Fresh Salads

Today I have 5 fresh salad recipes ideal for summer. 

Chunky Chicken Salad
Ingredients: 
2 1/2 lb. chicken breast 

1 1/2 cups celery

1 1/2 cups grapes (any variety)

1 cup pecans

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 cup lite mayo

Instructions:

Boil chicken until cooked thoroughly. Tear into bite-sized pieces. 

Chop celery, cut grapes in half, and break pecans in half. 

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. 

When boiling the chicken for this recipe, I like to use a chopped onion and a few stalks of celery, usually the yellow inner stalks from the bunch, with the leaves still on. Throw everything into a stock pot and cook the chicken. This makes the most delicious broth that can be drained and used later for any type of soup or dumplings! 

This recipe is also versatile. Any variety of grapes can be used, whatever you prefer or have on hand. The chicken salad is also good with some pineapple added. It's excellent on a green salad, a sandwich, or with some crackers.

Pear Spinach Salad

Ingredients: 

1 bag raw spinach leaves

1 ripe green pear

1 cup walnuts

2 cups raspberry vinaigrette dressing

Instructions:

Slice pears longways. 

Toss all ingredients together in a large salad bowl. 

Serve immediately. 

This salad is healthy, low calorie, and super quick and easy. The ingredients really don't even have to be measured. You can just toss everything together and add the dressing straight from the bottle. 

Summer Salad

Ingredients: 

1 small container cottage cheese

1 Tbsp. chopped green onion

1/2 cup finely chopped cucumber

1/2 cup finely chopped tomato

Instructions: 

Combine all ingredients. 

Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to mingle.

Simple and delicious! 

The final 2 salads for this post are linked from previous articles on my blog. 

The first is my absolute favorite fruit salad ever, so enjoy! 

http://goodsouthernfood.blogspot.com/2011/02/aunties-fruit-salad-recipe.html

And the second is a delicious crab salad.

http://goodsouthernfood.blogspot.com/2011/02/seafood-recipe.html

Fresh Fruit

   Sometimes getting your friends and family to eat healthy foods is all about presentation. I recently prepared this fruit plate at a lunch with some friends, and it went over really well. With the ready-to-eat fruit, everyone would just walk by and grab a bite. 
   I used brown and green pears, sliced them longways, and then garnished the plate with blackberries and raspberries. Fresh oranges or apples would also be good, and kiwi or pomegranate for the garnish would taste wonderful.
  

Fresh Veggies!

Here's a healthy food tip. When you buy fresh vegetables, go ahead and wash them and and cut them up into ready to eat pieces so it will be convenient to grab the veggies for a snack, to eat with a meal, or for packing lunches. Store them in bags or plastic-ware in the refrigerator. Some vegetables will keep for up to a week.