Healthy Cobb Salad

If you let it, eating healthy can get really boring. Chicken, spinach, chicken, spinach, ugh….Last week I gave you a simple Mediterranean inspired salad alternative to the monotonous world of chicken and spinach. Today I have a lower calorie (and healthier spin) on a classic meal, Cobb Salad. This Cobb Salad is nutritionally upgraded in 3 main ways:

1. It uses roasted chicken or turkey meat and not sliced deli meat. Deli meat is just about always bad. It is injected and soaked in salt and food stabilizers in order to give it unnatural shelflife.

2. Pre-application of salad dressing. I have you toss the lettuce in lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper before covering it with all the topping. This allows you to get more mileage out of a smaller about of oil. Mixing vegetables or meat a bowl with salad dressing or a marinade is much more effective than just pouring or brushing the liquid on if you are trying to control calories.

3. Real turkey bacon. We’re using real turkey bacon, not the stuff that looks like pressed and pre-cooked play-dough. Organic Prairie and Applegate Farms are my two favorites.

Here’s how to put it together:

Chop up some Boston bib lettuce (these tender leaves are a nice change of pace) and toss them with lemon juice, a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Lay this down as your base. Add 2 chopped hard boiled egg whites, 1/2 a sliced avocado, 3-4oz sliced roasted chicken or turkey, 1/2 a diced tomato. Sprinkle with a little blue cheese and Organic Valley bacon (chopped into pieces)