4 c. Greek yogurt
- 1/2 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. dried dill
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
To assemble:
- 4 whole wheat pitas, split
- 4 c. fresh spinach
- 1 large tomato, diced
- feta cheese, crumbled (optional)
Instructions
Make the chickpea filling:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, stir together chickpeas and sliced red onions. Pour olive oil and all spices over the mixture, stir to toss, and spread on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes, stirring once halfway through baking.
Make the tzatziki sauce:
- Meanwhile, make the tzatziki sauce by combining all ingredients in a small bowl.
Assemble the pitas:
- Assemble the pitas by filling them with the chickpea mixture, tzatziki sauce, spinach, tomato, and/or feta.
Notes
Inspired by Live Eat Learn.
Stetson Chopped Salad
If you follow A Love Letter to Food on Facebook, you may have seen this picture before. (And if you haven’t liked my Facebook page yet, I’d be most honored if you would!) A few days ago was my birthday, and as an avid–or obsessive, depending on how you look at it–home cook, I typically would rather make something truly spectacular at home for my birthday dinner than go out. This Stetson Chopped Salad was THE ONE dinner I knew would be birthday-worthy this year.
What is a Stetson Chopped Salad? (And who in their right mind chooses a salad for their birthday dinner?) Well, in the Phoenix area, the Stetson is a local food celebrity. It’s pretty impressive for any salad to attain celebrity status, but somehow, sometimes, it happens. After all, you’ve heard of Cobb, Waldorf, and Wedge. These famous salads are like the old Hollywood starlets of healthy American cuisine. Classic, standard, glam. The Stetson Chopped Salad, on the other hand, is like the up-and-coming Western girl hitting the big time. Its humble origin lies with Cowboy Ciao, a restaurant located, appropriately, on Stetson Drive in Scottsdale.
A few years ago, some friends had us over for dinner and served a homemade version of the Stetson. It was an edible work of art, with a taste no less extraordinary than the presentation. But we definitely found ourselves in “why-do-these-flavors-go-together-this-makes-no-sense” territory. Who the heck thought of putting sweet (dried currants) with savory (corn and tomatoes) with smoked salmon and a creamy basil dressing?
IT MAKES NO LOGICAL SENSE.
But trust me, there’s a reason this salad is famous. You just have to go with it. And when you do, you’re gonna be like…
Even when my husband and I eventually ate at Cowboy Ciao and of course ordered the “real” restaurant version, it didn’t quite compare to the one our friend had made. (She is a trained chef, so that probably helped.) With this memory in mind, I made my own birthday version, and it was indeed an awesome mix of flavors, textures, and visual appeal. Definitely a salad worth choosing for a special occasion.
Oh, and the other reason I chose salad for my birthday? Cause I knew this was coming afterward!
Raspberry Almond Layer Cake for dessert definitely rounded out the birthday meal experience. 🙂
Stetson Chopped Salad
You'll be amazed at how this unusual combination of flavors makes for a totally crave-worthy salad!
Prep Time30 mins
Total Time30 mins
Servings: 4
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 6 c. arugula
- 1 c. cooked Israeli couscous
- 2-3 oz. smoked salmon, chopped
- 1 c. toasted salted pepitas
- 1 c. dried sweet corn (regular corn would also work in a pinch)
- 1 c. dried cranberries
- 1 c. tomatoes, chopped
For the dressing:
- 2 Tbsp. basil pesto
- 1/4 c. mayonnaise
- 1/4 c. buttermilk (or 2 Tbsp. sour cream + 2 Tbsp. milk)
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/2 shallot, chopped
Instructions
Assemble the salad:
- Spread arugula leaves evenly on a large, flat platter. Cover with layered rows of couscous, salmon, pepitas, sweet corn, cranberries, and tomatoes.
Make the dressing:
- Combine all dressing ingredients in a measuring cup and mix with an immersion blender until smooth.
- Mix salad tableside, if desired, and serve with dressing on the side.
Notes
Based on this recipe from Key Ingredient.
Barbecue Tofu Sandwiches with Veggie Slaw
At the children’s museum where I work, there’s an exhibit called Marketplace, which is essentially a mini grocery store engineered just for play. When I give tours to field trip groups, this exhibit is where I educate kids about the various food groups as outlined on MyPlate. I explain to them that MyPlate not only shows the five food groups, but also what portions of them we should fill our plates with (as in, 50% fruits and vegetables).
Part of my spiel in this exhibit is asking kids to tell me examples of their favorite foods in each group. They usually do pretty well on fruits, vegetables, and dairy (except for the occasional kid who tells me that pigs give us dairy products or that oranges are their favorite vegetable), but they are often stumped when I ask them to name foods that contain protein. I can’t tell you how many times kids’ ideas of protein-rich foods are protein bars or protein shakes, rather than natural food sources. Granted, these kids are often second graders, so I have to give them a pass, but as a nutritionist, it’s surprising to me that the school curriculum covers so little about food and nutrition.
Once we get through the idea that protein is found in animal products and some non-animal products, I ask the students again: which protein-containing foods are your favorites?
Steak. Steak is the answer about 80% of the time.
I then ask kids about plant-based protein sources. Have they ever, for example, tried tofu?
“Ewwwwwwww, no!”
Come on! I want to say. You’re eight years old and your parents have already ruined you for tofu? But it’s true–ever since Americans first started experimenting with tofu in the ’70s and ’80s, it’s been saddled with a reputation as the flavorless poster child of the Health Food Movement.
It doesn’t have to be that way. As a meatless protein source, I find tofu easy to prepare, cheap to purchase, and a flavor chameleon that can adapt to anything you throw at it. Case in point: these delicious barbecue tofu sandwiches with veggie slaw. I’ve had tofu in many forms over the years, but the idea of slicing it and putting it in a sandwich was new to me when I first saw this recipe. Now that I’ve been making it for awhile, I can see how the shape and texture of pan-fried tofu sliced off the block is perfect sandwich material! Slathered with barbecue sauce and topped with a cool slaw, these barbecue tofu sandwiches are a super tasty (and totally think-outside-the-box) weeknight dinner.
So if someone asks MY favorite protein-containing food? Well, I won’t say they beat a juicy steak, but I will say these barbecue tofu sandwiches rank pretty high.
Barbecue Tofu Sandwiches with Veggie Slaw
A tasty vegetarian sandwich of pan-fried barbecue tofu and a cool, creamy slaw.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 14 oz. block extra firm tofu
- 2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
- 2 tsp. red wine vinegar
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- black pepper, to taste
- 1 1/2 c. shredded broccoli and carrot mix
- 1 Tbsp. canola or olive oil
- 1/2 c. barbecue sauce
- 4 sandwich thins, toasted
- dill pickles, if desired
Instructions
- Drain tofu and squeeze as much liquid out of it as possible. If time allows, remove even more moisture by pressing tofu. (Place on a paper towel-lined plate and weigh it down with something heavy, like cans or books.) Slice tofu lengthwise into 4 equal slabs.
- Prepare the slaw: in a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, garlic powder, and pepper. Add shredded broccoli/carrot mix and stir to coat. Set aside.
- Heat canola oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add tofu slabs and cook about 4 minutes per side, or until lightly browned. Reduce heat to low, add barbecue sauce, and cook for another 3 minutes or so, carefully turning tofu to coat both sides.
- Assemble sandwiches with toasted sandwich thins, barbecue tofu, slaw and pickles (if you like).
Notes
Adapted from Eating Well.