This is my life saver recipe.
Here’s why:
- I can make this healthy, chopped salad on a Sunday and have fresh, healthy lunches for the whole week.
- There’s no planning involved. If I’m at the store last-minute and I’m wondering what to buy for the week, all I have to do is choose whichever fresh vegetables look good to me. I’ve never met a vegetable that didn’t play nice with another vegetable, so I don’t really concern myself with what will taste good with what. Do I like it and is it fresh and healthy? Great…in my cart it goes.
- I can make it taste very different throughout the week depending on what I dress it with. Sesame-ginger if I’m in the mood for Asian, Cilantro-Lime or Cilantro-Jalapeno Pesto if I’m feeling more Mexican or just plain ol’ Ranch or Blue Cheese if I need something more comforting. Adding some rotisserie or leftover chicken or steak helps switch things up, too.
- It’s all healthy and keeps my weight in check. So, there’s that. Yes, I occasionally splurge with a little goat cheese. No, I don’t feel even a little bit guilty.
- It keeps well. Which means it’s always waiting there for me in my fridge when I get cravings.
There’s really no recipe to it, either, it’s just all raw chopped veggies. I’ve always preferred less lettuce-to-the-goodies in my salads anyway, so here I just omit the lettuce altogether. You can certainly add some if you wish, it’s your salad after all! Here’s a list of the veggies I used in the photo above, written up as a recipe for your convenience:
Skinny Chopped Veggie Salad
Yield: 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
My go-to recipe for healthy lunches all week long.
Ingredients
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 poblano pepper
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved if large
- a few celery stalks
- 1/2 bunch asparagus, I did drizzle with olive oil & kosher salt and roasted it for about 3 minutes at 400F...you're always going for crisp-tender with roasted asparagus, but for a salad like this I kept it slightly more crisp than tender so didn't cook it quite as long as normal
- 1/4-1/2 red onion
- 1/2 english cucumber
- chopped parsley & cilantro
- avocado, add to your individual bowls so it's fresh each time and doesn't brown
Instructions
- You’ll want to season your veggies with kosher salt before dressing. I wait to season on a bowl-by-bowl basis so the salt doesn’t draw out the moisture as the veggies sit in my refrigerator throughout the week. It really helps to keep them fresh.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 59Sodium: 41mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gProtein: 2g
This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix.
Things You’ll Need
Salad Spinner A good salad has lettuce and veggies that have been washed and spun dry. Watered down salad is never good!
Salad Dressing Shaker You can mix, serve and store your salad dressings in the same container! I love mine so much that I bought one for my mom!
Veggie Chopper If you make this salad often enough (which you should!), you might want to consider this veggie chopper to make quick work of it.
