Spinach Salmon Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing
I’ve worked in plenty of offices in my day, and I always found it fascinating how many of my health-conscious / weight-watching / body-building / vegan / keto / Primal/paleo / Whole30 / whole-foods enthusiast co-workers would dine out or buy their lunches from food trucks every day. Aside from the occasional team-building lunch out or social catch-up-over-lunch with Lili, who sat two rows over, I was always a bring-your-own-food-from-home type of gal. Even with a busy lifestyle, which include early morning workouts, getting kids ready for school and dropping them off, I would still always find the tiniest window of time to pack a healthy-ish lunch for myself.
The key lies in creating everyday habits that make it convenient to live the lifestyle you choose. For me, packing a work lunch most days entails picking up a couple of extra bags of salad greens (yes, I buy packaged greens most of the time because I value the convenience more than I mind the price markup. I feel guilty about the plastic packaging, but…) at the store each week, and making sure I’m stocked with plenty of easy-to-heat-and-tote-foods, such as nuts, seeds, hard-boiled eggs in a bag, frozen cauliflower and broccoli rice, veggie spirals, sliced mushrooms, and ready-washed-and-chopped veggies. I’ll often cook a large portion of chicken, beef, fish or pork on a sheet pan in the oven, on the stove, or in the Instant Pot, portion it, and use it in different dishes throughout the week.
This seven-ingredient spinach salmon salad is one of these easy-to-assemble workday salad lunches. You can make it the morning of and let the salmon cool down for a bit before packing it in a separate container. Or, cook the salmon the night before and pack it in its own container, along with a separate container that holds the salad, one for the dressing, and one container with the avocado half. Pro tip: To keep the cut avocado from browning too much, cut the avocado in half, remove the pit but keep the skin on, squeeze a bit of lemon juice on the cut side, then place the avocado half, cut-side down, in a storage container and cover immediately.
Spinach Salmon Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing
Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 1 serving
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil
- 1 6-ounce salmon filet, pin bones removed
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cups baby spinach, washed and dried
- ¼ cup Brussels sprouts, shaved
- 2 tablespoons cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ avocado
- 1 tablespoon cashews, chopped
- 2 tablespoons Primal Kitchen Cilantro Lime Dressing (or as much as you’d like)
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil.
- Season both sides of the salmon filet with salt and pepper to taste. Be sure to remove any pin bones, and remove skin, if desired.
- Add salmon filet to the hot skillet, skin side down (if you didn’t remove the skin).
- Sear for about 4 minutes—don’t move the salmon in the pan while searing—or until golden brown.
- Turn salmon over and cook for 3 minutes on the other side.
- Remove from pan and turn off the heat. In a large bowl, add spinach, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes and avocado half.
- Top salad with cooked salmon and chopped cashews.
- Drizzle with Primal Kitchen Cilantro Lime Dressing and enjoy!
Nutritional Information (per serving):
Calories: 649
Carbs: 19.5 grams
Net Carbs: 10.9 grams
Fat: 43 grams
Protein: 50.4 grams
Nutritional information calculated using Cronometer.
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