Grilled Chicken Kale Spinach Salad

The other day I was grocery shopping and I usually grab either a bag of spinach or lettuce to use in salads and sandwiches during the week. They’re so easy since you don’t have to wash, spin, and chop anything. I discovered that they now make bags of spinach and baby kale mixed together.

How cool is that? OK, I admit this is something that probably doesn’t excite the average normal person but I was thrilled. It’s also fun to change things up when making salads. Spring mix instead of romaine, spinach over iceberg, and now… kale/spinach instead of all of the above. New toys!

I tossed together a quick salad for The Kid and me that took almost no time at all. Seriously, dinner in under 5 minutes. Perfect for a weeknight and gave me plenty of time to move on to other things like helping with homework, dog walking and so on.

The recipe below is for one salad. Multiply the ingredients accordingly if you are serving more than just yourself. I top my salads with mustard since that’s what I’m used to. The combo of shades of green, yellow, red, and beige made for a pretty salad. Top with your dressing of choice like Ranch if that’s what you prefer.

Quick and Easy Grilled Chicken Kale Spinach Salad

• 1/4 cup chick peas, canned
• 2 1/2 cups spinach and baby kale leaves
• 5 strips of roasted red pepper, from a jar
• 5 stuffed green olives
• 3 oz grilled chicken breast

Drain and rinse the chick peas. Place the spinach and kale mixture on a plate and top with the chick peas, red pepper strips, and olives. Slice the grilled chicken breast into bite sized pieces and arrange on top of the salad. Voila, done in no time flat.

Makes one large salad at 223 calories – 23g protein, 15g carbs, and 6g fat.

Notes

• I grill several chicken breasts on Sunday afternoons so that I have them in the fridge for dinner emergencies and just to make life easier. Grill once, eat several times. You can always grill your chicken while putting the salad together but having them ready to go saves time.
• Why 5 olives? Because that’s what fit into my eating plan for the day. Gotta love contest prep time. Use more olives, less olives, different olives. Whatever your heart desires. I liked the combination of the salty olive flavor with the salad greens.
• I had a jar of roasted red peppers hanging around forever so I decided to use it for the salad to add color. Not sure what I bought it for anymore. Fresh red peppers would work too if you don’t have the jarred.

Have you ever bought a jar or can of something and then later forgotten what it was for?