Name: Cobb Salad Meal Prep
Prep time: 30 min
Yield: 5 salads
Ingredients: 2-3 hearts of romaine; 1 cucumber, seeded and diced; 1 package grape tomatoes; 2 avocados; 5 ounces cheddar cheese, cubed, or crumbled blue cheese; 5 strips bacon, cooked; 5 eggs, boiled; your choice of dressing; your choice of crunchy toppings - I used roasted chickpeas, sesame sticks, and roasted, salted pistachios

Cobb Salad Meal Prep

March 31, 2017

This Cobb salad meal prep tutorial will help you prep ingredients for a week’s worth of delicious salads in an hour or less, including homemade dressing!

What’s your lunch situation? Mine is pretty abysmal, I have to admit. And that’s really sad, because you guys, I’m a food blogger. Everything I eat is supposed to be delicious, gourmet, and totally Instagrammable, right? This is not the case.

What’s funny is that when I was a teacher, I used to think that people who worked outside of schools pretty much had it made. I mean, I always ate lunch with my kids (not required, but preschool teachers know this is best practice) so lunch usually meant scarfing whatever I was eating while simultaneously opening yogurt pouches and milk cartons, refereeing arguments, and making sure everyone stayed in their seat. Oh, wait, don’t forget the time I was told I was a terrible human being for not sharing my cheese dip with a kid from another class because he “liked cheese dip too” and “adults are supposed to share their food with kids”. Never mind that he had a full lunch in front of him and I had two tablespoons of cheese dip. Anyway…

Fast forward to today. There are many great things about my job, but the lunch arrangement is not one of them. I never thought that eating at a table would feel like a treat. Seriously. There are weeks that it doesn’t happen at all. I frequently eat in my car…it’s been a while since I’ve had to eat while driving, but there was definitely a period of time when everything had to be able to be consumed with one hand and no utensils. I have an office, but it is very rare that I’m there at lunch time (or at all). I’ve started forcing myself to frequently pack a lunch that requires utensils so I am forced to at least eat my lunch while not driving. Microwave access is definitely an issue, so it’s either got to be cold or able to go into a Thermos unless I know that I’ll be able to use a microwave, which is rare.

Plus, I’m terrible at packing my lunch. I do best when I plan ahead (big surprise there). I am not a person who can eat a PB&J every single day, but if I plan something really good I can eat it for a week without feeling like I’m gonna lose my mind. Turkey & cheese croissants, soup in a Thermos, and a really good salad are some of my faves. I’ve decided to really make an effort to spend the time prepping everything on Sundays so I don’t have to stress over it on weeknights.

One thing…I don’t really like the whole “put everything in the containers on Sunday night and just grab them as you need them” idea, at least not for salads. There’s too much danger of things getting soggy or rotty and I’m not down with that. So, I prep everything ahead like a little mini salad bar and then assemble the salad the night before so I can pick out any unsavory bits.

This Cobb salad is super simple. It took me about an hour from start to finish, including making the dressing, roasting the chickpeas, boiling the eggs, and chopping the lettuce, cheese, and cucumbers. Cobb salad usually has chicken, but I really, really dislike chicken that’s been sitting in the fridge, so I subbed in the crispy roasted chickpeas. Also, Cobb salad is traditionally served with a vinaigrette, but I made my own ranch using the recipe from the BTC Old-Fashioned Grocery cookbook (affiliate link)(and here’s my own ranch dressing recipe). Everything gets its own container and I assemble it in my Systema salad container the night before. This salad will get me through the week, and I’ll start over again next Sunday!

Shared on Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook!

