Today we add a third card to our menu board recipes series! This recipe is for a salad made with salmon, avocado, baby spinach and brown rice or quinoa.
In case you are just joining us, I have a menu board in my house. On the menu board I have each day of the week along with an envelope (ok now it’s 2 envelopes) with all of the meals that we eat. Every time we make a meal we haven’t had before I take a couple of minutes to write down all of the ingredients you need for the recipe, where the recipe is located (my head, my food board on Pinterest, a cookbook, etc.)and the big one for us… what The Hubs needs to get out from our deep freeze before he leaves for work in the morning (I HATE digging around in that thing.)
On the weekend I sort through all of the cards I have created (in 1 month you could create 30 cards if you wrote down what you ate after every meal!!!), check the ingredients list on each card to see what I need from the grocery store and create a grocery list. When it comes time to make dinner each night there is no guess work about what we are going to make for dinner.
If this all sounds way too organized to you, believe me for YEARS we were playing the “What’s For Dinner” game at 6:00 every night, it was causing so much stress in our lives. This has changed dinner time for us. Plus it let’s us see what we are eating and if we splurge one night we rein it in the next night with a healthy meal.
Speaking of eating healthy, on to our recipe. This one is so delicious you would never guess it’s good for you and it’s fast! This one is a 30 minute (or less) meal.
Salmon, Spinach & Avocado Salad with Brown Rice or Quinoa
Ingredients:
-Salmon fillets (one piece of salmon about the size of a deck of cards per person)
-Fresh Spinach (I prefer baby spinach)
-Avocado (1/4-1/2 per person)
-Brown Rice or Quinoa
For the dressing:
-Balsamic Vinegar
-Olive Oil
-Maple Syrup
Directions:
1. Start preparing your brown rice or quinoa as per package instructions. We use a rice cooker to prepare both. We usually have leftover brown rice or quinoa in the fridge, this is a great meal to make with those leftovers.
2. Cook your salmon. This is usually The Hubs’ job. We like to baste it with a mix of honey and soy sauce. The Hubs usually BBQ’s it skin side down for approximately 10 minutes. We also make it in our toaster oven by cooking it at 350 for approximately 8-12 minutes depending on the size of your salmon portions and how you like your salmon cooked, I like mine a bit under cooked.
3. Prepare your salad dressing. My balsamic dressing recipe is from a wonderful woman and fabulous cook named Sandy Cooper. Combine 1 part maple syrup, 2 parts olive oil and 3 parts balsamic vinegar. I usually use tablespoons as my parts but you could also do teaspoons or cups (1/2 cups, 1/4 cups, etc) if you wanted to make a bunch for your fridge.
4. Dress your baby spinach with balsamic dressing.
5. Put dressed baby spinach on each plate and top with avocado cut in slices or chunks for each person. Add a scoop of brown rice or quinoa. When salmon is done cooking remove the skin and put a portion of salmon on top of each salad.
6. Serve and enjoy!
We all know that avocados and salmon contain good fat. Click through for other health benefits of avocados and salmon
Find our first two menu cards here:
Coconut Lime Chicken Menu Card #1
Asian Cashew Lettuce Wraps Menu Card #2
What do you do for meal planning at your house? Do you play the “What’s For Dinner” game?