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When most of us are trying to eat healthy to reach our fitness goals, very few of us wake up and say, “I can’t wait to eat a salad today!” Instead, we often fantasize about all of the unhealthy snacks we’ve deprived ourselves of over the past few days or weeks. Or some of us struggle to stay on track with eating healthy, because this often requires that we spend more money, and cook most of our meals in order to have fresh ingredients. All of this takes time, which we end up telling ourselves, we do not have time, and fail to stay on track by reaching for a bag of greasy potato chips.
If any of these stories sound familiar, don’t worry, you’re not alone. I too often run these excuses through my mind. However, lately I actually do wake up and say, “I can’t wait to eat my salad for lunch today!” Why? After months of trial and error with salads, I actually found a set of ingredients for a salad that satisfy my savory cravings, while still eating healthy. Continue reading below, for my favorite salad at the moment – The Italian Chopped Salad:
Easy Italian Chopped Salad
Ingredients
- 6 cups Fresh Organic Spinach
- 1 large Cucumber (Peeled)
- 1 Green Bell Pepper
- 1 10 oz Jar of Roasted Red Bell Pepper
- 4 Roma Tomatoes
- 1 3 oz Can of Black Olives (sliced) (Drained)
- 12 slices Dried Italian Salami
- 7 slices Honey Ham Deli Meat
- 7 slices Provolone Cheese
- Red Onions (Optional)
Instructions
- Take your spinach, and give it a good rinse to ensure all residue and dirt is removed. Place spinach in a salad bowl, or meal prep containers.
- Rinse and chop the following ingredients to your size liking: Cucumber, Green Bell Pepper, Roasted Red Bell Pepper ( I julienne my peppers), Roma tomatoes (seeds removed). You can also chop your meat and cheese into small squares: Salami, Ham, and Provolone Cheese. Red onions also work in this recipe as an optional ingredient, but I omitted this since I avoid onions for lunch at work 🙂 .
- Take all of your chopped ingredients and sprinkle these over the bed of fresh spinach you previously rinsed and placed in a container. Serve or pack away for no more than two days to avoid ingredients becoming soggy. This salad pairs very well with most salad dressings. I prefer Balsamic Vinaigrette. Enjoy!
Sounds great. Salads with meat are so filling and tasty. Will definitely try this one.
I cannot wait to try this tonight. I love salads and I am always looking for new ideas. All my favorite foods in one bowl. This is definitely a great recipe! A must on my list!!
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! I will definitely be adding the red onions in. 🙂
This looks so amazing and yet so simple. I am going to try this with vegan ham and vegan salami. Wonderful blog post.
I can’t wait to try it ! I’ve been on a healthy eating journey recently and never thought to add deli meats to a salad! I might have skip on the bell peppers but I’m looking forward to it!
I can’t wait to try it ! I’ve been on a healthy eating journey recently and never thought to add deli meats to a salad! I might have skip on the bell peppers but I’m looking forward to it!
This Salad looks amazing! And it has Ingredients I would love. I do enjoy eating Salad, but definitely don’t eat them as often as I should.
I started eating salads last year and since then, I tried a lot new recipes to adds on my meals. This one looks great. I will try to make one this week.
A pizza salad! This is so smart. I’m going to have to try it!
That looks really good!
I loved the used olives in the salad in italy, thanks for reminding me of that quick and easy fix for a great salad 🙂
These type of foods are my favorite, chop and serve – quick and easy.
that looks like a great salad. def one that my family would love. will have to make this weekend.
I love that it uses spinach. Salads always make for a great lunch!
This looks great. I will add it to my lunch rotation. Always love a good salad!
Looks delicious! I love salads so much especially with lots of meats. I will definitely be trying this one for sure. Great post!
Ahh! This is quick and east….I am gonna check out some vegan alternatives and try this. Thanks for sharing 🙂