Chopped salads = easiest weeknight dinners!

My body has been craving salads, which is unusual for late December. I think that it is telling me to get some nutrients after my holiday indulgences, and I agree. I haven't been doing very well with the ketogenic lifestyle lately, and it is time to get back on track.

Whenever I crave salad, I want something interesting and somewhat gourmet, but I don't always have a lot of time to wash and prep my veggies. I am also somewhat picky about salad greens, because I can not tolerate the chunky white parts of lettuce, so I take a lot of time to go through and remove all of them whenever I make a salad. I discovered these new(ish) Dole chopped salad kits, and they are good! They are easy to eat, since everything is chopped into little pieces, and there isn't much of the chunky white parts to pick out.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work tonight, and I got a Sunflower Crunch chopped salad kit, which has cabbage, kale, carrots, sunflower seeds, bacon bits and a sweet onion citrus dressing. It was $3.49. I also got a rotisserie chicken for $6. Rotisserie chicken is the best thing ever for low carbers. I don't have time to roast chickens! Nor do I really care to touch raw chickens. $6 is such a low price to pay for the convenience of getting one ready to eat. And they are always so juicy and delicious. We took our ingredients home, chopped up the chicken, dumped the salad and chicken into a bowl, tossed with dressing, and devoured. You can't get much easier and healthier than that! And, compared to our usual habit of going out to eat all the time, it was very economical at just under $10 for two people. I've made it my New Year's resolution to eat way more of this meal in different variations- I am thinking around three times a week. Besides Sunflower Crunch, these chopped salads also come in the following flavors: Sesame Asian, Bacon & Bleu, BBQ Ranch, Chipotle Cheddar, and Summer Garden Blend. (Dole should be paying me for this free advertising, but they're not!) That will ensure I am getting all kinds of good vitamins and protein, and it will be so fast and easy. That is a resolution that I think I can stick to!

Recipe: Creamy Whipped Cauliflower

I've never really been a fan of cauliflower, but the only way I'd ever had it was cut up on a crudite platter. Cauliflower is really an amazing secret weapon for low carb dieters, however, because of it's versatility in imitating other things, from rice to mashed potatoes. It takes on the flavors of whatever you season it with. Here's our super easy take on mashed "potatoes." This is what changed my mind about cauliflower!

Creamy, dreamy cauliflower

Creamy Whipped Cauliflower

1 medium head of  cauliflower
4 oz (half a tub) of any flavor of sour cream based chip dip (We used AE bacon french onion)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
cracked black pepper to taste
other seasoning to taste (we used this stuff called Fire Sprinkle that is our friend Drew's secret recipe-it's a spicy barbeque flavor. You could use Mrs. Dash or any other seasoning blend you like.)

Remove the leaves and stem from the cauliflower. Break it up into medium sized florets. Put the florets into a soup pot and cover with water. Put a lid on it and bring to a boil. Boil until the florets are fork tender. It can't really boil too long, so just walk away for awhile. When the florets are tender, drain the water and put them into a blender or food processor. Add the chip dip, salt and butter. Blend until smooth. Pour into a serving bowl and top with freshly cracked black pepper and other seasoning to taste. This makes 2 large servings, and would be a great easy side to make when you bring home a rotisserie chicken in a hurry.

A big 'ol pile of smoked meats- chicken drumsticks and some pork ribs.

Here's the directions from the Traeger website for cooking the chicken drumsticks. We bought some that were already seasoned with barbeque flavor.

When ready to cook, start the Traeger grill on Smoke with the lid open until the fire is established (4 to 5 minutes).

Arrange the chicken legs on the grill grate and smoke for 30 minutes. (If you don't have a smoker, do this in the oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes. If you have the option of convection, use it, it works even better this way.) Increase the temperature to 350 degrees and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, or until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the leg (but not touching bone) reaches 165 degrees F.

How do you think cauliflower compares to potatoes? Kent has nicknamed it "fauxtatoes"!