Spinach and Grape Pasta Salad

March 26, 2013

Spinach and Grape Pasta Salad - Mimi's Fit Foods

I was introduced to this salad about one year ago.  Thanks to my friend Valerie (Thanks Valerie!), it has now become one of my most favorite pasta salads.  It’s so tasty!  All the veggies help to make this filling, there is just the right amount of pasta, the peas make it taste so fresh (and springy), and the grapes and dressing offer a little sweetness. Everything comes together so well and, for me, it’s the perfect pasta salad for spring!

You can TOTALLY add chicken to this salad if you want to make it a main course.  Valerie said she prefers to cook her chicken with McCormick’s Zesty Herb Marinate (dry package) when she puts the chicken in this salad.  I usually make it as a side dish (and have taken it to several pot-luck functions and have had many compliments), but I’ve tried the salad with the chicken and it’s deeeelish!

I hope you plan to add this to your spring/summer menus because it’s yummy and fresh!

Spinach and Grape Pasta Salad
Adapted from my friend, Valerie

For the Salad:
3 cups spinach, roughly chopped (or torn)
2 cups Veggie Pasta, dry (I used Wacky Mac)
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup grapes
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 green onions, chopped

For the Dressing:
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Cook pasta according to package directions (for al dente).  Drain and rinse with cold water.  Add pasta to other salad ingredients in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk until combined (I like to whisk until the sugar is mostly dissolved).

Toss salad with dressing shortly before serving.

Serves 10.

Nutritional Information (Per Serving = Approx. 1 Cup)
Calories:  124.6
Protein:  3g
Carbs:  16.3g
Fat:  5.9g
Fiber:  1.6g
Sugars:  4.8g


Thai Peanut and Chicken Salad

March 15, 2013

Thai Peanut and Chicken Salad - Mimi's Fit Foods

You guys!  This is such a delicious salad!  Surprisingly enough, I’m not a HUGE salad lover when it comes to the main dish (I do however, love them on on the side . . . weird, I know).  The salad has to be unique enough, filling enough, and tasty enough to ever count for the main attraction.  Well, this one fits the bill!

It has fresh greens that include romaine and nappa cabbage, a fabulous array of fresh vegetables, and noodles.  Yeah, noodles!  Man, they are so good in this salad.  All of the textures mixed together are magical.  And, don’t even get me started on the salad dressing.  It is sooooooo awesome!  I love peanut flavored stuff, and this was NO exception.  The dressing is made primarily with peanut butter and then a bunch of Thai flavors get mixed in which gives the dressing a nice zing and powers up the flavors.  I’m not going to lie; when I’m on maintenance I totally add more than 1 tablespoon of the dressing to my salad because I could probably drink the stuff.  The cashews on top really help to finish the salad off.  (Unfortunately the cashews didn’t make it in the photo.  Oops!)

I am seriously in love with this salad!  When I made it I doubled everything (salad ingredients and dressing) so I could eat leftovers for my lunch for days.  I mean, cutting up the veggies takes the most time so I just dedicated one lunch time to cut everything up.  This meant that the following days included NO preparation and all I had to do was put my salad on a plate and drizzle on the dressing.  The veggies and greens stay good for days so in my humble opinion it was SO WORTH THE TIME!

Make this TODAY for your lunch!  You won’t regret it.  Well, unless you’re allergic to nuts.  But, that’s the only reason I can ever imagine why someone wouldn’t fall in love with this salad.

Thai Peanut and Chicken Salad - Mimi's Fit Foods

Thai Peanut Salad
Adapted from Studio 5 and the Unconventional Kitchen

Salad Ingredients:
4 ounce whole wheat pasta
(spaghetti, angel hair, linguine, or brown rice noodles all work great)
3 cups romaine, chopped
3 cups nappa cabbage, chopped
2 cups thinly sliced purple cabbage
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, cut in little matchsticks
1 medium cucumber, halved and sliced
3 green onions
12 ounces cooked chicken breast, chopped
1/4 cup cashews, chopped (or cashew pieces)

Dressing Ingredients:
1/4 cup peanut butter, natural no hydrogenated oils and sugar added
1/2 lime, juiced and zested
1 teaspoons sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoons soy sauce, reduced sodium (or Lite)
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro (stems and all)
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1-2 teaspoons Sriracha chili sauce (depends on your spice tolerance)
1 tablespoons water

For the Salad:
Cook noodles according to package directions (be sure to add salt to your boiling water, which should be included in package directions). 

While you are waiting for your noodles to cook, chop all of your veggies. 

When the noodles are done run cold water over them. When the noodles are cool, drain. Toss all of the salad ingredients together and serve with Thai Peanut Salad Dressing.

For the Dressing:
Put all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. 

If you want the dressing spicier add more Sriracha, if you aren’t into spice, start out with 1 teaspoon and add to taste from there.  The dressing makes approximately 3/4 cup (or 12 tablespoons).

Serves 4.

