The Cook & The Coach Blog

Flank Steak Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette

8/30/2016

Ladies if you need a way to get your husbands to eat a salad, start with this one. I mean what guy doesn't like steak, then you combine that with mushrooms and gorgonzola cheese, it's a win! The asparagus and tomatoes are there as a way to sneak in some more veggies! The dressing is super simple and adds a fun punch of flavor. It's crisp, it's herbacious, it's delicious.

We would love to know if you try this one out! Leave us a comment below. If you love it don't forget to Pin It so you can save it for later!

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients - Makes 3 salads

6 cups of of mixed greens or spinach
1 lb of flank steak, grilled and sliced
1 1/2 cups of dry mushrooms, sauteed
1 1/2 cups of asparagus, grilled and cut into 1" pieces
1 1/2 cups of cherry tomatoes, halved
6 tbsp of gorgonzola cheese

Dressing Ingredients

1 cup fresh parsely
1/4 cup white wine vineager
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1-2 tsp minced garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Season the steak and asparagus with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill until the steak is medium rare- medium and the asparagus is soft but still has a little crunch.
Sautee the mushrooms in a skillet with a little olive oil or butter.
For the dressing, all all the ingredients in a blender and blend on high for 20 seconds or until the everything is well combined.
Put your salad together, 2 cups of greens on the bottom, then layer 1/2 cup of each of your veggies; mushrooms, asparagus, and tomatoes, top with your sliced steak. If you've never cooked flank steak make sure you slice it perpendicular to the grain of the steak.
Top with 2 tbsp of cheese, dressing, and some extra fresh parsley if you still have some.

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Classic Lemon Vinaigrette

8/25/2016

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One thing we really encourage a lot of our clients to work on is to be more veggies, especially greens. One of the easiest ways to get more greens in is to eat more salads. We love our salads, and try to it one 5 days a week. We aren't just talking about a little side salad with dinner. We are talking full on, stuff my face and stomach salad that is loaded with greens and veggies. We see a lot of people that grasp that concept which is awesome, but then they douse all those quality veggies with some low quality salad dressing.

A couple of tips if you do buy store bought dressings;

Avoid "Low Fat" dressings! Low fat usually just means high sugar or as one of my favorite memes out there states, Low Fat = Chemical Shit Storm!
Try to find dressing with fewer ingredients. Most salad dressings should contain a vinegar and an oil and maybe some seasonings. Avoid artificial colors, sweeteners, and flavors.
Avoid veggie oils, canola and soyben are the big ones used in cheap dressings. These easily oxidize and will likely cause inflammation in your body. Not to mention most canola is genetically modified.

Sound like a lot of work to follow those rules? Well the easy solution is to buy some of those base ingredients and keep them on hand so you can make your own dressings. Here is a simple one to get you started.

Ingredients

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp raw honey
Season with salt and pepper

Directions

Combine all ingredients other than the oil in a blender and mix until well combined.
Drizzle the olive oil in slowly over the course of 30 seconds while the blender is running.
Serve over your salad, and store the extra in the fridge. This should be enough dressing to last an entire week at least.

If the idea of eating more veggies and cleaning up your eating sounds like something you would be interested in, we will be hosting a special group on Facebook in a little over a week. The group will revolve around having a salad a day for week. We will provide recipes like the one above and some more tips on how to put together an amazingly healthy salad. If you are interested click on the image below and RSVP.

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Mango Chicken Salad

6/11/2015

I'm a sucker for chicken salad...always have been and always will be!! Needless to say, I've tried a lot of different varieties, but I've never made it or had it with mango before. I've always liked the versions that have grapes in them for that little extra sweetness so when we had a mango leftover on the counter, I figured why not try it out instead. It worked!!! It was delicious and sweet and salty, with a little bite from the red onion. This will definitely get made again.

Not to completely change topics on you, but one thing I hear from people ALOT is how expensive it is to eat healthy. One thing I want to start doing with some of our blog posts is to add a price component and show you guys what it would cost to make some of the dishes that we make. One of the most important things when it comes to shopping on a budget is buying things that are in season. For example mangoes right now are selling for 80-90 cents per mango. Also buying in bulk is important. If you follow us or have been in an accountability group with us, you know that we love Costco. You can get so much great stuff for pretty cheap! Most of this meal came from Costco but you could easily throw it together for roughly the same price buying everything at a regular grocery store.

Here's the breakdown:

Rotissiere Chicken - $4.99
2 Mangos - $1.60
Mayo with Olive Oil - $0.41
1/2 Red Onion - $0.50
1/2 Bunch of Parsley - $0.50
Seasonings - $0.25 maybe

Total Cost: $8.25 or $2.06/serving

That's a better price than anything you will get going through a drive thru and SO much healthier! You could totally eat this on it's own or put it in a Flatout wrap with some spinach and have some veggies on the side you and you have a completely healthy meal for under $4. Also as far as nutrition goes (if you like to watch your macronutrients like I do) each serving will provide you with 381 calories, 19 grams of fat, 19 grams of carbs, 39 grams of protein.

