Salmon, Avacado & Sweet Potato Kale Salad

I found this recipe on Pinterest but it comes from a Buzz Feed post for a GetFit Challenge. There were five salad recipes but I chose the salmon salad to make and it was amazing! It was so simple, so fresh but full of flavor. I thought I’d re-post the recipe here for others and for me to find again later on.

Makes 1 serving

For this recipe you need to roast a salmon fillet. If you want, you can roast several 6-ounce fillets at once, then eat leftover fillets for other lunches and dinners. Leftover roasted salmon will keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

INGREDIENTS
1 6-ounce fillet salmon, skinless
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
2 ¼-inch slices of lemon
juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup kale leaves, stems removed, leaves sliced into ribbons ½-inch thick (I used baby kale)
½ cup roasted sweet potato cubes (recipe below)
⅓ avocado, peeled and diced into ½-inch cubes
½ English cucumber, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped dill (optional, but recommended)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves

If you’re on the 1,400 or 1,700 calorie plan: Prepare this recipe as written. 519 calories, 23 g fat (3.8 g saturated fat), 29 g carbohydrate (9.7 g dietary fiber, 9.2 g sugars), 49 g protein
If you’re on the 2,000 or 2,300 calorie plan: increase to 1 ½ cups kale and ¾ cup roasted sweet potato. 595 calories, 23 g fat (3.8 g saturated fat), 46 g carbohydrate (12.4 g dietary fiber, 15.1 g sugars), 51 g protein

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Season the salmon fillet with a little bit of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper on all sides. Lay the lemon slices next to each other on the baking sheet, then place the seasoned salmon fillet on top of the lemon slices. Roast in the preheated oven until the salmon is opaque on the outside and flakes easily with a fork, but still pink on the inside. A salmon fillet 1-inch thick will take about 8 minutes to cook; a thicker fillet will take about an additional 4 minutes per extra ½-inch of thickness. Let the salmon cool at least 5 minutes, then cut it into 1-inch cubes.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the lemon juice with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper. Whisk the mixture, then add the olive oil while continuing to whisk. Add the kale ribbons and use your hands to massage the vinaigrette into the kale until it starts to soften, about 30 seconds. Add avocado, roasted sweet potato cubes, cucumber, and herbs, and toss everything together.
Transfer to a bowl and top with the cubed salmon. If you cooked the salmon ahead of time, it’s fine to eat it cold in the salad.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Makes about 2 cups

INGREDIENTS
½ teaspoon olive oil
2 medium sweet potatoes
pinch of kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush the parchment with the olive oil.
Wash and dry the sweet potatoes, then cut them into ½-inch cubes. Spread the cubed sweet potatoes out over the baking sheet and season them with a little bit of salt and pepper. Roast in the preheated oven until they’re soft and lightly browned, 20-25 minutes.
Let the sweet potatoes cool slightly before eating; cool leftovers completely before storing in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Menu | Week of 07.08.2013

Monday | No trip to HEB but it worked out ok since it was James’ birthday. He and I went to South Congress Cafe. We shared duck confit tostadas, James had scallops and I went for the beef milanesa with a crawfish gravy. They have a great atmosphere, good service and delicious food.

Tuesday | My sister and her husband are coming for dinner. They leave tomorrow for their overseas adventure! We’ll be eating later than usual so I want to keep it light. I think it’ll be a salmon dish with some mashed potatoes and a salad.

Wednesday | Quinoa Patties with a fried egg and simple salad

Thursday | I have a photo shoot at Zilker so I think roasting some chicken before I leave will be easy for the boys to handle on their own. Since I didn’t roast chicken this past Sunday, I’ll ‘steal’ it for this day.

Friday | Sausage and Veggie Toss

Saturday | Lunch – Mozzarella Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
And for dinner we’ll be with friends.

Sunday | Our Sunday is going to be weird, James may be helping a friend move all day so I will probably stick with sandwiches or something easy like leftovers or beans and rice.

Menu | Week of 06.09.2013

This is a very exciting week for us – James’ parents are coming for a visit! They haven’t seen William (other than FaceTime) since last October. He is quite a different boy…and way more active.

This weeks menu will be small because I know we’ll probably eat out a couple times while they are here (because what else do you do in Austin with out of towners?).

Roasted Salmon with Caribbean rice and salad

Buttermilk Roast Chicken with Crash Hot Potatoes and maybe some fresh green beans

Crockpot Zucchini Lasagna (because it was so good last week!) and salad

Baked Chicken Taquitos with rice and guacamole

The weekend may call for donuts….these or these. Or both.

Snacks and Sweets | Almond Flour Brownies | Maple Banana Nut Muffins | Almond Chocolate Muffins

My Thoughts on eMeals

I recently subscribed to three months of eMeals. A friend told me about it and at the time, it was exactly what I needed. A week of meals emailed to me with a grocery list. Quick and easy. They have many different meal plans but I went with their Clean Eating option.

For the first couple of months, we really enjoyed it. The meals were tasty, easy to prepare and healthy. I briefly tried their Low Carb option as well as their Natural and Organic (which didn’t seem to be much of either) but preferred the Clean Eating.

It’s a great service but I cancelled my subscription. Of the menu they sent each week, I maybe used 3 or 4 out of the 7 meals. Some of them were things we wouldn’t enjoy and I don’t cook curry at home. There seemed to be a lot of curry dishes…I felt like some of the meals were not meals but side dishes. I also ended up having to doctor a few of them because they had no flavor. Clean Eating does not have to equal boring.

This was one of the dishes I made last week – a zucchini frittata. Their idea was good but I jazzed it up with more fresh herbs. I also wish I hadn’t cooked them in the ramekin like they suggested. A muffin tin would have been better. We scrubbed those things for a week! For sides, I did sausage links and a fruit salad topped with agave, lemon juice and fresh mint.

This was a quinoa dish with chicken, peas, asparagus and mint. I cooked the chicken on the side instead and left out the peas because I didn’t have any. It was very fresh and pretty good.

One meal was a risotto. No meat, that was it. The risotto was really good and I was pretty proud of myself for my first ever attempt. But as an entree? It would not have been enough for us. I made it a side and cooked up some salmon as well. A lovely pairing.

Another meal were turkey sliders. Fun idea that I turned into my take on the Magic ‘Shroom Burger from Hopdoddy minus the “shroom”. These were really good!

In conclusion, eMeals is a great idea and service. They recently launched an app and a menu of crockpot meals. You can also add on lunch and breakfast menus. I definitely appreciated it for getting me out of my menu/grocery list rut but will be going back to my old menu making ways (Pinterest and Clean Eating Magazine). If you decide to try it out, check out retailmenot.com for a coupon code.