I originally posted this Mediterranean Chopped Tuna Salad a little over a year ago. I made it again recently and decided to snap some new pics (the ones in the original post were from my iPhone). It’s one of my go-to salads (one that I will most likely be having for lunch today) and really fills you up with a good amount of veggies and protein. It’s funny, and a little ironic, because as I’m rereading my thoughts in my original post as I just scheduled initial assessment for my gym’s 60 Day Comeback Challenge for tomorrow this morning.

Earlier this year, I made a commitment to make health and fitness a priority in my life. I know I am generally very health and fitness focused but I had some personal changes and goals I wanted to work towards, especially after having my 3rd child. Joining a new gym and really stepping up my work outs have been a game changer for me. I feel stronger than I ever have in my life and am really proud of my accomplishments at the gym. I wake up before the crack of dawn 4 days a week and am excited to get to the gym – how many people can say that? I love my trainers, my workouts and the overall postive vibe and people at my gym.

Now, although I feel stronger and have the gym situation under control, I still struggle with food. Plain and simple – I like to eat! 🙂 My Fitness Pal is going to make a comeback in my life to help my achieve my goals in the 60 Day Challenge (and maybe help me win some cash too!). I’ll keep you posted here and hope to share any food and recipe ideas that are helping me along the way.

Stay tuned…and enjoy this salad in the meantime.

(Originally posted August 19, 2014)

There a couple reasons why I’m loving this salad so much lately. One, it’s incredibly filling and full of flavor. Two, it’s low in calories, carbs and is helping me lose weight! For the last couple of weeks, my husband and I have been buckling down and tracking our food and activity in My Fitness Pal, as well as using our Fitbits to keep us motivated to move. I’m happy to report that in just a couple of weeks of really paying attention to what we are eating and how much exercise we are getting in, we are both losing weight at a healthy, steady pace.

It’s no secret that I’ve been trying to shed some baby weight for the last 10 months and I’ve been majorly frustrated lately because I’ve been stuck at a weight since February. Unfortunately for me (as I’m sure many others), my weight tends to affect my mood more than I’d like to admit. I get by by wearing yoga pants most of the time, but when it’s time to put on real clothes I usually get hit with a reality check that doesn’t make me feel all that good (ugh).

My goal has never been to be “skinny” but to be comfortable in my skin, be healthy and fit and feel good about myself in my clothes. For me to get back to that place, I know I need to muster up a little extra will power and motivation and make smart choices, keep my calories in check and move more. So that’s what I’m doing! (Believe me it has not been easy. But with each successful day that passes it gets easier, more routine and more doable. I am looking forward to reaching my goal!)

I have made myself this salad recipe a couple times in the last few weeks, most recently this weekend for both my husband and myself. It’s obvious that I love it, but I was extra happy to see that my husband loved it too, especially because he has never been a huge tuna fish lover (like I am).

It’s light, filling and simple. It is great for lunch, but would make a nice healthy dinner salad too. Feel free to add whatever veggies you have on hand (if I had cucumbers and tomatoes they would have made it into my bowl).

Also, I have been cutting back on salad calories lately by just dressing my salads with red wine vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper. If you want to add a drizzle of olive oil, feel free to, but if you love vinegar like I do then I think you will enjoy this just how it’s prepared.

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Mediterranean Chopped Tuna Salad

• Author: Aggie's Kitchen
• Yield: 1 salad
• Category: Fish

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Ingredients

• 1 can Italian tuna in olive oil, drained well (or whatever light tuna you prefer)
• iceberg or romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, sliced or chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, sliced or chopped
• 1/2 cucumber, sliced or chopped
• 1/4 onion, sliced or chopped
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta
• pepperoncini, optional
• a couple of splashes of red wine vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil
• dried oregano flakes
• salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

1. Add lettuce, celery, pepper, cucumber and onion to your salad bowl. Top with feta and tuna. Splash with red wine vinegar and sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper, to taste.

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Notes

For a less filling salad, use only half a can of tuna.

(Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post.)

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This post is sponsored by Fisher Nuts.

Well friends, I’ve jumped on the rotisserie chicken bandwagon, if there is even such a thing. I have never been a big purchaser of rotisserie chicken, only because I’ve always been too lazy to deal with all the bones and such, but I guess you can say my perspective has changed.