Ingredients

Chicken from a whole rotisserie or boiled chicken, chopped or pulled into bite size pieces
2 Mangos, diced
½ cup diced red onion
½ cup olive oil mayo
¾ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

Directions

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well to combine.

Download Recipe Card for Mango Chicken Salad

"Eat Your Fruits and Veggies," Why That's Bad Advice

6/10/2015

If you are like me and you grew up with the Food Pyramid as your reference to what a healthy diet should look like, then I'm sure you will follow my logic in this post. That pyramid told us to eat a certain number of grains, pastas and cereals. It also mentioned meat and protein, listed dairy as a food group and told you to limit fats. Although if you look closely at the pyramid, fruits and vegetables are separate, but the advice you hear all the time is, "Eat your fruits and veggies." If you follow anyone in the health world, I'm sure you've heard that statement before. If you do a quick google search on the subject you will get results like these:

Experts Recommend 5-9 Servings of Fruits and Vegetables Per Day

19 Easy Ways to Get Your 9 Servings Per Day

Healthy Diet Means 10 Portions of Fruits and Vegetables Per Day, Not Five

Then if you click into some other links from what I would consider well educated institutions like WebMD or Harvard School of Public Health you find that they have articles that lump the two groups together as if they are interchangeable.

So why is this bad advice?

Instead of the saying, "Eat your fruits and veggies" it should actually be "Eat your fruits" and "Eat your veggies." The problem comes when you combine the two. Especially when that advice is what we teach our children. If these two food groups are lumped together - like they almost always are - and you have the option to eat sweet fruit versus slightly bitter greens like kale or arugala, which are you going to choose? Which are your children going to choose?

The difference between eating 9 bananas in a day versus 9 cups of broccoli is pretty significant.

Nutrition Facts for 9 Bananas

Nutrition Facts for 9 Cups of Broccoli

By comparing these two, the intent isn't to say that fruit is bad or even worse than vegetables, they're just different. It is easy to see though that if a person were to consistently eat a lot of fruit that they would be consuming a lot more calories and a lot more sugar. It is a "natural" sugar but it is still sugar that your body will either use as energy or store as fat if it isn't needed.

My advice would be that you aim for a minimum of 5 servings of vegetables per day...and preferably non-starchy varieties. So that means things like broccoli, cauliflower, various greens (kale, spinach, chard, romaine), carrots, sprouts, jicama, celery, onion, garlic and so on. I know things like avocado, tomatoes, peppers, and squash are technically fruit but for the sake of getting nutrient dense, low calorie foods we will call them fair game for your 5 servings per day.

As far as the popular advice out there that says you should eat 9 servings of "fruits and vegetables" per day...that total number is fine in my opinion. If you want to eat more that - even better. I would always strive though to keep your veggie to fruit ratio to be 2:1. So take the 5 servings of non-starchy veggies, add in maybe a sweet potato or regular potato and that gives you 6 servings of veggies. Go ahead and eat three servings of fruit to get that that 9 number! Some advice on fruit selection: if your goal is weight loss try to keep 2 of those 3 fruits lower in sugar content, so things like melons, berries, citrus fruit. Your higher sugar fruits would include things like bananas, apples, grapes, dates, figs, and mangoes. Once again if you don't use that sugar you will store that sugar for energy later in the form of fat.

Continue to eat your fruit and continue to eat your veggies but stop lumping them together as one!

Grilled Romaine and Steak Salad

5/4/2015

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If you are a man's man and the only way you would ever eat salad is if it was grilled and has red meat, this is the salad for you. No man would or should ever be ashamed of eating a salad like this.

The idea for this salad totally belongs to a former coworker of mine, Eric Simpson. He is the executive chef and at the golf club I used to work at and was always coming up with super tasty food. Recently I was back out there with some family and someone ordered his version of this salad and it just looked tasty. I actually never tasted it but just got a look at it so I'm not sure if the flavors are similar but the main ingredients are close, I think.

This salad would totally be an awesome everyday dinner salad throughout the summer. The smokey char from the romaine pairs perfectly with freshness of the avocado and tomato. The blue cheese rounds it and will help it earn it's spot in your weekly meal rotation. Hope you enjoy this salad.

Ingredients

20 oz of sirloin steak, cut into 1" cubes
2 heads of romaine lettuce, cut in half
2 avocados, cut into small pieces
3 medium tomatoes, seeds removed and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup of diced shallot
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chili powder
2 tbsp olive, divided
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

If you are using wood skewers to cook the beef, you will want to soak those in water a couple hours before you plan on cooking.
Same time you soak your skewers, 2-3 hours before cooking, add your cubed beef, 1 tbsp of olive oil, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper. Toss thoroughly to evenly coat all the pieces. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.
In another bowl, add your chopped avocado, tomato, shallot, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Toss lightly so as to not turn your avocado into a mash.
Drizzle the remaining olive oil on the cut side of the romaine heads.
If you are cooking your beef on skewers, time to do that. Make sure to not put too many pieces on each skewer, you want a little space in between pieces so that they cook all around.
Your ready to grill. The beef will take roughly 6-10 minutes depending on how hot your grill is and how often you open it. The romaine will take around 5 minutes to get some nice char marks on it. Depending on the size of your grill, if you need to do it in batches, do the steak first, then romaine.
Assembly is super easy, just flip your romaine so that the flat side is up, top with the avocado/tomato mixture, add steak, then top with some crumbled blue cheese to your liking. You have a restaurant quality salad done at home in less than 30 minutes.

