Healthy Salad with Tons of Flavor
Hey everyone! Remember a few posts back when I talked about bridging the gap between holiday food and healthy food? How it’s hard to from feasting to back-on-track overnight? Well, I think this Seasonal Winter Cobb Salad with Bacon and Blue Cheese is about as close as I’ll get. Full of healthy fats, protein, fiber and vegetables, it’s got it all. Read on to see how to create it, and don’t forget to leave me a comment to let me know how you like it!
Building Blocks of a Great Salad
First of all, let’s talk about how to build a great salad. This ain’t that side garden salad with iceberg lettuce and out of season tomatoes, not to mention a way-too-viscous Italian dressing. A great salad has to use fresh ingredients. This means seasonal ingredients. In winter, some great seasonal ingredients are salad greens and dark leafy greens; root vegetables such as beets, carrots and potatoes; fruits such as citrus and pomegranate; winter squash; and cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower. These will all build delicious salads.
Second, after laying down your foundations of vegetables and/or fruits, you can add some fat and protein. Some of my favorite fats include cheese, avocado, olive oil, nuts and olives. Proteins can range from pork, chicken and beef to eggs to natto or beans.
After putting these basic pieces together, vegetables/fruits, protein and fat, it’s time to add a dressing. A dressing could be a vinaigrette, which is olive oil and vinegar, or it could be a heartier mix of olive oil, mayo and vinegar. Don’t skip a dressing. It adds so much flavor. Even if you put enough fat in your salad and don’t want to add more oil, at least add a splash of vinegar.
Lastly, a sprinkle of salt and pepper or some dried herbs go a long way to making a salad truly enjoyable.
Winter Cobb Salad
This seasonal salad highlights the sweetness of beets. After steaming them, let them cool and slip the skins off, then thinly slice them. Add them to your favorite blend of salad vegetables. I usually use Romaine or red leaf lettuce, carrots, celery, cucumber and radishes. Then I add blue cheese, bacon, soft-boiled eggs, avocado and a creamy dressing.
This, to me, is the epitome of a meal that tastes amazing and feels good to eat, too. It’s beautiful to look at. It gets me excited. And I hope you try it out.
Thanks for reading, friends, and see you next time.
Rebekah
Before You Go…
Check out these other salad favorites.
Seasonal Winter Cobb Salad with Bacon & Blue Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 head red leaf lettuce
- 3 radishes
- 1 medium beet
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 4-6 strips bacon
- 3 hard or soft-boiled eggs
- 2 tablespoons blue cheese
- 1 small avocado
- 1/2 cup buttermilk/thinned yogurt
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon shoyu sauce or coconut aminos
- 1 small garlic clove minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Wash beet and cut into quarters. Place in pot with water, cover, and bring to a boil. Boil for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
- Meanwhile, make eggs. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, then gently drop eggs in. Set timer for seven minutes and return to a boil. (If you prefer hard boiled eggs, boil for ten minutes). Fill a bowl with ice water. When eggs are done, rinse under cool water and plunge into ice bath. After 5 minutes or so, peel eggs.
- Heat a large pan to medium high heat. Cook bacon for about 3 minutes on each side (or less, depending on thickness of bacon). Drain on paper towels.
- Prepare salad. Wash and tear lettuce, slice radishes, chop walnuts, and slice blue cheese. Make dressing by whisking buttermilk, mayo, lemon juice, shoyu sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl, or placing in a mason jar and shaking. Assemble salad with vegetables on the bottom, then eggs, bacon, walnuts, avocado, and blue cheese. Top salad with dressing.
