lettuce

Greek Cobb Salad

This Cobb salad with a twist loads all of my favorite Mediterranean salad ingredients plus the best Greek marinated chicken ever into one savage salad to make a complete, healthy meal in one big bowl.

This Greek Cobb salad is like the Woodstock of salads, bringing so much to one place to deliver peace, love, and joy with a trancelike glow that makes an incredible memory for anyone who experiences it. And just like Woodstock, you too will have wished you’d been there to eat it even if you didn’t.

I heard back from so many of you on my email list where I shared this healthier turkey sausage pasta dinner, when you answered my question, do you want more healthy recipes? The answer was a resounding, YES! like this reply from reader Ann, who wrote:

“Hi I would love any help cooking delicious meals “heart healthy”. I must live a low sodium diet/low fat/etc.., but I miss all the yummy comfort foods I loved. Any help would be appreciated!!”

I admit, this mediterranean Greek Cobb salad may not be everyone’s idea of typical “comfort food”—aka fried, buttered, and gooey-leyed cheesed—but to me, anything that shines with my favorite mediterranean flavors is a comfort to my taste buds—and a whole lot healthier too.continue to the recipe… about Greek Cobb Salad

Peach Panzanella Salad with Burrata and Bacon

This recipe is not your classic, traditional Italian or Greek panzanella salad, because with sliced sweet peaches, savory bacon, and gooey burrata crunched with sourdough bread chunks and dressed in an easy to make golden balsamic vinegar dressing, this healthy-ish salad goes well beyond the regular old panzanella each and every meal of the day.

Here we are, just three days into spring, and I’m already counting down the days to summer. That would be 72 if you’re wondering.

It’s not the hazy, lazy summer days lounging at the pool I’m waiting for (although that IS always on my summer happiness list), it’s the food I’m craving now. After a winter of simmering soups and savory stews, this girl is ready for the fresh, bright colors of salads of every color. And if it said salad has even a hint of caprese salad fixings—which I classify as a salad that includes some sort of mozzarella dressed in olive oil and balsamic and topped with basil—I am so 100% all over it.

It’s just one reason why I stopped dead in my flipping-the-pages-tracks while perusing the new cookbook of one of my favorite friends, then swiftly scoped my pantry stock for golden balsamic vinegar, checked on my countertop basil plant to be sure it hadn’t expired due to dehydration (those babies dry out fast!), and then headed straight to the grocery store for three loves of my foodie loving life: peaches, burrata, and bacon. Okay, make that four loves, with sourdough bread too.continue to the recipe… about Peach Panzanella Salad with Burrata and Bacon

Instant Pot Orange Chicken Lettuce Wraps

This better-than-P.F. Chang chile-flavored orange chicken lettuce wrap recipe is incredibly easy to make thanks to the Instant Pot pressure cooker that does double duty as a self-serve, low-carb appetizer or as a healthy main meal that’s quick to make and even more fun to eat.

Just ask any three year old—or my 13 year old daughter’s best friend Elise who has yet to conform to the norm—eating with your hands is supremely gratifying.

Her parent’s say she’s “expressive and artistic.” I think she’s just laser-focus hungry and doesn’t want to play by anyone else’s rules. Either which way, lettuce wraps are a fun way to “nosh-on-it” and this Asian chicken lettuce wrap recipe proves it.

Because who says eating with a knife and fork should be the norm anyway? Cultures all around the world have eaten without utensils for centuries, and even more. Indian. Ethiopian. From Asia to Africa to the Middle East. As quoted in this New York Times article, cookbook author Julie Sahni emphatically states, “Eating with the hands evokes great emotion,” she says. “It kindles something very warm and gentle and caressing. Using a fork is unthinkable in traditional Indian eating. It is almost like a weapon.”

Okay. It looks like I need to give Elise a break. But I will NOT ease up on reminding her to wipe her hands and her face, even if I get that teenage “look” in return nearly every single time.

When Williams Sonoma Test Kitchens sent me their new The Instant Pot Cookbook to review, I was more than happy to say, heck to the yes, let’s do this. Their cookbooks are some of my very favorites and I regularly refer to their entire Dish of the Day series and every single Williams Sonoma cookbook authored by Kate McMillan who is one of my favorite recipe developers because of the series.

