California Cobb Salad
August 18, 2018 by Nicole Collins
We've made it to Day 7 in our 21 Day Fix Challenge!
Can you believe it? We're 1/3 of the way through!
Has anyone gotten on the scale yet to see their success from this week? I normally weigh myself once a day (which I've read once before is a really bad habit); but when I'm on a round of 21 Day, I only weigh myself on the last day of the week. I don't want to feel the pressure or anxiety every day of “ugh, I didn't lose enough weight today” or “great...I'm failing this challenge”. That's a really great way to undo all of your hard work.
Instead, I want that super exciting, totally positive moment at the end of the week of “oh yeah. I lost 4 lbs this week. Get it girl!” No one is going to drop 20 lbs overnight, but it is so gratifying to see that slow and steady really does win the race.
I also want to note that we've gone through a whole week's worth of recipes, and we only had salad on the menu once. For whatever reason, most people think diet = salad. And, for some people that's a huge turn off. I hope I've shown you that there's so much more to healthy eating than lettuce!
However, I also want to show you that eating salad is not a bad or boring thing. When The Yummy Muffin gets involved, salads are some next level business!
So today, we're having California Cobb Salad!
This salad has all the good stuff: tons of protein, tons of greens, and tons of flavor!
We start with our greens. We're just using a simple romaine lettuce here. But, when I think of California, I think of super trendy, kinda hipster foods. I think microgreens could currently fall in to that category, so we're throwing some of those in there too! Plus, you guys know I'm a little more than obsessed with microgreens right now.
Next, we add the protein. We've got not one, not two, but three sources of protein in this salad! That's what's going to help us feel full all the way until dinner. We're using some roasted chicken, some crumbled bacon, and finishing the protein trio with some chopped hard boiled eggs. Eggs are classic in cobb salad, after all.
For our last finishing touches, we're adding in some sliced avocado, some crumbled feta, and a drizzle of chipotle ranch dressing. Blue cheese is standard in cobb salad, but that's the only cheese I've ever met that I don't like. Cobb salad is also typically served with a ranch dressing, but we need to California this up a little bit. That's where the chipotle comes in. Regardless, we still get the creaminess and the saltiness we need from our swap outs; so really, we're just making an original even better!
Here's what's left on the rest of our menu for today:
Breakfast: PB&J Breakfast Parfait – 2 purple, 1 tsp, 1 red, 1/4 yellow
Snack: 1 cup celery sticks + 2 tbsp greek yogurt ranch – 1 green
Lunch: California Cobb Salad- 2 green, 2 red, 1 blue
Snack: ½ cup pretzels - 1 yellow
What! I know you didn't think we were going to go through a whole week without having breakfast for dinner at least once!
Ok guys, we did it! 1 week down, 2 weeks to go. I've given you lots of recipe choices this week to make sure you stay successful for the next 2 weeks. And really, the rest of forever. But, if you want to take a look at even more options that will work on the 21 Day Fix plan, I've got a whole board on my Pinterest account dedicated to 21 Day fix that I share with my friends. All of the recipes that I've pinned have been marked with your container count for easy calculation while you're still getting the hang of this! You can find me on Pinterest by clicking the icon on the top or the bottom of the page.
I hope you guys keep me in the loop on how you're doing and how you feel when you reach the end of this 3 week journey! Send me emails. Tell me on Instagram. I can't wait to hear all about it!
But for now, enjoy. And, let's eat!
California Cobb Salad
Serves: 4 Print
Ingredients:
For the Salad:
1 lb cooked chicken, chopped (about 2 cups)
4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
2 cups microgreens
4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 oz feta cheese, crumbled
½ avocado, sliced
For the Chipotle Ranch Dressing:
½ cup sour cream
juice of ½ a lime
2 tsp adobo sauce (from a can of chipotle peppers)
1 tsp ranch dip mix
¼ tsp salt
Directions:
Make the dressing: Add all ingredients for dressing to a bowl. Stir until combined. Set aside.
Assemble the salad: Divide lettuce, microgreens, eggs, tomatoes, bacon, feta, avocado, and chicken evenly between four bowls. Top with dressing. Serve immediately.
Recipe notes:
*I use roasted chicken breast tenders seasoned with a coarse seasoned salt for my chicken in this salad. To roast, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with foil, and spray with olive oil cooking spray. Lay the tenders on the prepared pan, and spritz the top side of the chicken with olive oil cooking spray. Season both sides with 1-2 tsp coarse seasoned salt. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, flip the tenders, and put them back in the oven for another 8 minutes. Cool, and chop!
*My method for making hard boiled eggs is this: Place eggs in a medium saucepan. Cover with cold water until the water is at least a half inch above the eggs. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water starts to bubble, set a timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, immediately drain the hot water out of the pot and run cold water over the eggs in the pot. Dump the first round of water and run cold water over the eggs again. Let the eggs sit in the cold water for 3-4 mins. Carefully peel the shells off of the eggs. They come right off!
*This is a GREAT make ahead meal. Portion out the salad ingredients in tupperware containers. Portion out the dressing in small containers. Make sure you don't dress the salad until you're ready to eat. Grab, go, and enjoy!
*Per serving, this recipe is 2 green, 2 red, 1 blue
