Roasted Beet & Butternut Squash Salad (With Beet Infused Vinaigrette)

October 14, 2019 Amanda Plott

I love beets.

And the saddest part is that I went most of my life so far without knowing that. It was just in the past 5 years or so that I came to realize that I love them. I had some roasted beets on a salad and immediately fell in love. Tender and full of flavor with such minimal effort? Sign me up!

Another thing I love about beets? Their amazing natural color. Generally when cooking beets, I find myself discarding the juices. Today though? I got the notion to reuse those juices along with some olive oil to make one of the best and simplest vinaigrettes that I’ve ever had…

Fresh Turkey Salad

October 9, 2019 Amanda Plott

I’ve decided to call this ‘fresh’ turkey salad because I loaded it up with plenty of fresh fruits and veggies. No nuts. No dried fruits. Fresh, fresh, FRESH! I borrowed the base of this recipe from my Skinny ‘Leftover’ Turkey Salad, and made just a few tweaks and adjustments to get it to something that was a little more… fresh!

And now for the speech! Turkey salad as in chicken salad. Not a salad with chicken or turkey on it. But, rather a ‘salad’ that’s made up WITH turkey and chicken. The sort of thing you can smear on some toast for a turkey salad sandwich, or load on top of crackers…

Carrot Ginger Dressing

September 24, 2019 Amanda Plott

I’ve been playing around a lot lately with adding more and more vegetables to my meals and trying to do so in a sneaky and more clever way than just cooking them and plopping them on my plate. This Carrot Ginger Dressing is a fun asian twist on a vinaigrette.

I’m not quite sure how, but somehow the dressing ends up with an almost creamy texture. It’s light and bright and has just enough of a kick of ginger in there to keep you coming back for more. With it being so quick and easy to make that I’ll be using it this entire week for my lunches…

Hawaiian Lunchbox

August 13, 2019 Amanda Plott

So back about a week ago when I was off on my ‘girls camping trip’ we all stopped by a local grocery store there. They happened to be handing out samples of some new ‘aloha turkey’ in the deli section which you KNOW I immediately fell in love with. I knew pretty much instantly that I was going to have to get my hands on some of that turkey once I got home and to make something fun with it.

There you go! That’s the inspiration behind this Hawaiian Lunchbox!…

Cobb Skewers

August 5, 2019 Amanda Plott

Well, all of us girls made it through camping and toobing this weekend. Three of us managed to put an 8 person tent up in all of 15 minutes. I guess the 100 degree heat and blazing Texas sun is one of the best motivators there is. Even being home and in the air conditioned house… I’m still craving cold foods.

These cute little Cobb Skewers have been my cure-all today. They’re cold, crisp, and a great way to enjoy a cobb salad as an appetizer or snack. They’re easy to put together and look pretty impressive. It’s a more ‘fancy-pants’ way to serve a salad as an appetizer anyway…

Chicken Salad Lunch Box

May 22, 2019 Amanda Plott

I was asked for more snack, lunch, and meal prep box ideas - so I’ve been hard at work coming with a couple each week! This Chicken Salad Lunch Box has to be one of my favorites though. Then again, almost anything with chicken salad is a favorite of mine.

For this lunch box, I used the base for my standard chicken salad that I use in my stuffed tomatoes - and made a few adjustments to it according to what I happened to have on hand this time around. Namely swapping the cranberries for raisins, and using pecans for my nut of choice. Other than that, it’s pretty much same ole’ same ole’.