Quick Cabbage Slaw

This quick, simple slaw is a staple in my house. Perfect when you need something acidic to balance a savory dish. Everyone loves this, including my toddler only for her I leave out the red onion.

A few weeks ago I updated the photo on my Slow Cooker Pernil Recipe (this is on regular rotation in my house) and I often serve it with this quick slaw. I've since gotten so many emails on how to make the slaw, so here it is. Hope you enjoy!

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Grilled Fennel with Parmesan and Lemon

Grilled fennel with lemon, olive oil and shaved parmesan is my FAVORITE way to eat fennel. If you think you're not a fennel fan, this is the recipe that may change your mind!

When raw, it has a licorice-like taste I'm not a fan of, but when you grill it, the flavor changes completely, and has more of a mild taste like a bok choy.

The charred edges, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice and finished with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano is my new favorite way to prepare it. You can serve this as a side dish for four, or have it as a warm salad for two. You can do this indoors on a grill pan, or make it outside on the grill.

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15 Light and Healthy Salad Recipes

Spring is here, which usually means less comfort foods and more crave-worthy salads. But salads can often have more calories than you think! Here is a roundup of my favorite 15 Light and Healthy Salads that are far from boring!


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Healthy Salmon Quinoa Burgers

Wild salmon, quinoa, and kale – these burgers are not only super healthy, loaded with good-for-you omegas and tons of protein (21-1/2 grams of protein) they also taste delicious and are easy to make. Serve them on a simple arugula salad with grapefruit, with a mustard-shallot vinaigrette.

I'm excited to share this awesome salmon recipe with you, because it takes me back a few weeks to my weekend in Santa Cruz with a great group of women, who all happened to be amazing food bloggers.

If you can imagine spending a weekend with a group of food bloggers means eating lots great food, well you're right. We worked, cooked, took long walks on the beach and ate REALLY well.

Jaden, of Steamy Kitchen who has a blog that focuses on Asian recipes had prepared a lunch for us from leftover salmon and quinoa we had from dinner the night before and it was so darn good I asked her if I could remake it on my blog to share with you. I don't recommend using cooked salmon because they fall apart without having to add a ton of eggs and breadcrumbs, so I used raw wild salmon instead.

 

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Spiralized Apple and Cabbage Slaw

This beautiful apple and cabbage slaw is sweet, bright and crisp, the perfect side dish to any meal and great to bring to a potluck.

You don't need a spiralizer to make this, you can of course core and cut the apples into thin strips, but if you have one, use it because it's so much easier and quicker to do! No coring, and the seeds just pop out. II used the thicker blade on my Paderno Spiral Vegetable Slicer to make my apple zoodles, which are not just for zucchini!

I just remove the stems and place the thicker end in the little spokes for a better grip.  Then spiralize and quickly add the dressing so the apples don't brown (lemon juice works too).

The poppy seed dressing is the perfect finish to this slaw, hope you enjoy!

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Southwestern Black Bean, Quinoa and Mango Medley

This healthy salad is a great way to jump start your Spring! Quinoa, black beans, mango and vegetables with cilantro and lime juice – a delicious combination perfect for lunch or as a side dish. (perfect for Meatless Mondays!) Leftovers are great, the flavors only get better the next day.

This recipe is from the archives, since the weather is getting warmer I find myself craving more salads and lighter dishes like this. It's packed with vitamin C, vitamin A, fiber, folate, iron and lutein so it's not just tasty, it's good for you.

This recipe is from The Plant-Powered Diet by Sharon Palmer, RD who I met in California on my trip to the Dole Blogger Summit. A great book if you're are interested in adding more vegetables and plant-based foods to your diet.

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Asparagus Egg and Bacon Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

I love the combination of this simple salad of asparagus, hard boiled egg and bacon tossed with a Dijon vinaigrette – it has Spring written all over it!

I'm sharing this from the archives because asparagus is in season right now, and this is one of my go-to salads this time of year. Asparagus and eggs are a match made in heaven, but not just for breakfast, it's great for lunch too! I always keep hard boiled eggs on hand in my fridge to use throughout the week, therefore this salad came together in less than 10 minutes. It's perfect to pack for lunch, and you can easily double or multiply the recipe to feed more. It's also very inexpensive to make, low-carb, high in protein and fiber and perfect for gluten-free and Paleo diets.