But this cookbook is different, just like the Instant Pot itself.continue to the recipe… about Instant Pot Orange Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Crab and Shrimp Seafood Cobb Salad

Fresh snow crab and sweet bay shrimp sub in for the traditional chicken in this light but filling Cobb salad tossed with a tangy red wine vinaigrette.

The old saying may go, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” but the literal translation is: “The toppings are what make a good salad GREAT.”

You get me? Let’s break it down.

Any great Cobb salad’s list of ingredients could certainly stand on their own any day of the week. I mean, who hasn’t sprinkled salt and pepper on a freshly-cut summer tomato and deemed it the best thing they ever ate? Or scooped avocado straight from it’s shell and slipped it down the old pie hole in one creamy bite? And don’t get me started on how salty, crispy bacon bits magically disappear thanks to those nibbling elves before reaching their plated destination.

But together, those bites of tomato, avocado and bacon alongside bits of spunky cheese, crunchy romaine, and the sweet bites of snow crab and tender bay shrimp, is when this salad becomes the whole Cobb and nothing but the Cobb. Even though I forgot to show the hard boiled egg in the photos. Grrr. Next time!

If you’re at all familiar with Market Street Grill in Utah, then you’ve likely seen this seafood Cobb salad. It’s been on the menu since 1980, and while it’s had a maybe one or two tweaks through the years, it’s essence has always remained the same.

When I was a server at Market Street Grill, this was always a #1 summer seller. And still today, when my dad orders his usual Grilled Crab and Avocado Sandwich, it’s ~~very likely~~ guaranteed that this salad is what both my mom and I will order every.single.time. Creatures of habit or creatures of really good food? Perhaps a bit of both. And I’m totally okay with that.

About the Recipe

The twist to this Cobb salad is the replacement of chicken with sweet and tender snow crab and bay shrimp. I prefer a larger bay shrimp and look for the biggest I can find, and as always, frozen shrimp thaws just right so frozen in the bag is an easy way to go. You’ll likely need just one 5-legged section of snow crab legs, and because they’re previously cooked, simply thaw or rinse the crab in cold water and then remove the meat from the shell. Or do like I did and buy the crab meat already shelled. You’ll pay more this way, but you only need 1/4 pound of crab (and also of shrimp) to make 2 servings as a main course salad.

In the recipe photos I’m sharing today I totally spaced adding a hard boiled egg. If you’re like me and sad that I didn’t include, add 1 or 2 hard boiled eggs roughly chopped as a layer to the salad. That should certainly do the job.

For years I’ve searched the internet for the recipe to Market Street’s vinaigrette dressing and finally, after a deep dive into Google, I found a version of the recipe on this recipe board. It’s not 100% the same to my buds of taste, but it is certainly delicious at the 99% mark. When making the dressing, be sure to use very lightly cracked black peppercorns rather than fine ground pepper. That in itself is a game changer.

And one more tip: If you’re like me and don’t love the lingering smell of a bacon-saturated home, try cooking your bacon in a cast iron skillet on the grill. It’s a super easy baconless-smelling-home solution.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Bookmark this recipe and leave a comment below, or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.

5 from 5 votes

Crab and Shrimp Seafood Cobb Salad

The vinaigrette salad dressing yields one cup, more than you'll need for these salads. Reserve the rest of the dressing for other uses like pasta salad, as a marinade for chicken, and of course, for future salads.

