Tag Archives: spinach

Chicken Fig Salad

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Have you decided to eat healthier, lose some of that holiday weight? Cause I am, and I’m in the same boat with you! After my month long vacation, I’ve gotten a bit pudgier. Ugh.

I’m still in Orlando, but I can’t wait to get home and get back into a regular diet. I always tell myself to control the sweets intake around the holidays, but it’s so hard! It’s a test, and I always fail. Anyone with me?

I wanted to share my favorite salad with you. It’s extremely easy to do. What? A salad? I’m never full off a salad… I know, I’ve thought the same way. But this one has chicken and an egg, and you’ll be satisfied. Give it a try, and it won’t disappoint.

Salad

Ingredients: Cooked chicken breast, salad mix (I like to use a spring mix or spinach salad), fried egg, figs, feta cheese, and balsamic vinegar.

Directions: On your plate, add salad mix, bite size pieces of chicken breast, slivers of fresh figs, a fried egg, feta cheese, and now sprinkle a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar (a little vinegar goes a long way).

Fig

If you’re having trouble finding figs, check out Whole Foods and/or Trader Joe’s. If figs aren’t available, other great fruit options are strawberries, apple slices, and blue berries. Bleu cheese can also replace feta if you want a stronger cheese.

Salad

Want to be extra healthy? Make a cup of sweet green juice and add that chia!

What do you think of this salad? Do you have a scrumptious (but also filling) salad recipe?

Onto healthy eating (when I get back into the Bay),
Jay

Avocado/Spinach Smoothie Recipe

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Remember when I told you MG and I were eating healthier (post here)? We’re still eating healthy! Obviously, there are splurge meals in between, but we are still juicing every day and drinking it with Chia.

One of my favorite parts about juicing is making up recipes as I go. A little bit of kale, a little bit of spinach, maybe some carrots, and an apple. Voilà! Delicious juice! Next one might be beets, oranges, celery, and carrots. Then, another juice could be a handful of cilantro, carrots, apples, chard, and half a lemon. I think you get the point!

I’ve recently discovered a really delicious smoothie, and I want to share it with you. It’s my avocado/spinach smoothie! For this recipe, you’ll need a blender or a Magic Bullet.

Avocado/Spinach Smoothie

Ingredients (makes 2 servings):

  • 1 avocado
  • Handful of spinach
  • 2 apples (freshly juiced or you can add 1 cup of concentrated apple juice)
  • Chia seeds (optional)

Directions:  Blend avocado and spinach together. Add apple juice. Now add enough water until your desired consistency, and lastly, mix in a tablespoon of Chia seeds. Sip away!

Avocado/Spinach Smoothie

It’s such an easy and quick breakfast meal. Go on and give it a try. Let me know how you like it!

Is this something you’re interested in making? Do you have a go-to smoothie recipe you can share with us?

Drink away,
Jay

Light & Creamy Pasta Recipe

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It’s September, which means it’s summertime in the Bay Area!

Cook a light meal, finish dinner early, and enjoy those warm nights while they last. This Light & Creamy Pasta is the perfect dish, and it takes less than 30 minutes to whip up.

The lemon zest makes it taste light. The parsley makes it taste fresh. The heavy cream makes it saucy but not heavy like cheese. Yum!

Light and Creamy Pasta

Recipe Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • Spinach (Half a 5 oz. bag)
  • Parsley (Only a handfull, finely chopped)
  • Zest of a lemon (Grate only the yellow, not the white spongey layer)
  • 2 pieces of chicken breasts (cut into 5 pieces for easier cooking)
  • 2.5 cups of Heavy Cream
  • Half a box of pasta (I like Angel Hair)
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Oil for cooking

Directions:

1. Fill a large pot of water. Add salt (salt it until it’s like the ocean), and turn the stove on to high. While the water is coming to a boil, let’s work on the other ingredients.
2. Salt and pepper the chicken breast meats. Add 2 tablespoons of oil to your pan and let it heat up. Then add the chicken. Cook for 3 minutes on each side, until the chicken is cooked thoroughly (make sure the inside is NOT pink and white throughout).
3. Once the chicken is cooked, let it cool down and shred up the pieces. I like to use my fingers to shred the meat (hence the cool down).
4. At this point, the water should have come to a boil. Add the pasta and let it cook while we finish the rest of the meal.
5. Using the same pan that you cooked the chicken with, add the spinach. Once the spinach has condensed, add the lemon zest.
6. Pour the heavy cream onto the spinach and lemon zest, and let it reduce so that the sauce becomes thicker.
7. Add the chicken meat to the creamy mixture and the chopped parsley.
8. Drain the pasta, and toss it into the creamy sauce.
9. Plate the light and creamy pasta onto serving plates, and NOMs!

Shredded Chicken
I like to snack on the shredded chicken. Kitty likes snacking on the meat too!

Light and Creamy

Are you hungry yet?

Try the recipe and let me know how you like it,
Jay