Taco Salad, Without the meat and unhealthy stuff

I'm always looking for new ways to make healthy salads as a dinner entrée. Because I like things that are quick and easy, usually they don't involve meat. When I stumbled on this one on Pinterest, I almost overlooked it because the dressing involves using a blender and that is a tool I try to avoid. BUT I recently rediscovered my super tiny, easy to use and easy to clean MAGIC BULLET. And I'm so glad I did, because this dressing makes this salad awesome. I highly recommend getting one for things like this, you just throw everything in there, then stick it in the dishwasher. Bryce actually got me the Magic Bullet for our first ever Christmas together. I used to be obsessed with the infomercial. Now I remember why. Ok, Back to the food. This is a GREAT dinner salad. I had a little bit of some of the toppings (black beans, corn, and tortilla strips) left over and threw it on a salad for lunch at work the next day too! By the way, I love the blog I got this recipe from, she knows how to COOK and in a healthy way, I only tweaked to our tastes in this recipe.

 

 

  

 

Veggie Taco Salad

 

• 1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 avocado, diced
• One pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup tortilla strips ( the bagged kind you find near the salad toppers)
• 3/4 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3/4 can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 small can sliced black olives, drained
• half of a small red onion, halved and thinly sliced

For the Dressing:

• 1/4 cup orange juice (no pulp, and get the good kind)
• 1 cup fresh cilantro, loosely packed
• 3 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil

1. Divide the salad ingredients between two big bowls.
2. Throw all the dressing ingredients together in the blender (or magic bullet) and blend.
3. Top the salad with the dressing!

**Makes 2 servings
**On Bryce's dish scale it's a 2. Cutting board, then you make the meal in the bowls you serve it in, plus the magic bullet!

Tasty and Healthy Side Dish: Roasted Asparagus

When we were at the store the other day, we were making up our dinner that night based on what looked good that day. After grabbing a steak to throw on the grill using the salt method (I'll blog about that later) we went looking for veggies and the asparagus looked awesome. I knew we had a ton of rosemary in our herb gardens that lasts all winter so I just made up the rest of this as I went.

 

 

 

 

Lemon-Rosemary Asparagus

• 2 lbs. asparagus, woody ends trimmed
• 1/2 one small yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 large garlic clove minced
• 1 lemon, sliced very thin
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest from that lemon as well
• 5 small springs rosemary, plus one tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 teaspoons lemon pepper seasoning
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• a little black pepper and salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Toss the asparagus and onion with the oil, minced garlic, chopped fresh rosemary, lemon pepper, garlic salt, salt and pepper and lemon zest.
3. Place in baking dish. Top with sprigs of rosemary and sliced lemons.
4. Bake for about 25 minutes or until asparagus gets tender.
5. Shut off the oven. Top with parmesan and put back in oven for a couple of minutes so it melts.

**Makes about 4 servings.

Balsamic Quinoa with Roasted cauliflower and Mushrooms

 

This is very good, but has some strong flavors, so if you don't like balsamic dressing and blue cheese its not for you. I had a hard time getting a picture to capture it's yumminess.  If you aren't a blue cheese fan you could replace it with goat or feta cheese and it would be a little milder.  I, personally, love the way the strong flavors combine. It's a hearty quinoa dish that makes a great main dish. It has winter feel to it, highlighting veggies you can easily find this time of year. I found the recipe on Pinterest and changed it up a bit to make it work for us.

 

Balsamic Quinoa with Roasted cauliflower and Mushrooms

 

• 1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 8 ounces regular button mushrooms, quartered
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme, chopped, plus some extra sprigs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup quinoa, well rinsed
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (I toss in a hot pan for about 2 minutes to toast them up)
• 1/3 cup blue cheese, crumbled

For dressing:

• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the cauliflower and mushrooms in the oil, thyme, salt and pepper on a baking sheet. Roast until they start to caramelize and crisp up. About 20-30 minutes, tossing  half way through.
2. While the veggies roast, bring the water and quinoa to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the quinoa has absorbed the water, about 15-20 minutes.
3. Toss the quinoa, veggies, walnuts, blue cheese and balsamic dressing.

**Makes 4 dinner servings.

**3 on Bryce's dish scale. Baking sheet. pan. big bowl. Knife and cutting board. Typical weeknight meal but a few extra things.

It's Trendy, Here's how to make it Yummy: Zucchini Noodles

I'm sure you have seen them in the stores. SPIRALIZERS. The promise is they can turn vegetables into noodles and it's delicious and healthy. Sounds crazy right?Well, I like it. This isn't so much a recipe, as an encouragement to try this and know you can make it good and hearty.


We used zucchini - it took two BIG ONES for two servings. The spiralizer works better with bigger zucchinis.

We served the noodles cold. No heating or anything.

You could easily toss with any sauce - we liked it with red sauce best.

We have used leftover spaghetti sauce that were froze last time we made a big batch and  this locally made sauce that you can pick up at our farmer's market and IT IS AMAZING. I don't do a thing to it but heat it up!

Some day I'll post my family's spaghetti recipe. The only reason I haven't is because it isn't written down and changes a little each time!

I would think it would be good with any garilicky- tomato sauce.

I like this because it so very easy and quick for a weeknight meal.

Go forth and use zucchini for noodles and be healthy.