Having a freshly precooked chicken available to me is definitely convenient and a huge time saver. The last few weeks I’ve been picking up a chilled rotisserie from the deli and making chicken salad with it. Lots of chicken salad. It’s been nice…real nice. A great change up in the sandwich category in our house. 🙂

I’m excited to share today’s recipe with you because it’s the first of several recipes that I will be working on with Fisher Nuts. You may recall I worked with Fisher Nuts last year and shared this Autumn Spinach Salad with Pecan Vinaigrette, these Gingerbread Spiced Nuts, and this Honey Nut Cocoa Crunch Granola with you all.

Nuts are a staple in my kitchen so it’s a no brainer when it comes to developing recipes featuring them. Fisher Nuts are preservative free and can pretty much be found everywhere. Follow the hashtag #ThinkFisher on social media for more recipes!

This salad was inspired by a chicken salad I used to always buy at my local grocery store deli that was made with tarragon and sliced almonds. I was obsessed with this chicken salad for years and lived off of it back in my post college days. I would purchase a container of it along with some fresh crusty bread and wine and that would be my dinner in front of the television after a long day at work.

I’m happy that I’m finally making my own version of it, even if it is 15+ years later….better late than never! I added some extra crunch and seasonal flavor by including chopped Granny Smith apples to the salad. I love apples in the fall, especially in salads.

This rotisserie chicken salad with apples recipe is perfect to serve while watching an afternoon football game this fall. It’s light and can be made ahead which is always a good thing. Prepare your chicken salad ahead of time then just assemble into sandwiches using small crusty mulitgrain rolls from the bakery and some fresh arugula. Or you can always turn it into a light weeknight dinner during the busy school year.

Of course it would be great in lunch boxes too. 🙂

Enjoy this Rotisserie Chicken Salad with Apples and Almonds recipe and hope everyone is having a great week!

If you’re looking for more ideas with what to do with your rotisserie chicken here are 20 healthy recipes using shredded chicken to help you out!

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We’ve entered the time of year where I am seeing requests for recipes using zucchini everywhere I turn. Zucchini seems to take over gardens, farmer’s markets and produce sections for a good part of summer and I love finding new ways to incorporate it into everyday recipes to keep things interesting.

When my kids were little, I always sliced a zucchini and sprinkled it with salt to give them as a snack on the counter while I cooked dinner. They never questioned what they were eating, and they finished up their healthy raw zucchini snack without complaining every single time (this made me so happy!!). I started eating it this way with them too and over the years started adding raw zucchini (and yellow squash) into salads more regularly. I think it makes a great healthy addition to a salad, especially when you add in some crunch from nuts and sweetness from raisins like in this Zucchini and Walnut Arugula Salad.

Walnuts are one of my favorite nuts to throw into salads. They have a ton of flavor when roasted (or quickly toasted up in a skillet) but I find myself eating them raw more often due to a bit of laziness but more importantly for added health benefits. Whether they are roasted or raw, they are an absolute must in almost every salad I make, especially in the summer time!

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The post Zucchini and Walnut Arugula Salad with Basil Vinaigrette {and $100 Food Network Store Giveaway} appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

I think it’s safe to say that here in the South spring has definitely sprung. Our weather has been delightful, which is a word that has never really exited my mouth before but works perfectly to describe the past month or so here in Florida. It won’t be long, though, before the muggy heat starts to set in so I am going to enjoy every single second of our blue skies and slightly less than normal temperatures and humidity for as long as I possibly can.

With our delightful weather comes what I like to refer to as warm weather eating. I crave light and veggie packed foods this time of year. Salads, grain salads and grilled foods to be more specific. Food that satisfies you but doesn’t leave you feeling too full, food that you can eat plenty of and still feel good about. Food like this Fresh Corn and Quinoa Salad.

When our local corn display hits our grocery store around this time of year, I get pretty excited. I love hunting for the perfect looking ear of corn, anticipating its sweetness. You just cannot beat good fresh sweet Florida corn – you know it’s good and sweet when you can eat it sliced right off the cob. I like to call it nature’s candy.

Does anyone eat it raw like that, or am I totally weird? I can’t help it, it’s that good.