Recommended for this recipe:

Mary

Yield: 5 salads

Cobb Salad Meal Prep

30 minPrep Time:

30 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

2-3 hearts of romaine
1 cucumber, seeded and diced
1 package grape tomatoes
2 avocados
5 ounces cheddar cheese, cubed, or crumbled blue cheese
5 strips bacon, cooked
5 eggs, boiled
your choice of dressing
your choice of crunchy toppings - I used roasted chickpeas, sesame sticks, and roasted, salted pistachios

Instructions

Chop the romaine into bite-sized pieces. Place in a salad spinner and fill with water then drain and spin, or place in a colander and rinse thoroughly then shake the colander. Spread the lettuce down the center of a strip of 4 or 5 paper towels then roll the lettuce up. Place the lettuce in a gallon-sized zipper bag and refrigerate.
Store the cucumbers in a covered bowl. Store the cheese in a sandwich bag or a covered bowl. Store the bacon in whole strips in a sandwich bag and the eggs in an egg carton, unpeeled.
To assemble the salad, place a few handfuls of lettuce (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups), a couple of spoonfuls of cucumber, 3 or 4 tomatoes, 1/4 avocado (I leave it in the peel then just scoop it out before I eat), and a diced egg in a covered bowl. In a separate container (or a separate section of a salad container), place a piece of bacon, chopped, an ounce (about 1/4 cup) of cheese, your choice of crunchy toppings, and a small container of dressing. Refrigerate until ready to serve or carry in a bag with ice packs.

Notes

You can add chopped chicken, turkey, or ham to this salad if you would like.

https://chattavore.com/cobb-salad-meal-prep/

This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect the cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosures. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Sweet and Spicy Ham and Cheese Panini

March 24, 2017

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #CollectiveBias #SandwichWithTheBest

As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep Chattavore running!

This sweet and spicy ham and cheese panini is a tasty, quick, and easy dinner that only takes five ingredients. It’s great for weeknights!

Sometimes I feel like life is just a whirlwind and I am caught in the middle of it. Do you ever feel like that? I am sure that you do. One of the things that I have been working on in earnest this year (not a resolution – I don’t make resolutions – but a goal) is to be a little more mindful. I don’t want to turn 40 next year (!) and wonder where the last 20 years of my life went, and I certainly don’t want to be asking that question when I’m 50, or 60, or so on.

That’s a little bit easier said than done. We tend to live a “more is better” kind of life here in the States, right? More stuff, more activities, more jobs (ahem, that finger is pointing right back at me). I am learning that it’s okay to let go of some things. I’ve cleaned a lot of stuff out of my house (just trying to have some empty surfaces can be a challenge at times) and , as I’ve added a few things to my plate (who’s interested in a cooking class???), I’ve taken a few things off (like paying my sister to do Pinterest for me…might I mention that she’s way better at it than me?).

Another thing that I’ve let go of is the need to make fancy and intricate meals. With Philip’s job we’re often eating dinner at 9 p.m. and I do not need the stress of a dinner that takes about 35 steps and every pan in my kitchen. We ate sandwiches for dinner three nights last week, but my sandwiches have to be special sandwiches. This sweet and spicy ham and cheese panini fits the bill. With Pepperidge Farm®, Hillshire Farm® Thin Sliced Honey Ham, and Hellman’s® Real Mayonnaise, it’s pretty easy to throw together a sandwich that’s a little (well, a lot) more special than your standard lunchbox fare.

I picked up my ingredients for my ham and cheese panini at the Walmart Neighborhood Market near our house (I’ve been regularly getting my groceries through their grocery pickup, which is ??? by the way). Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse™ Hearty White has been my go-to sandwich bread ever since I heard America’s Test Kitchen talk about how awesome it is, and this bread, crafted from small-batch ingredients, tastes every bit as good as what I bake at home – and it’s sturdy enough to build a great sandwich but still soft and fresh. Hillshire Farm® Thin-sliced Honey Ham is slow roasted so it always tastes great, and it has no artificial flavors or by-products. And, of course, Hellman’s® Real Mayonnaise is just the best…who doesn’t love it (hush, you mayo-haters). The squeeze bottle makes it simple and mess-free.

