Salad! It’s what’s for dinner!

We have a crazy schedule!  It’s usually after 9pm before we are all home from various sports and activities!  Therefore we eat LATE!  My husband and I started eating salads for dinner about 5 years ago (2013-ish) I’d say about 98% of the time this is the salad we eat.   Sometimes we add smoked salmon, grilled chicken or whatever lunch meat we have on hand.  Most of the time though, it’s too close to bed so we don’t add meat.  We’ve found that we both sleep so much better if we stick to this!  It’s a big salad, if you follow the portions below its enough for a whole meal!

Makes 4 Salads:

  4 handfuls Spinach – one handful per person
  1 Apple – 1/4 per person
  1 Bell Pepper – 1/4 per person
  20 Baby Carrots – about 5 per person (or 4 regular carrots – 1 per person)
  1 Avocado – 1/4 per person
  1 Roma Tomato – 1/4 per person
  4 Jalapeno and Garlic Stuffed Green Olives* (from Costco) –  diced, 1 per person
  4 Pickled Green Beans* (or other pickled item you like) – diced, 1 per person
  4 Tbsp Nuts – 1 Tbsp per person (pine nuts, pistachios, etc – whatever you like)

Slice everything into bite-size pieces and enjoy!

*by including pickled items as well as the tomato, apple and avo the salad is so moist you don’t even need salad dressing.  I used to love salad dressing and thought people were weird if they didn’t use it…just try it, you’ll be surprised!  If you add the right ingredients and slice them small enough you don’t need dressing, you’ll save on the calories.  If it’s still too dry, try adding a little Feta.  You can do it!