I used raw corn kernels in this salad but feel free to blanch them first if you prefer. This light quinoa salad is full of flavor, from the sweetness from the corn to the slight kick from the poblano peppers, then perfectly balanced out by a honey lime vinaigrette. You’ll love it alongside some grilled chicken or shrimp or on its own as a vegetarian lunch. However you enjoy it, I think we can all agree it truly is the perfect “warm weather food” we are all craving right now.

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Blogging has changed quite a bit for me over the years. When I started my blog, I was a stay at home mom to my two babies who were of the ages 3 and 1 at the time. There were no iPhones, I had only recently acquired a digital camera when my older son was born a few years before and there certainly wasn’t any social media to waste precious time on throughout the day. Blogging was my outlet, my way to reach out and connect with other people without leaving the house. It was exciting to publish a post and see who stopped by to leave a comment. At first it was my friends or my husband’s co-workers. Eventually I became friends with other bloggers like Lisa and Jenny and Maria and Leslie and commenting on each others blogs were our way of keeping in touch with each other. I was over the moon when my sister in law Jamie started her blog, it was like we were cooking in each other’s kitchens all the time though we lived 9 hours away.

Fast forward to 2014 and blogging has evolved into a whole other animal. It’s become somewhat of a business for me (though I still struggle with the idea of that) and I am so grateful beyond words to be able to work from home because of it. I’ve made some of my best friends through blogging…some I’ve been fortunate to have met in real life, some I still haven’t met. It’s amazing to reflect on the doors that have opened up and the experiences that have been experienced. However, blogging in 2014 isn’t just about cooking a recipe, taking a photo and publishing a post anymore. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes, so much busy work to keep up with…a huge part of it being social media. I’ve kept up with it over the last few years for the most part but lately I’ve been wondering how much I want to keep up with anymore. I think having my third baby (9 years after my 1st) and seeing how fast my older two are growing up makes me realize how precious this time in life is. I am not going to stop blogging, don’t get that crazy idea in your head. But I have finally come to terms with the idea that I can no longer keep up. Nor do I want to. I am determined to focus on working smart and not hard to be able to happily manage my time spent with the online world and with my real life world. I am not 100% there (will I ever be, probably not) but I’m figuring it out. Bottom line is, I don’t ever want to look back at this time with regrets because I was spinning my wheels and not being intentional with my time.

On that note, I had no intention of rambling on like this here today. All I wanted to do was update a photo on a recipe that I published back in September of 2009. Reading the post and seeing the recipe brought back so much from that time in life that I couldn’t help but reflect on how things have changed and evolved over the years. I hope you don’t mind the rambles… 😉

Have a great Monday!!

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(originally posted in September 23, 2009, photos updated in March 10, 2014)

I love having salads for lunch. But I don’t always like making salads for lunch. Unless everything is already cut up or pre-made for me, I would more likely grab something like a piece of bread and turkey in a rush, rather than sit down and eat something really good for me.I made this salad one day using a little shortcut of bagged shredded Broccoli Slaw that you can find in your grocery store produce section. To it I added, some grape tomatoes, chickpeas, crumbled blue cheese and balsamic vinegar. It doesn’t take long and it will definitely satisfy your taste buds. And bonus… its good for you, like a good salad should be.

(kept this old photo around for memories 😉 )

Note: If you aren’t a fan of blue cheese, try it with gorgonzola, it’ a little milder and equally delicious. I used Ile de France’s St. Agur blue cheese recently for this salad and wow, my taste buds were singing! Good stuff!

Broccoli Slaw Salad

Yield: 1-2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 bag of pre-shredded broccoli slaw
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1/2 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 oz crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola cheese (I used Ile de France St. Agur blue cheese)
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 2-3 TB balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine veggies, beans, and cheese in a bowl, gently toss with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Top with crumbled cheese.

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I have never been one to only eat salads in the warm weather months. Maybe that’s because I live in Florida and we have warm weather almost all year long?

I’d like to believe that I would enjoy a salad here and there in the cold winters that some of you experience in the North (and/or West I guess I should say). For me, building a salad comes from whatever is in season, looks good in the produce section or whatever you are craving really. I can never say no to a crisp bowl of crunchy salad veggies with a good homemade dressing or vinaigrette.

Now, though I can eat salad any day of the year, I don’t necessarily always want to make a salad for myself. That’s another story. Lately I have been in a salad rut, but was inspired to create this one with the newly arrived fruits of the season that I’ve been seeing lots of – apples and pears. What goes perfectly with a salad chock full of apples and pears? Why, pecans of course.