Now, I used my new panini press (I bought it to use for my classes) to throw this together, but it would be just as easy to make using two cast iron skillets. I piled my Hillshire Farm® Thin Sliced Honey Ham on to the Pepperidge Farm® bread with some sliced Gouda cheese, then instead of brushing my bread with olive oil or melted butter, I spread some Hellman’s® Real Mayonnaise on it to make it crispy and brown. After pressing the sandwich, I spread on some Jezebel sauce (which if you guys will recall, I baked on some Brie last week) to add that sweet and spicy flair (if you don’t have Jezebel sauce, just whisk some prepared horseradish or brown or Dijon mustard with some apple jelly or pineapple preserves). It was so good!

I could eat this sweet and spicy ham and cheese panini at least once a week! I hope you’ll try it out!

Check out Sandwich with the Best for more great sandwich ideas using these products!

Mary

Yield: Serves 4 moderately hungry or 2 very hungry people

Sweet and Spicy Ham and Cheese Panini

10 minPrep Time:

8 minCook Time:

18 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

4 slices Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse™ Hearty White sandwich bread
8 slices Hillshire Farm® Thin-Sliced Honey Ham
4 slices (or 4 ounces grated) Gouda cheese
2 tablespoons Hellman's® Real Mayonnaise
1/4 cup Jezebel sauce

Instructions

If using a panini press, preheat the press to 350 degrees. If using cast iron skillets, heat and 8-inch and 10-inch or two 10-inch skillets over medium-high heat.
Divide half of the cheese between two slices of bread. Follow by dividing the ham between the two slices of bread, and top with the remaining cheese. Top with the remaining slices of bread.
Spread the top of each sandwich with 1 1/2 teaspoons of the mayonnaise, then flip and spread the remaining mayonnaise on the other side.
Press the sandwich on the panini press for 7-8 minutes or until light golden brown, or reduce the heat under the 10-inch skillet to medium-low then place the sandwiches in the skillet and top with the other skillet, pressing down using an oven mitt, and grill for 5-8 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove the sandwiches from the heat. Remove the top slice of bread and spread 2 tablespoons of Jezebel sauce on each sandwich. Replace the tops and cut the sandwiches. Serve immediately.

Notes

If you do not have Jezebel sauce, whisk 3 1/2 tablespoons of apple jelly or pineapple preserves with 1 1/2 teaspoons of prepared horseradish or Dijon or spicy mustard.

https://chattavore.com/sweet-spicy-ham-and-cheese-panini/

This sweet and spicy ham and cheese panini is a tasty, quick, and easy dinner that only takes five ingredients. It's great for weeknights! #SandwichWithTheBest #CollectiveBias #ad | recipe from Chattavore.com

Homemade Cuban Sandwiches

January 20, 2017

Homemade Cuban sandwiches are a perfect way to use up any leftover pork roast you might have in your fridge. They’re a classic!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure statement.
I’ve written about Cuban sandwiches before, nearly four years ago when I first started writing recipes on this blog. Those were dark days, at least in terms of my photography, so sometimes I like to look back, cringe briefly, and think about how far I’ve come (and still have to go, but I’m doing okay for myself).
I have absolutely no Cuban heritage. I have no idea what the history or the origins of a Cuban sandwich is and at the moment (7:30 on a Friday night after what I can only refer to as a week) I am not feeling much of a desire to research its origins. I do know where I first heard about it…Alton Brown‘s Food Network show Good Eats, which I watched religiously for many, many years until it was taken off the air.

