Salads have become my mommy life saver recently.
This is not a fabricated sentence at all, so believe me when I say this...
My baby slept 45 minutes total during the day yesterday. That's right. 45 minutes. Not a solid 45 either, I just added all the minutes she slept and it was 45.
I had a little heart to heart with myself and realized that maybe it's not a coincidence that all three of my children are horrible sleepers. I think I sleep trained them that way.
That being said, when it comes to meals for myself, I need them to be quick. Obviously a s'mores pop tart would do the trick, but seeing that I'm trying to kick my butt back into shape I've been stuffing my face with salad beasts!
I love salads! Even the simple ones like lettuce and tomato :). But since I'm nursing and I'm hungry 90% of my life, I need it to be filling.
I'll usually prepare a large salad/salad ingredients once or twice a week and have it last me a few days for 'quick mama lunches.' Then I'll sometimes use leftover proteins from dinner to add on top, and if I'm lucky and have a ripe avocado I will throw that on too!
But my favorite part of a salad is always the dressing. Always. A good salad dressing can make or break that salad beast, and I wish I was the kind of girl that was good with a little lemon juice and EVOO...
Nope.
Just like I wish I was good with just eating a strawberry and calling it dessert. I.Just.Can't.
Unless it's covered in chocolate. That's a different story.
Chopped Thai Salad with Peanut Dressing
Ingredients
- (For the Salad)
- 1/3 green cabbage, thinly sliced, roughly chopped
- 1/3 purple cabbage, thinly sliced, roughly chopped
- (opt.) 1/3 ice berg lettuce, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 1 bunch scallions, chopped
- 1 red pepper, cut into thin slices
- 1 large carrot, sliced into thin pieces and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cucumber, skin removed, diced
- 1/2 c. baby tomatoes, I used yellow, cut in halves
- 1/3 c. diced peanuts
- 2-3 small avocados, diced
- (opt.) chicken, grilled or shredded
- (opt.) crispy wontons or Chinese noodles
- (For the Peanut Dressing)
- 1/2 c. peanut butter
- 3 TB. soy sauce
- Juice of one lime
- 2 TB. coconut or brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 chopped garlic clove
- 1/2 c. water**
- **If you refrigerate the dressing for a few hours it will become thicker as it sits. You may need to thin in out with a little water before adding to the salad.
Instructions
- Assemble the salad on a platter with all of the ingredients. Leave out the chicken and avocado for those that don't want it. (If you are planning to use this salad over the coarse of a few days, don't use the avocado until you are ready to eat it, that way it doesn't brown.)
- In a small blender or food processor, add the salad dressing ingredients and blend until creamy.
- Add the dressing to the salad and toss,before serving. OR, if saving the salad for the next few days, use salad dressing on your individual salad and keep dressing covered in the fridge.
- Enjoy!
3.3.3077
Now...
Someone tell me how to properly sleep train, otherwise, this mama just might start eating s'mores pop tarts for dinner.