Chopped Salad

Yesterday was a phenomenal day on all counts, which was spent mainly exercising. I got up, had my smoothie, coconut water, spinach, orange, banana, and protein. Then I worked out, did some cardio on the recumbent bike, showered, changed, and hopped on my buckle and rode into Guilford, to Kai's house, a veritable wellspring of nutrition and positive energy. Check out her website at Nourishing Habits, llc.

My purpose was really to purchase some more protein powder since I had run out, but on my arrival I found myself on the tail end of a ladies luncheon, full, as you can imagine, of healthy glowing people and delicious healthy foods! Kai was gracious enough to offer me some lunch and a cappuccino, and some good conversation. I had a bean and escarole dish that was out of this world!

This was followed up with a bike ride home, and an invitation to tags long to a yoga class that evening, which I couldn't refuse. So over all, a lot of activity. Bt let's talk about what I made for dinner!

Chopped Salads can make a wonderful, satisfying meal, and are also very easy to prepare. The most energy you'll expend is gathering the ingredients from around your kitchen. This one is accompanied by a lovely poppyseed dressing that is just flavorful enough to notice without drowning out all the other wonderful elements in the dish.

The recipe comes from "Clean Food," and the ingredients are as follows:
2 endives, chopped
1 small bunch watercress, arugula, radicchio (save yourself the trouble and buy a nice spring mix, otherwise you're likely to have enough to feed a small army.).
1 avocado, peeled pitted and chunked
1/2 cup kalamata olives
8 stalks of fresh asparagus
I orange bell pepper, Seeds removed, chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
3 stalks of celery chopped
Several halved cherry tomatoes
Pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top

For the dressing:
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tsp agave

Assemblage:
Cut asparagus into 1" chunks, set in a bowl, fill with boiling water, cover, and set aside for one minute. Drain. (I included the red onion in this process as well, since it takes the edge off nicely, but the recipe doesn't call for it.) chunk the avocado, and toss with some lemon juice to keep it from browning. Combine everything else, toss, dress, toss. Enjoy. If your like a nice presentation, reserve the tomatoes, olives, avocado and pumpkin seeds and distribute them artfully on top of all the chopped greens. You could also add some chick peas to the mix for a little extra protein.




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Location:Madison, CT