Today: Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken
Tomorrow: Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken
The Next Day (and the next and the next): Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken
Chad will not eat a salad made with lettuce of any type but he will eat spinach salad. He was commenting this morning that he wants to lose some weight and I need to do so also and Vince is gone . . officially in Texas for good. Chad and I can eat spinach salad with grilled chicken every day so that’s just what we’re going to do. The grocery shopping was quite simple!
The dressing isn’t low calorie and we’ll sometimes use bacon on our salads but this is healthier than most dinners we have around here.
We’ll slice up the chicken breasts once they’re grilled and add them to some of the dressing and those three breasts will probably last us at least through Thursday or Friday.
For the dressing we love a recipe mom uses. I put the following in a wide mouth pint jar:
1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. cider vinegar
1/4 c. catsup
3/8 c. sugar (1/4 cup is probably really plenty)
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 of an onion, sliced or cut into chunks
Using the stick blender, blend all ingredients.
Place a lid on the jar, label and stick in the fridge.
When it’s time to eat, I’ll boil a couple of eggs, maybe fry a couple of pieces of bacon, add some sliced water chestnuts, maybe a few strawberries, blueberries or mandarin oranges, spinach, grilled chicken with dressing and we have a meal and no kitchen mess at all!
Gwynette in NW Arkansas says
You are much better at ‘cooking’ when your man is gone. Gene is in KC at the races and all I’ve fixed is yogurt and rice chex cereal w/milk every other meal… Yum, yum and NO mess!!!
pdudgeon says
add watermellon for desert, and you’ve got a great meal!
Anna McD says
I prefer spinach or raw shredded cabbage to lettuce. I signed up at SparkPeople this week and have been tracking food,exercise and blood sugar. Hope I can stick to it.
Linda H says
Ohhh, I like the sound of this dressing. I’ll be making it up today. And salad ideas. Thank you!
Sandy says
The spinach salad sounds good and easy to make. More time for you to sew, Judy!
Emma says
I do the same sort of cooking when my husband is gone too! Gotta love it…one, maybe two entrees for a whole week!
I can’t stand spinach that isn’t perfectly ripe, though, so this meal plan probably wouldn’t work for me. If the spinach is even slightly old, I can smell it and it makes me gag. In Germany (not sure if it’s available here) I LOVE eating Feldsalat (it’s also called Lamb’s Lettuce) – it’s a darker green more like spinach, but it will stay good for over a week in your fridge. It’s a bunch of little sprigs/bunches of leaves that look like individual clover leaves. And it’s yummy!
ruth says
That sounds like a great salad dressing. The Hubs can’t eat spinach; it does something icky to him, but he will eat lettuce of every sort, so I can easily use such a tasty sounding dressing.
Sandra Neel Hutchins says
I keep telling my husband that I wouldn’t be this fat if I was single! I was thin when I got married but after many years of cooking “great” meals I am no longer thin!
See, there is a positive in this move already: instant diet!
Helen says
I love spinach for my salad greens. A little more “substance” than lettuce. I also love butter lettuce, so does the hubby.
I could eat grilled chicken and salad almost every day.
Glad cooking is easier for you for a bit. Helps keep the house cleaner, too!
Judy D in AZ says
That dressing sounds good. I’ll have to try it. We love salads of all kinds. I particularly like something crunchy in my salads. I peel a jicama and slice it in matchstick pieces. It stores well and I just take out a hand full, cut it into shorter sticks and add it on top. It is very, very similar to water chestnuts but nice and fresh and it never tastes like a can.
WiAmy says
This sounds really good. We planted spinach in the garden for the first time this year. I also have some lettuce mixes coming up in pots. It sprouted in 2 days and I should have lettuce to eat in less than a month–that is if I can harvest it before the wildlife does!
Rose says
Sounds to me like a great meal plan–no planning or cooking for a few days. Have you tried olive oil in the dressing? That would give it a healthier “spin.” At any rate, the dressing sounds great! Going to give it a try with Splenda as DH is supposed to cut back on sugars.