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BLT Salad with Avocado + The Skinnytaste Cookbook and OXO Giveaway

I LOVE bacon – who doesn't? And I love a BLT sandwich. This salad, featured in The Skinnytaste Cookbook has all the flavors I love in the sandwich without the extra calories you get from eating it on bread! Plus it's easy – only FIVE ingredients not counting s + p!

OXO sent me these Chopped Salad Scissors which made chopping the lettuce in the bowl easy. Although I only chopped the lettuce for this salad, they are also perfect for chopping anything you would eat in a chopped salad – cooked chicken, cucumbers, peppers, onions, etc.

And I'm excited to share that OXO and Skinnytaste have teamed up to bring you an awesome January giveaway!

We are giving away 10 copies of The Skinnytaste Cookbook, Chopped Salad Scissors, Healthy Portions Scale and 2-in-1 Salad Servers to TEN LUCKY WINNERS! If you want to enter, simply fill out the Promo Simple form below! Giveaway ends next Monday January 19th, US only.

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Bangin Good Chicken Salad

Here's an EASY dinner solution: tender chunks of chicken, breaded and baked until golden topped with Bang Bang sauce. I served this over mixed greens and swooned with every bite!

This is a fun spin on Bangin Good Shrimp recipe. My friend posted her dinner the other day on facebook and it basically looked like this, it looked so good I knew exactly how I was going to make it. I basically modified my Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets and topped it with this banging good sauce. Results... AMAZING!! And it's SO easy to make, I promise! You can easily halve the recipe for two.


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Raw Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Lemon and Oil

This raw shredded brussels sprouts salad is so simple to make, even a 4 year old can do it (with Mommy's help). Tossed with a little olive oil, lemon juice salt and pepper, it makes a wonderful side dish to any meal, and my family loves it!

Pictured above with crispy oven fried pork chops that I am sharing tomorrow, look out for them, they are so good!

I'm just going to put it out there and say this recipe was developed by my youngest daughter Madison. She loves her veggies raw and loves a raw cabbage salad so one day while I was cutting my brussels sprouts preparing to saute them, she started picking at it. Then she asked me to give her oil and vinegar (she likes making her own salads) and I realized she was onto something. I really love to let her invent and do her own thing in the kitchen, even if sometimes her ideas are a bit... lets say overly creative.

I never knew how good Madison was in front of the camera until yesterday when I thought it would be cute to film her making this after school – she's a natural and may be taking over Skinnytaste someday, who knows! Sometimes she does this with lime, and apple cider vinegar, and sometimes all of the above. Here she wanted to use all three.



This salad is vegan, paleo, dairy-free and gluten-free.
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Massaged Raw Kale Salad

Kale is a hearty winter green that holds up well in soups and stews. But it's also wonderful as a salad if you give it a three-minute massage.

I realize it might sound odd to massage your greens, but you'd be surprised how this tough green leaf transforms into a tender, light salad. As you rub it with olive oil using your hands, the leaves darken and shrink in size and the texture becomes soft – it's delicious! Then it's tossed with lemon juice and grated parmesan cheese. Gluten-free, vegetarian and easy to make.

I can't believe I never shared a massage kale salad on my blog. I eat them often, sometimes with avocado, or craisins and almonds. So when I got my hands on The Kitchn Cookbook and saw this recipe listed as a side dish in the book, I knew this would be perfect to share.

The Kitchn Cookbook from Apartment Therapy's cooking site The Kitchn, has great tips for setting up the perfect organized kitchen, storage tips and over 150 recipes with full-page color photographs and a cooking school with 50 lessons  – perfect for the beginner cook, newlyweds, college graduates or anyone learning how to cook. 

The best part about this salad is that you can make it, refrigerate it, and it's still perfect the next day. It won't get wilted or soggy like lettuce once it's tossed with dressing, so it's the perfect salad to make ahead for lunch – just add your favorite salad fixins.


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Chilled Lobster Salad with Sweet Summer Corn and Tomatoes

The perfect light summer salad, made with sweet summer corn, grape tomatoes, garden herbs and chilled steamed lobster. Serve this for two as a main dish salad or for four as a first course as pictured here.

