Mike has been killing it with his weight loss lately. He started taking TRIM about 3 weeks ago and while he saw the number on the scale going down, he hadn’t yet cleaned up his eating so last week he asked me to do a week of salads so he could get in lots of greens and healthy veggies. I was annoyed at first bc honestly, who wants to eat just SALADS for dinner. I love me some carbs so the whole idea sounded awful BUT once we were in the thick of it, I really enjoyed the challenge! I found some great recipes on Pinterest to make our week of salads happen and they were all really good! They blended foods and flavors that I would never consider, but it took the salads to the next level and didn’t have me craving french fries afterwards! So here’s our week of salads:
Monday: Power Salad with Lemon Chia Seed Dressing
We started off the week with this meatless salad which Mike immediately was not feeling BUT I won him over! The roasted sweet potatoes and quinoa offered protein and helped fill us up! This was VERY tasty, but probably the most labor intensive of all the salads as you need to roast the sweet potatoes and make your quinoa first. Both are SUPER easy to make, but didn’t want anyone thinking this was just chopping up veggies and voila, dinner! The lemon chia seed dressing on this one blended really well with everything going on in the salad. We’ll definitely make this one again!
Tuesday: Apple Walnut Salad with Grilled Chicken and Blackberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
This was the winner of the week for both of us! The flavors are out of this world amazing! The perfectly ripe and juicy mango along with the crisp and crunchy apples, a little tartness from the blackberries all combined with the honey roasted walnuts – SO FREAKIN GOOD! The only “cooking” in this one was the walnuts and it couldn’t have been easier! Oh and the dressing! The blend of the blackberry jam with the balsamic vinegar – whew! SO good! I cooked some chicken breasts in the air fryer and sliced them up to top the salads for some extra protein. I def couldn’t get Mike to go meatless two nights in a row haha! This one will be on regular rotation for us without a doubt!
Wednesday: Cheeseburger Salad
via skinnytaste
I needed a salad for Wednesday night that both boys would like and the word cheeseburger had that covered! Its a very simple salad and you simply grill some burgers (not pictured) and then chop them up to top each salad! Oh and Chase went nuts for the Big Mac-esque dressing for this salad. Its a very easy weeknight salad to throw together for even the pickiest of eaters!
Thursday: Shrimp and Avocado Taco Salad
via iowa girl eats
Unfortunately, I did not get a pic of this one! It was a crazy day which turned into dinner at 9PM so the last thing I was thinking about was taking a picture of our late night salad dinner! This was another super easy salad to make and shrimp cooks so quickly, you can’t beat it! The marinade in this one is SO good – do not skimp on it!!
Friday: “Olive Garden” Salad
via Ok, so I despise the Olive Garden and Mike loves it. Its a constant argument in our house bc its not real Italian food, but occasionally he’ll sneak out of the house with the boys for a trip to the Olive Garden. They love the salad and breadsticks is the excuse I get from them, but when you’re Italian and can make whatever they’d want from Olive Garden at home, it gets a little annoying haha! Anyways, since they love the salad so much, I found this one and they said it was even BETTER than the real thing! Score one for me!! You could eat this on its own, add a protein on top or have it as a side for your meal. Very simple salad, no cooking involved!! (Note: I used regular bottled Zesty Italian dressing for this as this recipe didn’t turn out right for the dressing)
So there you have it, a Week of Salads!! Could you commit to a week of salads for dinner? I can’t believe we did!! Be sure to follow my Pinterest board for tons of dinner ideas – salads or not!
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