Spinach Salad with Salmon & Roasted Beets

There is nothing quite like a big, fresh salad. Any other Panera Bread lovers out there?? Well, I ADORE their salads – crisp & loaded with all kinds of yummy things! This pile of greens I created was reminiscent of good ole PB (For my international friends, Panera Bread is like a little cafe – salads, sandwiches, coffees, etc.!) It was super filling, chock full of Omega-3s, potassium, magnesium, beta-carotene (some even say beets are a natural purifier of the blood AND can lower your blood pressure- how cool is THAT?!) Soo… whatcha waiting for?! Git ta cookin’!

SPINACH SALAD WITH SALMON & ROASTED BEETS

The ingredients!

• 2 medium salmon fillets
• 4 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 2 large beets
• 1 avocado
• 1 TBSP roasted sunflower seeds
• 1 TBSP feta (optional)
• 1 TBSP olive oil (for the beets)
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp dill
• Salt & pepper to taste

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 TBSP coconut creamer or coconut milk
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 packets Stevia or 2 tsp sugar/sweetner
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 /2 tsp salt or to taste

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 and line a cookie sheet with foil. Cut the tops off your beets, then peel and dice into small/medium size pieces. Toss the beets with 1 TBSP olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.

Your hands might be a tad pink at this point. Never fear, it DOES wash off! Mostly…

Spread out the cut beets on the cookie sheet you lined with foil, and roast for 35-40 minutes or under tender.

Yum.

While the beets are cooking, make your dressing! Put all of the ingredients into a blender, mason jar, whatever you can get your hands on! I used a mason jar (because I have about a million laying around my house from our wedding-might as well put ’em to good use, right??) A bowl will work, but ideally, you’ll want something with a lid. It will make your job soo much easier.

Homemade dressings are my faavorite

Add all the ingredients and then SHAKE… what your momma gave ya. Okay, not really. I mean… you can if you want to. I’m not judging. Don’t be shy. Alright, now this is getting weird. It’s early, people!! 6am early, to be exact. I can’t be held responsible for what I say (type) at this hour. Moooving along. Where were we? Oh yes… shake your dressing until everything is well mixed. Then set it aside!

Seriously, this stuff is good.

Line another cookie sheet with foil. Spray a little coconut oil or olive oil so your salmon won’t stick. Season the salmon with the garlic powder, dill, salt & pepper.

Perfect mix of spices

I have a double oven, so I was able to bake the salmon at 425 while the beets were still cooking. If you don’t, no biggie! Just put the salmon in the oven with the beets when there’s about 16 minutes left on the beets. Baking the salmon at 400 will have around a 16-18 min cook time. Baking the salmon at 425 will have a 12-14 minute cook time. Either way, you’ll know it’s done when it flakes off easily with a fork. So just adjust however needed, depending on your kitchen!

While the beets and salmon are cooling off a bit, slice your avocado and divide the spinach leaves between the 2 plates. Add 1/3 cup (or however many you want!) beets, 1 salmon fillet (cut into large pieces), 1/2 of the sunflower seeds, 1/2 of the feta and a few avocado slices! Top with your dressing & enjoy!

How good does that look?!

So good, huh??

The hubs and I loved this one. It was crisp. It was fresh. It was good for us! And it tasted incredible. It was the perfect blend of flavors and textures. Matt said we needed to put this on the regular rotation. I would call that a success!

Let me know what you think!

 

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Grilled Steak, Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Pan-Seared Brussel Sprouts

Okay, y’all.. sorry I haven’t posted in a few days! It’s been pretty crazy over here lately- I had surgery to remove a lymph node from my neck 2 weeks ago (diagnosis should come in this week! Cancer has been ruled out, so hooray for that!!), so I’ve been trying to recover while working long hours. On top of all that, my husband (who’s a teacher) started back AND has been forced to coach this year as well as teach, so we’ve just been trying to survive lately! And not fall asleep at our desks in a puddle of drool. TMI?

Anywhoo… this whole grilling-steaks-in-a-pan thing is new for me. We didn’t have time to marinate the meat and fire up the grill, so ya gotta do whatcha gotta do sometimes! I was pretty worried that these would end up charred and inedible… BUT, alas, the food gods were smiling down on me this night, and these actually turned out to be amazingly good! Whew. Dodged that bullet ;)

GRILLED STEAK, SWEET POTATOES & BRUSSELS

The ingredients!

• 2 steaks (I used sirloin!)
• 2 small/medium sweet potatoes (I used 3 so that I could take some to work the next day!)
• 1 bag brussel sprouts
• 2 TBSP olive oil, divided
• 1/2 TBSP Montreal Steak seasoning
• 1 tsp garlic powder, divided
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

First, heat 1 TBSP oil in either a nonstick pan or grilling pan. Sprinkle the Montreal Steak Seasoning on both sides of the steaks, along with 1/2 tsp of garlic powder (the other 1/2 tsp will be for the brussel sprouts). Once the oil is hot (it will become very thinned out when it’s ready), sear both steaks by placing them in the pan for about 2 minutes, or until a nice, crispy outer covering has formed. At that point, turn the heat down to medium-low, and cook until desired color (I cooked ours about 20-25 minutes and they were medium-well done, leaning more towards well done).

What the steaks will look like after searing them.

While your steaks are cooking, start boiling water in a medium/large pot. Peel and dice the sweet potatoes into large pieces.

The easiest way to cut the sweet potatoes!

Boil on high until the potatoes are tender, about 10-15 minutes.

Drain and set aside in a large mixing bowl once they’re done!

While the potatoes are boiling, cut up your brussel sprouts. The best way to do this is to slice the ends off, pull off any loose leaves and then cut them in half.

Brussel sprouts might just be one of my most favorite veggies ever.. soo good.

Heat the other TBSP of olive oil in a nonstick pan on high for about 1-2 minutes and then toss in your brussels. Add 1/2 tsp garlic powder and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Once the sprouts are browned, turn the heat to low and cook an additional 7-10 minutes or until just tender.

Be careful not to overcook them – mushy brussel sprouts taste pretty terrible!

The final step is to mash up your sweet potatoes! I used a manual potato masher, but I would suggest using a food processor to get a better texture. Mine were not as smooth as I would’ve liked! So learn from my mistakes ;)

Add 1 TBSP coconut (or grass-fed) butter and salt and pepper to taste.

Brussel sprouts always get such a bad rap, but if you cook them correctly, they are DELICIOUS. When Matt found out we were having brussels for dinner, he made a riiidiculous face, but luckily, he’s willing to try just about anything, so he gave it a shot… and found out that he actually loves them!! So boom shaka laka.

The final product!!

This is a meal that definitely takes a little more time to prepare than most of the other ones I post… but it’s worth it in my opinion. Even though I was super stressed out in the beginning, it all came together in the end. My husband always says I get way too emotionally invested in the food I cook… haha! I hate to admit it, but he’s probably right. Anyone else out there get attached to your recipes?? I’d love to hear about it!!