Ingredients

4 slices thick cut bacon diced
6 cups sliced romaine lettuce
1/4 pound bay shrimp
1/4 pound snow crab meat
3-4 cocktail tomatoes diced
2 hard boiled eggs diced (not pictured but essential!)
2 ounces crumbled blue cheese
1 avocado sliced
For the Market Street Red Wine Vinaigrette
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon crushed black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt

Instructions

In a large sauté pan or skillet, cook the diced bacon until cooked through, drain on a paper towel and cool.
Layer the romaine lettuce in the bottom of a large bowl. Place the salad toppings in rows on top of the lettuce. Serve with 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the red wine vinaigrette dressing and refrigerate the rest for later salad making.
For the Market Street Red Wine Vinaigrette
Place the ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together, or place in a jar with a fitted lid and shake until combined. makes 1 cup

Bobbing for More Cobbs

If you like a salad that’s more of a main than a side, consider trying one of these Cobb variations to fill your week with:

Autumn Cobb Salad

Taco Cobb Salad

Salmon Cobb Salad with Feta and Spinach

Southern Cobb Salad with Sweet Onion Dressing

Buffalo Chicken Cobb Salad

As always, thank you for reading and for supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. All opinions are always my own.

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30 Days of Healthier Salads That Make a Meal In April

Happy April, friends!

We’re proud to bring you our fourth installment to our 31 Days Series (you can check out the first one here, the second one here, and the third one here). This month is all about big, bountiful salads—you know, the kind that stick to your ribs and are hardy enough to make a meal of.

We’re craving healthy foods, but ones with substance and staying power, because we don’t want to be hungry two hours later and find ourselves tucking into a bowl of cereal at 10 o’clock at night.

We’ve all been there.

These salads are colorful, healthy, filling, and easy to prepare. We can’t guarantee they’ll help you fit into last summer’s shorts by the end of the month, but we promise they’ll definitely help!continue to the recipe… about 30 Days of Healthier Salads That Make a Meal In April

Green Salad with Shrimp, Beets, Sweet Pecans and Goat Cheese

Wintertime salads like this one are every bit in season thanks to the always favorite combo of flavors of sweet glazed pecans, roasted beets and goat cheese that are always ready and available. And when fresh grilled shrimp is a topper, you’ve just made yourself an entire meal in one bowl.

This post is in partnership with DeLallo Foods

I love winter. I love the snow. I love the cocooning and snuggling and general laze winter allows us to justify. And while I’m still obsessively checking my Weather app and welcoming every prediction of snowfall as if it was the first of the season—thanks Punxsutawney Phil—I do have to admit I am missing myself some rays of warm sunshine.

Here in Northern Utah the skies have either been weeping with snow, cloudy and gray, or seeped in a valley inversion ever since Christmas. And I have to admit, it’s starting to get to me. I’m not normally one to get the moody blues, not even a tinge of baby blues, but I can tell that missing my source of Vitamin D (Mr. Sunshine) has been messing with my psyche.

Lately I’ve been really good at keeping my head down and sort of numbly going through the motions while ignoring a lot of what else is going on around me. So if you haven’t received an e-mail back from me, fear not, you are not alone.continue to the recipe… about Green Salad with Shrimp, Beets, Sweet Pecans and Goat Cheese

Autumn Cobb Salad

Roasted squash, crunchy apples and dried cherries add seasonal freshness to this autumnal cobb salad, dressed in a spiced apple cider vinaigrette and topped with candied walnuts.

It’s that time of year where I’m either straddling the urge to pull out my chunky sweaters and hunker down with ooey gooey comfort food, or dig in my heels and cling to the straggling bounty of summer and all the freshness it holds.

Yesterday I was debating what to share here on the bloggity blog so I took to Facebook and Instagram and asked what you wanted to see.

“🔜 I’m working on tomorrow’s recipe post. Would you rather see a weeknight chicken pasta 🍗🍝 or a decadent fall-inspired salad 🌽🍅? Getting fresh pickings and loving fall’s bounty at the farmer’s market.”

Your comments, clicks and likes overwhelmingly say you’re in the same camp I am. Long live the salad! So at your request, I present a fall-inspired leafy beauty that will con any non-salad eater into giving the greens a go with the tease of chicken, bacon and eggs and more.

continue to the recipe… about Autumn Cobb Salad

Italian Chopped Salad with Marinated Chickpeas + a Giveaway

Inspired by the famous Italian chopped salad at La Scala, this yummy salad recipe is packed with awesome ingredients and loaded with amazing crunchy textures and flavors thanks to marinated chickpeas, salami, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, Asiago cheese, and a zesty red wine vinaigrette.

