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Hi hi! I hope you had a lovely Mother’s Day weekend. I wanted to pop in here because I wanted to share with you this salad I made for lunch on Saturday when we had my parents over for an early Mother’s Day celebration!
Also, as a follow-up to this post, I’ll be popping in and out every now and then. I’m definitely not quitting the blog; I’m going to try to just not have a set schedule and the pressure to post. I do have several new recipe videos I shot in March that I’d love to share with you guys and I also just want to share recipes I love with stories behind them.
I guess you can say I’m going back to my roots and blogging for fun again. I hope you join me in this journey!
Like I said, I made this salad for Mother’s Day lunch on Saturday. I didn’t realize how much I would love this salad until I finished two giant platefuls.
It’s basic and quick and you can add as little or as much to it as you want. Isn’t that what a salad is all about?
I feel like salads have gotten such a bad rap. For many years, you ate a salad because you were “on a diet” or you would order a salad at a restaurant because you were “trying to be healthy.” Whatever happened to eating a salad because you just want some greens and vegetables?
And I also hate the argument that “a salad is not a meal.” Um, yes it is. If you build it correctly, it is. If it has a good amount of protein, carbs, and fats, it can be considered a meal. It can be filling and it is a healthier choice but by no means is it something you eat only when you’re on a diet.
I just loved all the flavors of this salad. I don’t like raw tomatoes so instead of putting myself through that and/or picking them out, I opted to roast red bell peppers.
You can easily buy them in the jar or throw them on the grill. We threw them on the grill on Saturday because we were already grilling pork chops but for regular lunches, I just sliced up the bell peppers into big wedges and threw them in the oven with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.
There is nothing better than fresh, crisp cucumbers paired with roasted red peppers, red onions (I LOVE raw onions in my salads), and kalamata olives. You could probably throw feta cheese in and then it’d basically be like a Mediterranean salad but I didn’t have any on hand so I just quickly seared some chicken tenderloins (with my favorite onion salt from Trader Joe’s) and chopped them up to throw in the salad.
My favorite dressing to use on this salad is Bolthouse Farms’ honey mustard. If you’ve never tried Bolthouse Farms yogurt dressing; you are missing out. They have the best macros and you can use more of the dressing (if you’re a heavy dresser) without all the fat.
Quick Basic Chopped Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups (80 g) loosely packed spring mix
- 1 cup (20 g) loosely packed baby arugula
- 2 seedless mini cucumbers, sliced into rounds
- 1 large red bell pepper, roasted (or you can use jarred roasted red peppers)
- Red onion slices
- Kalamata olives
- 4 ounces (113 g) cubed chicken
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Add all ingredients into a large bowl. Then use the chopper and run it through all ingredients until chopped to desired consistency. See notes below.
- Alternatively, you can chop everything finely on a cutting board then place in to a large bowl to dress. Or you can make this not a chopped salad but just a regular salad with toppings.
- Drizzle your favorite dressing on top and mix.
Notes
Nutrition
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Oh my, so many amazing salads here. I really wish I wasn’t stuck in freezing winter temperatures right now because I want to eat them all.
I just saw your blog for the first time. I love it!! Thank yiu
So perfect for m<y office lunches ! Thank you so much !
Enjoy!
I’m glad you’re not gone! I follow a few food blogs and you post recipes that are consistently good and that I will actually make on repeat (harder to find them you think). You’re also consistently real in how you interact with your readers (also hard to find). The salad looks great!
Aww thank you SO much for your kind message. It truly means a lot to me that you said this and notice this out of all the zillions of bloggers out there! XOXO
First off, thank you for the link to Mari’s Instagram. As an infertility survivor, Mother’s Day is still a hard holiday. To finally see there’s some recognition of that is truly, truly appreciated.
Secondly, I’m so glad that your last post gave you affirmation to keep posting. It’s tempting to throw in the towel, but blogs like your’s are at the heart of why people like me continue to write. And how fitting to promote a salad in doing so (looks delicious, btw).
I’m so sorry to hear that, Cristy. I’m glad that we are more aware these days about different situations people are in or have gone through. Thank you for reading and your message is so encouraging. I hope you try this salad sometime!
I am a HUGE fan of Bolthouse Farms dressings. The Creamy Cesar is my fave and I think I’m going to have to bring this salad into the mix. Sometimes a salad is just what I’m craving.
Creamy caesar is my second fav! I hope you try this salad!!
Looks delicious Julie! I love a good salad for dinner as does my family.
Thank you!!
This is my kind of salad…for real. I have to try that dressing, I’ve loved their dressings over the years but I haven’t bought it in a while. I just bought that chopped salad set!
Omg, Aggie…you will LOVE their dressings for macros and tracking!! It’s like an awesome cheat ;) the chopped salad set is what gets me to eat salads more. For some reason, a chopped salad is way more appetizing to me than just big leaves on a plate LOL
Glad to see you haven’t left :) Looks delicious! I was debating that brand of caesar dressing just last week. I have their balsamic, which is good, but not a huge fan of balsamic dressing.
Their caesar is pretty good too!! Thanks for writing!
I love this salad and I love that you are doing YOU. I think the highly styled photos are of course lovely, but I am not sure the reader cares much if it’s well thought out recipe. If dealing with a professional photo shoot every time you cook doesn’t bring you joy- then don’t. I am glad to see you finding joy again and I bet your loyal readers (me!!!) will always stick with ya and appreciate how real you are !
Thank you so much for your support, Krysten!!! XOXO