At the time that I first heard of Cuban sandwiches (or Cubanos, as they are sometimes called) I didn’t even really like pickles or yellow mustard, but I remember being intrigued and knowing that I had to try them. I loved them and honestly I think that the more pickles the better (which probably surprises you guys…you had no idea that I loved pickles, did you?). I remember Philip telling me about going to lunch with his team from work once and one of the ladies ordering a Cuban sandwich without the pickles. What the WHAT? Don’t you dare. Okay, do it if you must. But don’t tell me about it.
It’s kind of fun (for me, anyway) that I had this scheduled on the blog this week because we watched the movie Chef the other night. In the film, Jon Favreau is a chef who’s lost his passion and, subsequently, his job and, at the prodding of his ex-wife (Sofia Vergara) starts a food truck where he makes great street food…like Cuban sandwiches. In fact, the name of his truck is Cubanos. The movie was surprisingly good. And what I love about these homemade Cuban sandwiches (besides, of course, the fact that they are super-tasty) is that they come together so quickly, with leftover slow cooker pork shoulder and deli ham and cheese that, yes, are directly out of the package.

I hope you’ll give homemade Cuban sandwiches a try!

Shared on Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook!

Mary

Yield: 4 sandwiches
Cuban Sandwiches
10 minPrep Time:
10 minCook Time:
20 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients
2/3 loaf Cuban bread (or a French baguette)
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1 cup shredded roast pork (I used leftover pork shoulder)
8 thin slices deli ham
4 slices Swiss cheese
dill pickle chips or slices
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the bread into four equal pieces then slice each piece in half crosswise.
Spread mustard on the cut sides of the bread. Divide the ham among the bread bottoms then top with ham, cheese slices, and as many dill pickle chips as you like. Top with the bread tops.
Wrap the sandwiches in foil (I like to wrap each on individually) and place on a baking sheet. Place a heavy pan, bacon press, etc. on top of the sandwiches and press down. Place in the oven and bake for ten minutes.
Remove the heated sandwiches from the oven and remove from foil. Cut in half and serve immediately.
7.8.1.2
252
https://chattavore.com/homemade-cuban-sandwiches/

Quick and Easy Shrimp Rolls

October 14, 2016

If you’ve ever been intimidated by the idea of cooking seafood, try these quick and easy shrimp rolls – you might just change your mind!

I don’t cook a lot of fish or seafood on here, and it really is a shame. Fish definitely has lots of roots in the South, and shrimp is not the least of these. Shrimp is definitely my favorite seafood to eat and to cook, so finding ways to feature it here is always fun for me.

I know that a lot of people don’t care for seafood, and to each his or her own. I don’t care too much for raw onions (as you guys well know), and I don’t want them forced on me for sure. However, I know that a lot of people don’t cook seafood even though they enjoy eating it because they find it intimidating to cook.

Honestly, I’m not sure what’s intimidating about cooking seafood, unless it’s the fact that it can be easy to over cook and that when it sticks, well, it can fall apart. All you need to know to avoid those mishaps is a few simple tricks, and if your fish falls apart, well, who really cares? You can eat it anyway, and it will still taste good.

You don’t have to worry about the shrimp in these shrimp rolls, though. It’s not going to fall apart, and as long as you’re paying attention, you aren’t going to overcook it. I don’t think that shrimp rolls are really a traditional Southern food, but shrimp is definitely traditional and any salad made with meat and mayonnaise is pretty darn Southern.

I’ve always wanted to try a Maine lobster roll, which is funny because I never cared for lobster. Actually, I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten lobster. My parents used to cook lobster at home all the time and I think I was very freaked out by the claws. One of these days, though, I will consume an authentic Maine lobster roll (we plan to visit some friends in Maine one of these days – I promise we will, guys!).

Anyway, the concept of these shrimp rolls is based on a lobster roll – lightly dressed seafood salad piled on a buttered hot dog bun along with some lettuce. In the name of recipe testing, we ate these shrimp rolls twice in a two-week period, and that was a good thing. The shrimp rolls come together with about 20 minutes of active prep and cook time and they’re a great, light, easy weeknight dinner.

These quick and easy shrimp rolls will convince you that seafood is not scary to cook – so if you aren’t convinced, try these out!

Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite.