I revived this one from the archives since this is the perfect time of year to make it. August is a great time to buy lobster here on Long Island, I can usually get great specials from my local Lobster farm. And the best part about buying my lobster from a lobster farm is that they also steam it for me at no extra cost. It's not that I can't cook my own lobster, it's just that if given the choice, I'd rather not. If you don't have that luxury, here is a great video from Fine Cooking that shows you how to do it.

Swap It Tip: If you don't live near the coast and don't have access to live lobster, you could use lump crab meat, cooked shrimp or even imitation crab instead. 

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Grilled Mediterranean Chicken and Quinoa Salad

The is the perfect summer salad! Juicy grilled chicken, garden cucumber and tomatoes, red onion, olives and Feta cheese all tossed with quinoa and lemon juice. It's packed with protein (20 grams!), not to mention tons of wonderful flavor.

To make the grilled chicken extra flavorful, I like to marinate it overnight with lemon juice, garlic and fresh herbs like rosemary or oregano. This is great to bring to a potluck, to enjoy as a light meal. You can make the chicken and quinoa ahead if you wish, and mix everything together when you're ready to eat.

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Steak & Caramelized Onions with Arugula and Quinoa Penne

Grilled steak with sweet balsamic caramelized onions are tossed with baby arugula, gluten-free quinoa, amaranth and brown rice penne pasta (you can use whatever pasta you like) topped with fresh shaved parmesan – I'm a sucker for a good steak salad, and this one is AWESOME!

Packed with protein, it's made with lean sirloin, which I cooked on the grill pan, but you can cook it outside on the grill, or in a large skillet. The gluten-free quinoa pasta was from Tru Roots, it cooks al dente and tastes just like regular pasta, I was very impressed! You can also make this with whole wheat pasta if you don't have a gluten allergy, or even toss this with farro instead.

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Lentil Salad

This healthy salad is made with cooked lentils and diced fresh diced carrots, celery, bell pepper, onion, parsley and lemon juice – perfect to make ahead for lunch for the week as the flavors only get better overnight. It's also vegan, high in fiber, protein and only about 100 calories per serving.

I've LOVE making my chicken and lentil soup, but I was never really a fan of using lentils in a salad (I'm a picky legume eater). But the other day I bought a small lentil salad at my local health food store to try and take to the beach and really enjoyed it, but I paid twelve dollars a pound for it (for a small container). For that price I'll make it myself for a fraction of what I paid, plus this makes a lot so you'll get a few meals out of it. If you're not a fan of lentils, you can use any legume such as white beans, chick peas or a mix.

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Italian Tuna and Brown Rice Salad (Riso e Tonno)

Using two basic pantry items—tuna and brown rice – plus capers, good quality chopped olives, frozen mixed vegetables and fresh lemon juice, you can create this easy, make-ahead, healthy salad loaded with flavor and perfect to pack for lunch or a picnic!

As a test, I left one refrigerated in a jar overnight to take to the beach. The next day I had it for lunch and thought it tasted even better as the flavors had a chance to meld.

This was inspired by an imported can of Rio Mare Italian Riso e Tonno someone brought back from Italy. The flavors were SO good, I wanted more so I set out to replicate the same exact flavor using brown rice instead.

Believe it or not, it took me a few attempts to get it JUST right. Here's what I did – first attempt I used plain canned albacore tuna packed in water with canned black olives and all the other ingredients listed below – it was pretty dry and lacked the flavor I was trying to match. I went back to the store and picked up some canned Italian tuna packed in olive oil (I was adding oil to the salad anyway) and good quality olives. Tonno Genova was the brand of tuna I bought, it's a little pricier than regular tuna but not by much. Each can cost me three dollars and was available in my local supermarket. I believe it's also available in Costco and Walmart, you can also buy it by the case on Amazon. Amazing the difference it makes in flavor and it wasn't dry at all. I drained the tuna really well and reserved some of the olive oil to add to my salad – winner!

So for those of you who are going to ask me can you use canned tuna packed in water or canned black olives – the answer is yes, but it won't taste as good as my final recipe. Up to you!

