Melissa's Power Salad

Here's the deal with my salads, as with most of my recipes. 

I don't measure, I just "eyeball" it as Rachael Ray says, 

whatever amount looks good for me and the family, I throw it in. 

If there's extra, that's cool...lunch tomorrow!

Here's how this salad went last night:

Two chicken breasts cooked in coconut oil, cut into bite size pieces.

A handful of bacon crumbles

1-2 small heads of broccoli, chopped

A handful of coleslaw mix (the kind you can buy without the dressing)

Two large handfuls of spinach, chopped 

Fold those ingredients together.

Then sprinkle toasted sunflower seeds and dried cranberries over the top to your liking.

Add your favorite dressing. I did Ranch.

And gently fold again.

Serve and enjoy! 

Strawberry Muffins

Want something to do with those strawberries sitting in your fridge about to go bad? 

Try this. 

:: Ingredients ::

2 cups flour

2 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup chopped strawberries

2 eggs

3/4 cup margarine or butter

1/2 cup vanilla soy milk

2 tsp. almond extract

1 tsp grated orange zest

:: Directions ::

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees

2. Use a mixer to mix eggs, butter, milk, almond extract and orange zest

3. Add sugar, flour, baking powder and salt beat until smooth.

4. Fold in strawberries.

5. Spoon batter into muffin tins with paper liners.

6. Sprinkle sugar on the top of each muffin.

7. Bake 20-25 minutes. Test with a toothpick, if it comes out clean, they're done.

Simple and Yummy Chicken Salad

So I come home from shopping at Sam's Club this evening and to my delight there was an unexpected visitor
at our house. My step-daugher, Emily! I, of course, invited her to stay for dinner.
Then was left to ponder...what should I make? 

Here's what I came up and it was really simple to prepare - it only took me about 20 minutes. 

It's a super easy dinner for all you busy moms out there who need to get a nutritious meal on the table, and an added bonus, not too much clean up!

Ingredients:

Salad:

A handful of cherry tomatoes, diced

One can of corn

One can of black beans

The breasts from one of the roasted chickens you can get almost anywhere for like $6 or $7, chopped

A handful of spinach, ours was from our garden, chopped

1 cup of mango salsa (regular salsa would work too)

Dressing:

2 tbsp of chopped onions

1/4 cup of the salsa

2 tbsp of olive oil

one lemon, juiced

a couple good shakes of coriander and lime pepper seasoning

Chop up your salad ingredients and place in a bowl. Add dressing ingredients to the food processor or blender. Blend. Then add your dressing to the salad and fold in gently.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top and a side of Tostitos Hint of Lime Chips.

Enjoy! ♥