Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Try This at Home Tuesday: Chopped Asian Salad

Happy Tuesday!  I'm back with salad idea #2 of the month. Last week's salad will be tough to beat but the Asian Chopped Salad I made to bring for lunches this week will give it a run for its money.

The star of this week's salad is the combination of toppings which have different textures and flavors and a whole lot of crunch. Toppings include:

- shredded rotisserie chicken
- edamame
- sliced radishes
- snow peas
- green onions
- celery
- cilantro
- red and green peppers

The base of the salad is a mixture of shredded carrots and red and green cabbage. I tried to buy pre-shredded cabbage but the bagged stuff looked so unappetizing so I opted to chop my own, which obviously added to the time spent chopping and slicing and dicing but I think it was worth the effort as I'll enjoy the salads way more.

Soooo much chopping!
For the dressing, I made this asian citrus dressing that I found on Iowa Girl Eats. Here are the ingredients:

- 2 1/2 T. rice wine vinegar
- 2 T. orange juice
- 1 T. lime juice
- 1 T. tamari (or soy sauce if you can have gluten)
- 2 t. honey
- 1 t. freshly grated ginger
- 1/2 t. sesame oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced

I had all but one ingredient on hand (lime juice) so it was easy/inexpensive to throw this dressing together. I ended up doubling the recipe as I'll need enough for 5 salads and the recipe only yields about 2 servings.

One big salad ready to go for the week!
This week I was curious about the cost per portion so I kept my receipt and added up all the ingredients. I definitely have more than 5 servings worth of cabbage, so I will need to figure out another use for that, but if I assume I will get 5 meals out of all the ingredients I bought, it totals to $29.39 or $5.88/salad, which is pretty inexpensive for a healthy, filling salad made with fresh ingredients. And chances are I will probably get 6+ servings out of it since I have so many toppings and cabbage.

This was a pretty labor-intensive salad as it requires a lot of chopping but luckily that's something I enjoy and find soothing, and it gave me an opportunity to get caught up on some podcasts in my queue. Plus I'd rather put in a couple of solid hours in the kitchen on the weekend versus doing meal prep during the week.

How do you handle meal prep? Do you tend to consolidate your meal prep into a block of time over the week or do you do meal prep every evening?

15 comments:

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

This looks tasty :) I am so not a salad person (and all the veggies bother my stomach) but this one definitely looks good. I also spent a lot of time on Sunday meal prepping for lunches. I cut up a bunch of colored carrots (purple!) I got at Trader Joes and i've been using those as snacks this week. Then I made up some of the protein plus pasta with asparagus, mushroom and roasted butternut squash. That's what I'm taking for this week.

I always get my lunches prepped on Sunday but a lot of times it's a little more of a lazy meal than this week ha ha

Jeanie said...

This looks good. I especially appreciate your salad dressing recipes -- this one looks especially good!

Marlys said...

Oh, I would love that salad! I will make a copy and definitely try it. I wish we had a grocery store in out little hamlet, so will have to wait until I go grocery shopping again! The dressing recipe sounds so bright & fresh!

Nora said...

I have my lunches portioned out on Sunday afternoon for easy grab and go during the week; they are pretty simple and consist of a protein (chicken or turkey breast), low-fat string cheese, wheat thins, cottage cheese, and yogurt. I know it's a lot of dairy but it's how I keep my protein up during the day! I usually make one crockpot dinner on Sunday afternoon that we eat on Sunday and then D has leftovers for a few days during the week for his lunch!

Amber said...

I love crunchy salads so I will have to give this one a try! I am 100% a meal prep person, and also find chopping and dicing to be a soothing and relaxing activity :) I've really become converted to meal prep over the last year or so. I don't like having to actually cook or prepare food more than once a week on a weeknight. Now what I need to get better at doing is actually packing all my food and snacks etc. the night before!

Charbelle said...

YUM!!!! That salad sounds fabulous!!!

San said...

That sounds delicious. Have to keep that in mind!

I usually meal prep every evening. It doesn't take much time and I don't like to have everything sit in the fridge the whole week.

Linda said...

I'm going to have to remember this next time I host my good friend who loves vegetables and salads!

I usually do meal planning during the weekend and shop for it. I don't really cook for the entire week in one day unless the recipe I'm cooking makes a lot of leftovers. I used to have a friend who worked both a day and night job and she fed her family home cooked meals too. She did it by cooking ALL the things on Sunday.

Abby said...

Another recipe of yours I have got to try! Sounds delicious! I love asian salad.

Too funny that you calculated out the price per meal on this, as Ryan and I totally do the same thing. We made 2 pretty "gourmet" meals last week on nights we were originally thinking we would go out to eat. Even cooking with more expensive ingredients (fresh seafood, portobello mushrooms, etc) -- the "price per meal" was insanely cheap in comparison to what you'd pay at a restaurant!

I usually do my meal prep Sunday. But if I don't because we have plans - I'll make a big portion of something Monday or Tuesday night. This week I roasted a chicken Sunday, and then tonight I made a big thai dish - we Ryan and I will have lunches and even some dinners to get through the rest of the week!


Anonymous said...

I want to be the type of person who consolidates meal prep, but I'm not. Sigh! This looks delicious and filling.

Stephany said...

I love the salads you are making! I wish I was a salad person because yours seem so yummy, but alas, I just do not have patience in the kitchen and don't find meal prep to be soothing. SIGH. We all have our strengths, right? Haha.

Jenny said...

These recipes are great and make me realise that I should stop buying salad dressings since I mostly have all these ingredients to hand anyway!

I make a weekly meal plan and shopping list taking stock of what we already have in the house that needs to get used. I prep as I go since I also find meal prep to be relaxing but I will sometimes make extra to save time or cut down on waste and I account for this in my meal plan, so if I'm making rice I make extra for egg fried rice the next day or if I'm making side salad I'll make enough for 2 or 3 days.

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

Ooooh, lovin' the sounds of this salad!

Usually we'll prep the meals each night after work :-)

Erin said...

This sounds great and I can't wait to try it! I am trying to work on making food on Sundays to help my week run more smoothly. I love cooking/prepping. I don't like cleaning up the kitchen, though! I should share that YOU are always my inspiration for cleaning up the kitchen!! One time you told me you can never leave a kitchen dirty---like you can't go on with the day or go to bed at night if the kitchen is a mess. For some reason that stuck with me and the joke around our house became, "If Lisa saw this kitchen, she would be appalled!" Jason knows when I make that statement it's time for him to get his butt in the kitchen and help me tidy up :). I've always meant to tell you this but it always slips my mind. I'm glad I finally remembered as I'm reading/commenting at 1am Friday morn!

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

Spending multiple hours at one time in the kitchen gives me a panic attack. So in theory I'd love to prep ahead of time but I generally do something during the week. I will maybe make two salads or meals at a time but generally taking like 20 minutes at a time.