Becca says
That dressing recipe looks very similar to the one we make in my family. My mom got it from some of her high school students back in the 70’s and they referred to it as “Korean Spinach Salad”. We add boiled eggs, bacon, and bean sprouts to the spinach and then top with the dressing. It always earns rave reviews around here.
Linda in NE says
Now I’m hungry for spinach salad and grilled chicken. 🙂 🙂
Pam says
I believe in cutting calories where you can but not with salad dressing.
One tip I recall is to stick your fork in the salad dressing first and then spear the salad. I’ve never been that disciplined!
For whatever reason, it seems that men of a certain age love green tee shirts. We have one that needs to get lost but it is the lawn cutting tee shirt!
I wish Vince well in Texas and hope that you get to join him soon.
Don’t forget the wine with the salad.
Mary says
Don’t we all? My goal is to step up my exercise this summer to drop some weight too. Keith being out of town this week will probably mean breakfast for dinner a night or two also.
Lynn W. says
Love your eating plan for the week. I’m going to try the spinach salad dressing, too. And bye bye green shirts. Suppose Vince will have a new collection by the time you move to TX?
Marilyn Smith says
J (DH) could never eat spinach/chix salad that long. He likes it wilted with bacon grease, bacon, green onions. We have not had it for years. I would not still have a DH if I cook the way his mother did. He loves fired anything. Biscuts and gravy. He is from Oklahoma. I was raised in the SF Bay area. I had never eaten fried food in my life. We did not eat bread with meals. But, we did eat our favorite sourdough – bought fresh daily from the bakery.
I am now diabetic. Have made many poor choices in food since being married. But, I cooked to please him and I am paying the price. Diabetes runs in my family. My dear brother has lost toes and is ready for a kidney transplant to stay off of dialysis.
DH has said he will eat whatever I now cook. I am a gourmet cook. This has been a very tough challenge for me. I have lost weight. He has not. He eats all day long.
Judy, cut out the white carbs. Do not smoke meats. Too salty. Avoid sugar – use Spenda if you need to bake.
I have battled weight all my life. I am now within 14 lbs. of where I want to be. I now have to balance carbs and protein. I love fruit and veggies. My lab work is coming back very well.
Having to change eating habits is a whole new learning process. It is not fun, especially cooking (fried) midwestern food and being a gourmet cook. Our good eating days are over.
But, on the good side, take it off now. Change your ways of cooking – even tho my DH would eat with you every night.my AIC is perfect. I have lost almost 50 lbs he loves his ice cream and baked goods in the evening.
I am learning the hard way. We both go to the Dr. a few times a year. I have always gone…but he has been knob to go more than 30 year for a check Chad is young, and a bit heavy. He may need a good physical. You don’t need to lose much. Vince needs to lose as well. We are working on it. Easier for me, the food is not as good (butter, oil, sauces etc) but we are eating different. I keep telling DH that I will not buy all the “crap” he likes to snack on all day. If he wants it, he has to buy it. He won’t go to the store.
Sorry this is so long….but eating habits/type of food/portion control has caught up with both of us. He is also on meeds but not diabetic.
It is not easy. I care about my health and those that I love.
Enough said.
Marilyn
Marilyn Smith says
Tried to go back and correct spelling errors. Hopefully, you can read thru the errors!
Marilyn
Pat in Washington says
Fortunately the Alaskan Copper River salmon is available in Washington now, so I bought a bunch of it. I’ll cook 2 pieces one night, eat one that night, and then have it the next night or two on a bed of salad greens. I LOVE salmon.
Susan says
Now that sounds really good……… And I have some chicken breast in the freezer………. HMMM…….. I see salad in my future.
I don’t have an immersion blender but I do have a mini chopper. I will see how that works for the salad dressing.
Thanks for the lovely idea…………….