Healthy Main Dish Salads

Advertisements
Advertisements

5 min read

FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrintFriendlyShare

Hearty, fresh salads that even your spouse and children will enjoy.

In the hot summer months friends call me asking for "cool" healthy recipes. They complain to me that they only want to eat fresh vegetables and salads, but living on veggies alone leaves them and their families' hungry. "Of course it does!" I tell them. In order for the brain to function, muscles to move, and bodies to grow, a person needs a balanced diet of vegetables, fruits, complex carbohydrates, proteins, and "good" fats, like avocado, walnuts, olive oil, and sesame seeds. With some simple additions to your vegetables you can turn any salad into a full meal.

Following are recipes for some hearty, fresh salads that even your spouse and children will enjoy.

Salpicon de Pollo-Mexican Chicken Salad

Serves four

2 chicken breasts
1 avocado, sliced
1 head of lettuce, chopped
1 handful of cilantro, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
2 tomatoes, cut into chucks
3 lemons
1 Serrano chili pepper, diced (without the seeds to make it less spicy) optional
Paprika
Black pepper

You can prepare the chicken breasts in advance and keep them in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To prepare the chicken: Sprinkle the chicken breast with paprika and a dash of black pepper. Squeeze 1 lemon over the chicken breasts and bake covered in the oven 350 until done (approx 35 min).

Let the chicken breasts cool and in the meantime chop the lettuce, cilantro, and green onion. Cut up the tomato, and dice the chili pepper. Mix together. Shred the cooled chicken breast with your hands and mix it in the salad with the sliced avocado. Squeeze the remaining 2 lemons over the salad and toss.

You can use any left-over chicken in this recipe, just shred it with your hands and toss it into the salad, it'll taste great.

Chicken Salad with Tehina Dressing

Serves Four

2 chicken breasts
1 head of lettuce, chopped
8-12 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 carrots, peeled
2 red bell pepper, sliced and cut in half
2 cucumbers, diced
2 Tbs raw pumpkin seeds
2 Tbs raw sunflower seeds
1 lemon
Paprika
Black pepper

For the dressing that takes delicious on any salad: ¼ cup RAW (meaning that the sesame seeds were ground with their calcium, magnesium, and iron rich husks intact) 100% ground sesame seed-Tehina 3 lemons

As in the recipe above:

You can prepare the chicken breasts in advance and keep them in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To prepare the chicken: Sprinkle the chicken breast with paprika and a dash of black pepper. Squeeze 1 lemon over the chicken breasts and bake covered in the oven 350 until done (approx 35 min).

Let the chicken breasts cool and in the meantime make the dressing. Squeeze the juice from the lemons and mix into the raw tehina, forming a smooth spread.

Chop the lettuce, take the carrots and with a peeler, make carrot ribbons by peeling them into the salad, add the bell peppers, cucumbers, and seeds. Cut the cooled chicken into small pieces and add along with the tomatoes (cut the tomatoes right before serving, tomatoes are filled with vitamin C but start to lose it when cut). With a spoon mix the dressing into the salad and serve.

Quick tip: Double your batch of chicken breast and you can make the two salads for two different meals.

Cold Salomon Pesto Spinach/Baby Green Salad

Serves Four+

½ kg/1 lb of salmon filet
3 lemons
½ cup walnuts
¼ cup extra virgin olive
1 handful of basil, coarsely chopped
1 Tbs cold water
¼ tsp salt
1 10oz bag of fresh spinach (or baby greens)

Squeeze juice from 2 lemons over the salmon and let marinade while you prepare the pesto.

Place the chopped basil, walnuts, water, salt and half of the oil in a blender. Add more oil as needed until you get a paste (it doesn't have to be completely smooth).

Place the pesto on top of the salmon and bake covered in the oven at 350 until done (about 20-25 min depending on salmon's thickness).

Arrange the salmon on top of the spinach or baby greens and squeeze remaining lemon over (adding lemon juice which is rich in vitamin C to all your greens helps your body absorb the greens' iron).

Ensalada de Ceviche

Serves 4 or 6-8 as a first course

½ kg/1 lb of salmon or red snapper filet
¼ fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 handful of cilantro, chopped
2 green onions, diced
1 Tbs tomato concentrate
1-2 Serrano chili peppers, diced (without the seeds to make it less spicy) optional
2 tomatoes, chopped
½ onion, diced
Salt to taste
6 romaine lettuce leaves for decoration

Place the fish in a glass dish and marinade the salmon in the lemon juice overnight (the juice cooks the fish).

Break the fish up into small pieces and mix with cilantro, green onion, tomato concentrate, chili peppers, tomatoes, and onion. Sprinkle with salt.

Arranged the lettuce leaves on a platter or bowl and place the fish mixture on top. Serve with crackers or toasted tortillas.

Vegetarian Bean Salad with Vinaigrette Dressing

Serves Four

1 can of garbanzo beans, drained
1 can of kidney beans or white northern beans, drained
1 bag of baby greens
8-12 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 red onion, sliced very thinly
1 lemon
½ tsp dried oregano or basil
1 tsp mustard
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbs basmati vinegar

For the dressing: Mix the spices, mustard, vinegar and oil together.

Place the beans, tomatoes, onion, tomatoes and greens in a bowl. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over it and pour the dressing on top. Toss and serve.

Click here to comment on this article
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
EXPLORE
LEARN
MORE
Explore
Learn
Resources
Next Steps
About
Donate
Menu
Languages
Menu
oo
Social
.