I have a hard time choosing a favorite when it comes to nuts, but I will say that pecans are definitely up there on the list. Especially when it comes to fall inspired dishes, like this salad. I created a simple pecan vinaigrette using Fisher Nut Pecan Halves and it is absolutely delicious, as you can imagine a nutty vinaigrette to be. Toasting up the pecans and adding them to the vinaigrette base while still warm infuses a little extra flavor into the mixture – so good! It was a perfect dressing for this simple seasonal salad, but honestly I can’t wait to drizzle it over other fall roasted veggies like butternut squash and Brussels sprouts.

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Nothing makes me happier than a well made salad. If you’ve been reading this blog for some time, then you probably already know this. Fresh greens paired up with some extras and drizzled in a little dressing, well, it doesn’t take all that much to make me excited about eating salad. Call me weird, I know.

On our little staycation last week we ate out one night at a pizza place and of course started the meal with one of their salads on the menu. I chose the house salad which included shaved fennel, arugula, radicchio, Parmesan and lemon. Wowzers, this salad nailed it for me. It was SO fresh and flavorful, yet so simple. I think it was a little too lemony for my husband and daughter (my son doesn’t partake in salad eating just yet), but I was happy to finish what they didn’t want to eat.

Arugula salads have always been one of my favorites. I adore the light peppery bite from such a delicate green. With the addition of thinly sliced fennel, radicchio and good Parmesan cheese, this salad recipe was about to become one of my go to recipes this summer, I just know it.

I knew when I got home I was going to have to recreate this simple little plate of greens for myself.

So I did.

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The post Shaved Fennel and Arugula Salad + OXO Salad Tool Kit Giveaway appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

This morning I’m playing total catch up. I spent the weekend up the road with my family and a bunch of blogger friends at Walt Disney World attending Food Blog Forum for the third year in a row (here’s last year’s recap). To say we had a great time would be an understatement. From Friday until late Sunday, I got to play in the parks with my family as well as connect with and get to know better other food bloggers that I have known virtually for years, as well as ones I met for the first time this weekend. My mind is processing it all this morning, absorbing all the notes I wrote while in sessions Saturday, as well as reliving all the moments I was able to have with people I talk with almost daily but only see in person maybe once a year, if that. It’s mind boggling sometimes. But as always, after a conference like this, I’m home feeling refreshed, revived and so thankful for what I do, write and share here on my blog. It’s truly evolved and grown over the years, starting as a fun creative hobby and now giving me the opportunity to work at home part-time while my kids are still young, exactly how I’ve always wanted it. Sometimes in the busy-ness of it all, it’s good and necessary to stop and really appreciate it all the way it should be appreciated. On that note, I have to say, I’m always so grateful for all of you who pop over here to read my words and see what I’m cooking in my kitchen. My goal with this blog has always been to share my love of g00d food with others, and to hopefully inspire someone to cook a meal for their family or try something new or different – in the same way I’m always inspired by others with the same passion. Needless to say, when I hear from a reader (or friend!) who’s made something from this blog and enjoyed it, well…that just puts a huge smile on my face and completely makes my day.

Today’s little salad is not necessarily a recipe. I always struggle with the feeling of having to share real “recipes” here, but in reality, most of the time I’m throwing together stuff on a whim – and if it works and I think it’s absolutely delicious, well, then I want to tell you about it, real “recipe” or not.

It’s hard to really say who the star of this salad is. This mixed greens salad mix I have been making is definitely key but the avocado and crunchy spring radishes really make a statement too. What pulls this combination together though, in a way that makes you want to have the same salad the next day, is the oil I’m using. I picked up this Roasted Almond Oil one day while shopping at Home Goods (they have such a great foodie section, don’t they?) and I have to be honest, for a while it just sat on my counter unused. I finally decided to give it a taste one day, and I was completely blown away by the truly delicious roasted almond flavor. I’ve been drizzling it on my salads ever since – no vinegar, just a light drizzle of this fragrant oil along with a pinch of coarse salt and pepper

I haven’t used the oil it for anything else really, but when I do I’ll be sure to let you know. I imagine it would be a wonderful finishing oil to freshly steamed or roasted green beans or to use in cooking a light fish dinner. I would be pretty happy dipping a chunk of bread in it too. 😉