Download the Recipe Card for Grilled Romaine and Steak Salad

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Mango Jicama Salad

7/16/2014

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The hardest part about making this is the chopping and finding fresh ingredients. After that, it is super easy and here is how I did it. I juiced all the citrus in a bowl and added the cider, then I added the jalepeno pepper, onion, and garlic to the citrus juice to "cook" it with the acid so it would take a little bit of the bite away from those ingredients. Then just mix everything together. If you want to make it a little more hearty and make it a main dish, you could add some black beans or maybe some cooked shrimp or chicken.

Ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked red quinoa
1/4 cup uncooked white quinoa, feel free to use all one variety, I had both so that's why I used both.
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 2 limes
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup diced jicama
1-2 jalepenos, diced
2 mangoes, diced
1 small red onion, diced
1 tbsp garlic, diced
1 cup cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

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Avocado Tuna Salad and Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette

6/26/2014

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This salad and salad dressing is a staple in our house. Both are super delicious, full of good fats and so satisfying. We make this salad dressing in batches and just keep it in the fridge to use whenever. I highly recommend you get into making your salad dressings so you can control what goes in it. If you read the ingredient lists on a lot of the store bought salad dressings you are going to find a lot of added sugar and preservatives. You won't need preservatives with this dressing because you are going to want to eat all right away.

With this particular salad, I dressed the greens, topped it with the tuna salad, added some chopped yellow bell peppers, and then finished with a sprinkle of paprika. Feel free to add any of your favorite veggies to it.

Avocado Tuna Salad

Ingredients

1 can of tuna packed in water
1 avocado
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dry tarragon
1 tbsp capers, chopped
1 tsp liquid from caper jar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Scoop out your avocado into a bowl, add a 1/2 tsp of salt and lemon juice. Using the back of a fork mash the avocado until it is a creamy consistency with maybe a few chunks left in it.
Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix together.
Serve on top of a bed of your favorite greens or use to make a tuna melt, or just eat plain it's delicious no matter what you do!

Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup Braggs liquid aminos or low sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions

Add all your ingredients to a blender and blend for 30 seconds until it emulsifies.
Transfer to mason jars or anything you have around and store in the refrigerator.

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Beet and Clementine Salad with Mixed Greens and Quinoa

12/18/2013

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So I don’t get super excited about salads all too often. They are more of a necessary thing that I eat and enjoy and enjoy for lunch. So we decided to make this for dinner which now expectations go up a notch, I mean you are competing with fancy prepared proteins, roasted veggies, pasta and all that other good stuff that we normally indulge in for our dinners. This salad Nailed It! Satisfying, filling, and great flavors!

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients

2 cups pickled beets cut into bite size pieces
3 clementines
2 cups prepared quinoa
6 cups mixed greens
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
1 tbsp. coconut oil
2 tbsp. goat cheese (optional, but not really)

Dressing Ingredients

Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 2 clementines
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 garlic clove
Season with salt and pepper

Directions

Quinoa Directions

1 cup dry quinoa cooked in 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock. I also added some of the lemon rind to the pot while cooking to infuse a little more citrus flavor. Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low for 25 minutes.

Salad Directions

Sautee the beets in 1 tbsp. of coconut oil for 8 minutes, season with salt and pepper.
Peel and cut and half the segments of 1 clementine.
Toast the almonds in a small pan over medium heat on the stovetop. Toss frequently, should take roughly 5 minutes.

Dressing Directions

Combine all ingredients other than olive oil in a blender and blend until garlic clove is no longer.
Slowly stream in the 1/4 cup of olive oil while blender is going to create an emulsion.

Combining Everything

Mix 2 cups of the cooked, warm quinoa into the mixed greens. This will wilt the greens ever so slightly.
Dress the greens and quinoa mixture with an appropriate amount of dressing, we had a little leftover based on the numbers that I mentioned above.
Dish up half the salad mixture on each plate, then top with roasted beets, clementine sections, and toasted almonds. I came up with this recipe on a whim and didn’t have goat cheese to add to it otherwise that would have for sure been on top.

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Flank Steak Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette

Ingredients

Directions

Classic Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients

Directions

Mango Chicken Salad

Ingredients

Directions

"Eat Your Fruits and Veggies," Why That's Bad Advice

Nutrition Facts for 9 Bananas

Nutrition Facts for 9 Cups of Broccoli

Grilled Romaine and Steak Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Mango Jicama Salad

Ingredients

Avocado Tuna Salad and Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette

Avocado Tuna Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients

Directions

Beet and Clementine Salad with Mixed Greens and Quinoa

Ingredients

Directions

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