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Spiralized Greek Cucumber Salad with Lemon and Feta

This light cucumber Greek salad is the perfect meatless summer dish. Trust me, you're going to want to make this all summer long! Fresh cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper, olives, red onion, oregano, lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh feta – it's filling, high in fiber and protein, perfect for lunch or dinner!

I had some fresh Feta leftover from my Lemon Feta Drumsticks, and I've been craving a good Greek Salad, but I wanted to make it without the lettuce and make cucumber the star of the show. This turned out better than I could have imagined! I used my favorite cooking gadget – my the Paderno Spiral Vegetable Slicer with the chipper blade to quickly whip this up into beautiful spirals and the results were a salad that's crunchy and bright, and not weighed down by a heavy dressing. This took me less than 10 minutes start to finish – win!

If you don't own a spiralizer you can just dice the cucumbers with knife and make it a chopped Greek salad instead. I highly recommend using a decent Feta cheese, not a fat free Feta.

A great Meatless Monday meal. If you are making this ahead for lunch for work, you can leave the lemon juice and olive oil out, and pack it on the side, then just add it when you're ready to eat. Enjoy!

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Quinoa Tabbouleh + Summer Berry Cobbler from the Skinnytaste Cookbook

I know a lot of you are really excited about The Skinnytaste Cookbook release. Well guess what?, so is Target! So excited in fact that they are carrying my cookbook which is now available for pre-order on Target.com.

The Skinnytaste Cookbook has 150 recipes – 125 of those recipes are brand spanking new and have never been published on my blog. But I gave Target a sneak peak inside the cookbook and shared two exclusive recipes and photos from the book. (photo credit: Penny De Los Santos)

I chose two of my summer favorites so you don't have to wait until September 30th – you can start making them now while the weather's warming up. The Quinoa Tabbouleh tastes so fresh – a perfect summer salad whether you serve this as a main dish or a side dish with grilled chicken or lamb. And this Summer Berry Cobbler – cobbler is my weakness and this is my absolute favorite way to utilize those sweet summer berries.

Did I tease you enough? Well that wasn't my plan... head on over to Target's A Bullseye View and get the full recipes!!!

Spiralized Raw Zucchini Salad with Avocado and Edamame

Fresh, quick and delicious – this salad takes less than 5 minutes to make, start to finish and there's no cooking involved, so it's perfect for the summer because you won't heat up your kitchen!

This salad was inspired by an amazing vegan appetizer I had in Seaside Florida prepared for me by the staff at Raw and Juicy. It was so fresh and simple, I knew I was going to recreate it at home. Rather than dicing the zucchini into perfect little squares, I used my Paderno Spiral Vegetable Slicer  (my all time FAVORITE cooking gadget) and spiralized it instead plus I added some cooked shelled edamame sold in the salad section of my supermarket for protein. The results were fresh and fantastic – a MUST try!

And speaking of summer, as shorter hemlines and bathing suit weather approaches, I want to introduce you to my friend Erin Stutland – a life and fitness coach and the creator of Shrink Session: Tone Your Body, Expand Your Mind. She has been featured in Glamour Magazine, Shape, Daily Candy and more and people all over the world are currently experiencing her work.

Erin and I got together last week in her little NYC kitchen to shoot a quick, fun cooking video to demonstrate just how easy this recipe is. Can you believe this is my FIRST cooking video on Skinnytaste? It's not perfect, but I don't think it's terrible for my first time. I plan on doing some more in the future to get more practice, you check it out here...



Erin is a seasoned pro at making videos, and she has also created a workout that is unlike ANYTHING I have ever experienced before. I say that, because frankly, it doesn’t feel like a workout at all. What makes Shrink Session so DIFFERENT from your average workout is that it will definitely tone your bod, amp up your metabolism and burn fat. But it also helps you step into a more a confident, powerful, rock star part of yourself that you may not be in touch with on a daily basis.

Erin is running a FREE 5 day Say it, Sweat it, Get it Challenge that starts June 2nd. You can sign up HERE. Don't miss it. I have no doubt that you are going to fall in love with the workouts and your body!

Hope you enjoy the recipe – it's vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, gluten-free, clean, and delicious!


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