Nutritional Information (Per Serving = 1/4 the Salad Recipe – No Dressing)
Calories:  245.7
Protein:  23.5g
Carbs:  33.1g
Fat:  5.3g (0.5g = Sat.)
Fiber:  7.2g
Sugars:  4.2g

Nutritional Information – Dressing Only (Per Serving = 1 Tablespoon)
Calories:  47.7
Protein:  1.4g
Carbs:  3.4g
Fat:  3g (0.5g = Sat)
Fiber:  0.3g
Sugars:  2.4g

Nutritional Information (Per Serving = 1/4 the Salad Recipe plus 1 Tablespoon Dressing)
Calories:  293.4
Protein:  24.9g
Carbs:  36.5g
Fat:  8.3g (1g = Sat.)
Fiber:  7.6g
Sugars:  6.6g


Mexican Tomato & Corn Salad

September 4, 2012

Tomato, Corn, Cilantro, Lime, Queso Fresco

This side dish is fresh, tangy, flavorful, and sweet!  The sweet corn and cherry tomatoes are coated with a tangy dressing that leaves you wanting more!  With fresh corn and cherry tomatoes in season, now is the PERFECT time to be making this salad.  However, I think it’s so good that the salad will still be a home run in the winter too!  You can cut corn kernels directly off the ear, or use frozen corn.  Also, Queso Fresco cheese is a Mexican cheese that you can usually find in most grocery stores among the other cheeses.  (If you can’t find it, feta cheese is most widely used as a substitute.)  We loved the change-up that this salad gave us (as compared to usual carbohydrate side dishes like potatoes or rice . . . . although we love those too).  I craved it for days after I made it (thank goodness I had leftovers)!

*Note:  If you need/want to save some unnecessary calories, pull the cheese out of the recipe.  That will save you 40 calories & 3 grams of fat per serving.

Mexican Tomato and Corn Salad
Adapted from melskitchencafe.com

For the salad:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
2 cups halved grape or cherry tomatoes
2 oz. crumbled queso fresco cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

For the dressing:
1 tablespoon freshly grated lime zest (zest the lime(s) before juicing)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (from about 3 garlic cloves)

In a large skillet, heat the 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium heat. Stir in the corn and cook until soft (but not mushy), 3-5 minutes, stirring/tossing occasionally. Cool corn slightly and set aside.

Whisk together the lime zest, lime juice, vinegar, 1 tablespoon olive oil and garlic in a small bowl.

In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, cheese, cilantro and corn. Toss the salad with the vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4 (Makes Approximately 4 Cups).

Nutritional Information (Per Serving = Approximately 1 Cup)
Calories:  160
Protein:  5.9g
Carbs:  19g
Fat:  8.2g (2.7g = Sat.)
Fiber:  2.7g
Sugars:  4.5g


Steak & Potato Skillet Salad

March 29, 2012

Sounds interesting, right?  That’s what I thought when I first came across this hearty salad.  I think I’ve said it before, but I rarely like salads to be my main course.  I LOVE them as a side, but do not prefer them as the star.  However, when I saw this salad I thought that, while it sounded interesting, it also sounded hearty.  I mean, I still get my steak and potatoes!

This was a SUPER easy way to prepare both the steak and the potatoes.  I used the microwave and one skillet to achieve a freshly seared steak AND crispy potatoes.  While I seared the steak, I popped the potatoes in the microwave to give them a head start (you’ll want to avoid having raw insides and burnt outsides).  By the time the steak was ready to rest, the potatoes were ready to be added to the skillet to finish cooking . . . not to mention they were infused with a meaty flavor from the browned bits left behind by the seared steak.  Talk about delicious!

The dressing was very tasty!  I think it was the thyme that really complimented the beef here.  I will tell you that the reason this recipe has a tad bit more calories than expected is because of the dressings (those darn dressings will get us EVERY time).  So, if you’re really watching calories then you’ll want to half the amount of dressing you put on your salad.  (Just so you can see, I did end up putting the calorie count for the dressing alone.  You can find it at the bottom of the post.)

I really loved this salad . . . even as my main course.  It was LARGE, meaty, and filling.  Oh, and very tasty to boot!

Steak and Potato Skillet Salad
Adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook

Dressing
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon red onion, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme (or 1/8 tsp. dried)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Salad
1 pound boneless top sirloin steak, about 1-1/4 inches thick
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound potatoes (about 3 medium), scrubbed and cut into wedges
3 romaine lettuce hearts (about 1 pound), torn into bite-sized pieces
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion

For the dressing:  Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl until bell combined; set aside.  (Alternatively, you can put it all in a food processor and process until combined.)

For the salad:  Pat the steak dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper (about 1/8 teaspoon of each).  Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Brown the steak well on the first side, about 3 minutes.  Flip the steak, reduce the heat to medium, and continue to cook until the center of the steak registers 120 to 125 degrees on an in, 5 to 7 minutes longer.  (This is for medium-rare.  If you prefer it more or less done, cook for more or less time accordingly.  I cooked mine until they were 130 degrees.)