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Did all the moms out there have a great Mother’s Day? I know I did. My husband and kids treated me with a relaxing day that started with a delicious French toast and fresh fruit breakfast. The rest of the day was very low key and poolside, my favorite kind. I actually got a ton of reading in, which is what I was hoping for, finally finishing up a book I had been reading for a couple of weeks and starting up a new one. And I didn’t have to wash one dish all day. 😉

(me with the little guy who first made me a Mom…at his 2nd grade class’s Mother’s Day Muffin Breakfast on Friday – it was honestly the sweetest thing ever)

I almost didn’t post this recipe for you, because it’s embarrassingly simple. For me, “simple” seems to be becoming a reoccurring theme in the kitchen – and really, sometimes it’s hard to mess up simple when you have good fresh ingredients like this. Let’s face it, that kind of simple just tastes GOOD.

I had a pile of produce that had to be used up the other night. When I mean pile, I mean random stuff like a whole jicama, some carrots, a mango and limes. There were probably a few other friends in this random pile, but these guys jumped out at me when I was struggling with what to put on the side of some bean and cheese quesadillas I was making for dinner. Well, the answer was right in front of me – and this fresh little salad happened.

I think you’ll love it.

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My weekly salad prep routine is quite simple – enjoy fresh salad all week!

If you are looking to purchase a salad spinner, the OXO Soft Works is the one I use.

If you’ve been reading my blog a while, or follow me on any social media platform, or are my real life friend…then you probably already know that I’m obsessed with salads. I really love a good salad (and I really really appreciate a good salad at a restaurant too – those can be tricky to find!). I’m probably not alone when I say this, but I don’t always love making salads at home. Especially lately it seems (pregnancy + salad = eh).

But pregnant or not, I’ve gotten into salad ruts plenty of times – and I always know how to get myself out of one.

Whenever I find myself in any kind of cooking rut, I feel the need to break out of my normal grocery shopping routine. I take myself to a store I don’t always visit (like Fresh Market or other gourmet grocery shops) and just find new stuff to try. When I’m in a salad rut though, I take myself straight to my favorite little produce market and immediately get inspired.

There is a family owned local market by me that’s basically set up like an indoor farmer’s market – but it’s open daily (minus Sundays). It’s run by very nice and hard working people, and I never know what I’m going to walk out with when I go there. They have the biggest variety of fresh fruit and vegetables I’ve ever seen, and great prices. It’s the kind of place where you can smell how good the tomatoes taste, and where you can find a little leftover grit from the earth on the zucchini – no waxy coating stuff here.

I seriously love this place.

(check out all this gorgeous green!)

They have a huge selection of fresh greens which immediately get me in a salad making mood. The last time I was there, I came home with a head of red leaf lettuce, a head of green leaf lettuce and a small head of radicchio (picked this one up for fun). When I got home, I immediately went to work cutting up my lettuces and putting them in my salad spinner (affiliate link – I have used the large OXO SoftWorks salad spinner for over 10 years!).

(Immediately + salad spinner = salad prep success)

Do salad spinners keep salad fresh?

Yes, salad spinners absolutely help keep salad fresh. The way the salad spinners work is that through the spinning of the greens, almost all the moisture is pulled away from the lettuce leaves. The moisture you can remove from the salad greens the longer it will stay fresh.

When you are using your salad spinner, try not to over stuff it with your greens – makes it harder to get fully dried when spinning. I like to put the greens into the basket, then into the plastic bowl and place into the sink to fill with cold water. I let it sit for a minute or two then lift and drain out the water completely from the basket before I spin. Spin your small batches a few times to get it really dry.

Whenever I’m asked “is a salad spinner worth it” I always say yes. It’s been worth it for me, I’ve owned the same salad spinner for over a decade and use it a few times a month. It works well with drying garden herbs as well.

(this was a tad overstuffed – put less in for dryer greens)

How do you keep salad fresh for a week?

To store my salad so that it stays fresh the longest – and is easy to grab – I use large Ziplock bags. I usually fill about two large bags full, then adding a folded paper towel to each bag to absorb any leftover moisture from the greens (it’s good to change out the paper towel every couple of days if you see that it’s very moist).

To seal the bag up so that it stays freshest, I make sure to squeeze out every little bit of of air I can before closing the bag up completely (do this after opening every time – it will become a habit). This is important and will keep your salad greens very fresh!

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