Mary

Yield: 4 rolls

Quick and Easy Shrimp Rolls

15 minPrep Time:

5 minCook Time:

20 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

1 pound uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon salt
1 small shallot, finely minced
1 celery stalk, finely minced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
salt and pepper, to taste
4 hot dog buns (I like Martin's Potato long rolls)
2 tablespoons butter melted
4 lettuce leaves, washed (I used romaine leaves because that's what I had, but butter lettuce would be more traditional here)

Instructions

Fill a 4-quart pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the salt and the shrimp. Cook for 2 minutes, until the shrimp is cooked through. Drain the shrimp and chop it into 1-inch pieces. Refrigerate until cool.
Combine the shrimp with the shallots, celery, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and Old Bay. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Preheat the broiler and set an oven rack 8 inches from the broiler. Open the hot dog buns and brush the buns with butter. Broil until very lightly browned.
Place a lettuce leaf inside each hot dog bun. Divide the shrimp mixture among the buns. Serve immediately.

Notes

Prep/cook time does not include time to chill the shrimp after cooking. This took about 20 minutes for me.

https://chattavore.com/quick-easy-shrimp-rolls/

If you've ever been intimidated by the idea of cooking seafood, try these quick and easy shrimp rolls - you might just change your mind! | recipe from Chattavore.com

Sesame Chicken Salad with Almonds

August 12, 2016

Sesame chicken salad has a sweet, creamy honey-sesame dressing, crunchy almonds, and sweet Mandarin oranges. It’s a delicious way to do chicken salad!

Last year I went through a Mason Jar salad kick here on Chattavore. One of my favorites was (and still is) the Asian chicken salad. It was a nod to one of my favorite menu items at Applebee’s, the Oriental chicken wrap. They don’t have that on the menu anymore, but they do still have the Oriental chicken salad, which has all the same flavors.

Anyway, that dressing…that dressing is just so good. I started thinking about how delicious it would be to make chicken salad with it. Not eat it with a fork chicken salad with lettuce, but chicken salad you could eat on crackers or bread or in a wrap (lettuce or tortilla). My ideal sesame chicken salad would be sweet and crunchy, with small chunks of chicken. Shredded chicken would be good too, but the first time I made this, I shredded my chicken by pulsing it in the food processor very briefly and it was a little too fine.

I used my dry-brined chicken thighs, because they are basically my go-to for any recipe that needs precooked chicken. The dressing comes together quickly and a then few runs with a sharp knife through some almonds, green onions, and drained Mandarin oranges is all it takes. I used smoked almonds because that’s what I had and I thought they’d work perfectly. I was right.

This sesame chicken salad took me less than ten minutes to make (besides cooking the chicken). I divided it up into Easy Lunchboxes (<–affiliate link) with fruit and crackers and stacked them in the fridge and Philip and I had lunch for several days. It was absolutely delicious and a nice way to start off the school year – no sad lunches here!

This sesame chicken salad with almonds and Mandarin oranges is great for lunch or an easy dinner!

This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click the link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect the cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosures. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Shared on the Meal Plan Monday Link-up on Southern Plate and the Weekend Potluck link-up on The Country Cook.

Mary

Yield: 4-6 servings

Sesame Chicken Salad with Almonds

10 minPrep Time:

10 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

1 pound chicken thighs or breasts, cooked and cubed or shredded (I use this recipe )
1 recipe creamy honey-sesame dressing (see below)
1/2 cup toasted almonds, chopped (I used smoked almonds)
1/2 cup Mandarin oranges, well drained and chopped
2 green onions, thinly sliced

For the Dressing

3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients to the dressing. Toss to combine and coat all ingredients with the dressing. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

Prep/Cook time does not include time to cook the chicken.

https://chattavore.com/sesame-chicken-salad-almonds/

Sesame chicken salad has a sweet, creamy honey-sesame dressing, crunchy almonds, and sweet Mandarin oranges. It's a delicious way to do chicken salad! | recipe from Chattavore.com

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