Salad might run through my veins like sugar does through those of a baker.

In fact, I’m not sure if I’ve ever gone more than 2 days without a salad in at least one of my rounds of eating. There’s always a side salad with dinner, it could be more fruit filled or sometimes there’s no lettuce at all. It’s a mix and match type of game more often than not.

But where I hit my real pleasure point is when I make a big daddy salad for a filling lunch or dinner.

Pack it with protein.

Add salty bits.

It definitely calls for a sprinkle of cheese.

And where would we be without the sharp tang of pucker-induced salad dressing?

And while we’re talking tangy puckers—not Tanya Tucker—I have a giveaway of over $250 worth of AWESOMENESS (jewelry anyone?) at the end of this post, so set your mouth, and your mouse, to scroll…

continue to the recipe… about Italian Chopped Salad with Marinated Chickpeas + a Giveaway

Strawberry and Avocado with Tuna Salad Recipe

It’s back!

After a summer peppered with vacations to the beach / cabin / red rocks, popsicles and cereal flavored milkshakes, far more thunderstorms than I ever remember a summer possibly possessing and not nearly enough time spent weeding my garden (thank you for doing so, my #1 rock star dad!), just like that, we’re shocked back to reality and the routine of school days once that dang alarm goes off.

I, for one, am embracing it.

We’ve hit Target for new pencils, anitbacterial wipes and college ruled composition books. She chose her new outfit for the first day (denim on denim, how chic!) and I somehow got her to let me curl her hair, sort of. We took the requisite first day photo with her two babies and marveled at how in the heck she could have grown this much in just one year!

Then it was off to school where watched with the rest of the hovering parents as she immediately forgot us, as if we merely existed to be her estranged support system in her stratosphere of gal pals and those boys she totally doesn’t like ;).

continue to the recipe… about Strawberry and Avocado with Tuna Salad Recipe

Thai Chicken Larb Lettuce Wraps

With the release of her latest cookbook, Steamy Kitchen’s Healthy Asian Favorites, Jaden Hair once again shows us why she’s one of the top dogs in the world of food blogging with her recipe for Thai Lettuce Wraps.

Food blog author Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen is like Wonder Woman. She’s a food columnist, television chef (ABC’s Recipe Rehab, Daytime Show), cookbook author (The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, Steamy Kitchen’s Healthy Asian Favorites), and a wife and mom to two little boys, Andrew and Nathan.

If all that weren’t enough, she helps run “the homestead,”—a five-acre plot she and her family occupy. It’s fully equipped with a small fruit orchard, a pond with tilapia and blue gill, and a chicken coop with ten plucky residents. Their latest endeavor? A homemade aquaponic herb and vegetable garden (growing vegetables and plants over water).

It’s a juggling act but one that Hair seems to have managed with ease. She’s driven, but her priority is her family and she puts their health and happiness at the forefront.

I first discovered Jaden thanks to my husband. While trolloping among the www for Asian inspired recipes, he discovered Steamy Kitchen. In fact, he was a follower of her blog well before I even had a nugget of a thought of creating a food blog myself. Or a magazine that features food bloggers. You could say his discovery pretty much set us on this tract of foodie crushes.

In fact, my very first recipe on the blog? One of Jaden’s.

You could say I have a soft spot for this oh so very talented lady.continue to the recipe… about Thai Chicken Larb Lettuce Wraps

lettuce

Greek Cobb Salad

Peach Panzanella Salad with Burrata and Bacon

Instant Pot Orange Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Crab and Shrimp Seafood Cobb Salad

About the Recipe

Crab and Shrimp Seafood Cobb Salad

Ingredients

Instructions

Bobbing for More Cobbs

30 Days of Healthier Salads That Make a Meal In April

Green Salad with Shrimp, Beets, Sweet Pecans and Goat Cheese

Autumn Cobb Salad

Italian Chopped Salad with Marinated Chickpeas + a Giveaway

Strawberry and Avocado with Tuna Salad Recipe

Thai Chicken Larb Lettuce Wraps

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5 Quick and Healthy No-Sweat Simple Meals