Transfer the steak to a carving board, tent loosely with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes.  Cut the steak across the grain into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

Meanwhile, toss the potatoes with the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in a large microwave-safe bowl.  Cover the microwave on high until the potatoes are tender, 5 to 10 minutes, stirring the potatoes halfway through the cooking time.

Return the skillet to medium-high heat until just smoking.  Add the potatoes in a single layer and cook until well browned on both sides, about 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Whisk the dressing to recombine.  Toss the lettuce and onion with 1/2 cup of the dressing, then divide it among four plates.  Arrange the steak and potatoes on top of the salads, drizzle with the remaining dressing, and serve.

Serves 4.

Nutritional Information (Per Serving = 1/4 of Recipe)
Calories:  380
Protein:  29g
Carbs:  29g
Fat:  16g (3g = Sat.)
Fiber:  4g

Nutritional Information – DRESSING ONLY (Per serving)
Calories:  83.4
Protein:  0.1g
Carbs:  5.5g
Fat:  7g (1g = Sat.)
Fiber:  0.1g


Pomegranate & Apple Winter Salad With Creamy Pomegranate Dressing

December 20, 2011

This salad is soooooooo perfect for holiday parties.  It’s also sooooooo perfect for winter time.  This looks so festive and tastes so yummy too!  I first made this for Thanksgiving dinner and we’ve had it a couple of times since then.  The only ingredients that are sacred to the recipe are the apples and pomegranate arils/seeds.  After that you can totally play with the vegetables that you might enjoy in the salad.  I LOVE the sweetness and crunch that the fruit offer to this salad.  The apples and the pomegranate really compliment each other and you’ll be delighted how the tart meets the sweet.  The dressing is a cinch to throw together and it continues to highlight the star ingredients.

If you’re looking for a healthy and delicious side to take to your next party, you ought to consider this one!  If you’re just looking for something to change things up at home, this may be your ticket too.  If you want to turn this into a full meal, you can easily add chicken to your salad with great success!  Enjoy!

Pomegranate & Apple Winter Salad
With Creamy Pomegranate Dressing

Mimi Original

3 cups mixed greens (I used romaine)
1 medium apple, diced (I used honey crisp)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup pomegranate seeds (arils)
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced red onion
1/2 cup sliced red bell pepper
1/2 cup sliced cucumber

Dressing:
1/3 cup pomegranate juice
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 shallot, minced
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon salt

To prepare salad, place greens in a serving bowl.  Pour lemon juice over chopped apple and stir to coat (this helps to prevent the apple from browning).  Top greens with apple, pomegranate seeds, and remaining vegetables.

To prepare dressing, combine juice and next 5 ingredients a small bowl; stir well with whisk.  (You can also put all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.)

Serves 6.

Nutritional Information – Salad Only (Per Serving = 1/6 of Recipe)
Calories:  56.2
Protein:  1.5g
Carbs:  12.8g
Fat:  0.6g (0g = Sat.)
Fiber:  2.9g
Sugars:  7.8g

Nutritional Information – Salad & Dressing (Per Serving = 1/6 of Recipe)
Calories:  101.6
Protein:  1.6g
Carbs:  17.3g
Fat:  3.7g (0.4g = Sat.)
Fiber:  2.9g
Sugars:  11.7g

 


Chicken & Avocado Quinoa Salad

October 4, 2011

I love salad, but I rarely love to eat salad for my main course.  It’s always been a delicious side dish for me (and I rarely make a major meal without preparing one full of healthy veggies).  However, once in a while there is a salad that can steal my heart away at dinner or lunch (usually lunch!).   I’m pretty sure I loved this salad because it was hearty AND fresh.   How often can you put those two adjectives together?  It has quinoa (oh, how I love the texture of quinoa), chicken, avocado, and fresh veggies which is all covered in a light and lemony dressing.  If I’m being honest here (which I always am!), I wouldn’t choose to eat this most nights because of my before mentioned salad quandary.  But, I would definitely eat this for lunch more often.  That being said, it really was a fabulous meal change for us and I highly recommend throwing it in your file of recipes to try.  Besides, don’t you think it looks pretty?

Chicken & Avocado Quinoa Salad
Adapted from Picky Palate

1 1/2 cups uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
2 cups broccoli florets
2 pounds cooked, cubed chicken breast
1/2 cup diced yellow or red sweet peppers or bell peppers
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 avocado, diced

Cook quinoa according to package directions. Transfer to a large bowl, stirring every 5 minutes to break up. Let cool for 15 minutes.

Place broccoli, chicken, peppers, and Parmesan cheese into a large bowl. Add quinoa and stir to combine.

To prepare dressing, place olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper into a medium bowl, whisking to combine. Pour over quinoa, stirring then gently stir in cubed avocado.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 8.

Nutritional Information (Per Serving)
Calories:  358
Protein:  30g
Carbs: 27.1g
Fat:  14.5g (1.6g = Sat.)
Fiber:  4.6g
Sugars:  2.6g


Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 105 other followers