Cutting down on carbs can be made fun and easy! This Healthy Taco Salad Recipe with Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing is made with whole ingredients and is so flavorful. Make it ahead of time and enjoy throughout the week!
Cutting down on carbs is never a fun process. Believe me, I know. Especially if you’re just starting out. But, believe it or not, adding more fiber and protein into your diet doesn’t have to mean you’ll be eating just plain chicken and lettuce for the rest of your life.
I’m all about the thinking that food should be enjoyed. That’s why I always try to modify my favorite recipes and prepare them with whole ingredients so I can enjoy them as part of a clean eating lifestyle.
Salads can be a great healthy option for you, without a doubt. But, let’s be honest, you can easily start packing on unhealthy ingredients (i.e. processed salad dressings) or tons of ingredients that turn a healthy salad into a crazy high fat and calorie bowl.
Luckily, salads can be so much more than what you might be used to.
So, I decided to make an even healthier, but equally delicious version of a Taco Salad with Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing. Because tacos and salads need to be enjoyed — it’s a rule.
And you know what’s the best thing about this mason jar salad? Everything! If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself!
Oh, the possibilities! I like variety so I always seem to pop in something new each time I make my Healthy Taco Salad, but recently I’ve been sticking to this recipe. I find the texture is just right and the different flavors compliment each other nicely. The Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing adds a bit of freshness to it and just makes everything taste even better.
Let’s discuss the deliciousness, all packed into a mason jar:
grape tomatoes taco meat shredded jack cheese mixed baby greens avocado creamy cilantro lime dressingVery simple, and oh-so-delicioso.
IS TACO SALAD GOOD FOR YOU?If you’re trying to eat clean and healthy, going for a taco salad instead of tacos is definitely a good choice. Not that tacos cannot be made healthy (see these chicken tacos, spicy shrimp tacos, and barbacoa tacos for more on this), but a salad is a salad, after all.
This Healthy Taco Salad with Creamy Cilantro Dressing is a balanced combination of healthy fats and proteins, like the lean ground beef and avocado, plus a lot of fresh veggies, making it a great salad that’s good for you and your tastebuds. This healthy taco salad will make sure you stay full for hours, making it a great lunch or dinner.
First things first, you have to prepare the taco meat. For this recipe we’ll be using lean ground beef so just follow these easy steps:
heat olive oil on medium-high heat in a skillet add diced yellow onions, minced garlic, lean ground beef and seasonings cook until the onion is tender and the meat well-browned, stirring frequently. once cooked, remove from the heat and allow the meat to cool.While the meat is cooling, prepare your Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing by mixing all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Then, you’re ready to assemble your Healthy Taco Salad! I love adding this salad to a mason jar so it stores well int he fridge all week, but it can also be made in a bowl and tossed.
This Healthy Taco Salad is a great addition to your meal prep as it can be made ahead of time. Woot! The only thing you need to pay attention to is that you store it properly in the fridge. I use a 1 quart mason jar to make sure the salad stores well in the fridge.
You place the salad dressing on the bottom of the jar and the greens at the top of the jar, which makes it so your greens stay fresh (read: not soggy or wilted at all) all the way up until you eat them. Stacking all the ingredients in a certain order (dressing, hard vegetables, proteins, softer vegetables, cheeses, greens) make it so you can preserve the freshness of each of the ingredients until it’s time to pour it all out into a bowl and enjoy.
And, yes, you totally pour it out into a large bowl or plate to enjoy when you’re ready to get all the goods all mixed up and coated with the dressing – it WOULD be silly to eat out of the jar, I agree!
Later, you can just grab the mason jar with the salad from the fridge and there you go, lunch is served! It doesn’t get easier than that.
HOW LONG DOES A TACO SALAD LAST?This had always been one of my favorite questions. Why? Because I love the answer! If stacked properly, a taco salad can last up to 5 days in the fridge. Yes, 5 days! Amazing, right?
If you’re making your taco salad ahead, make sure you stack the salad correctly. Start with the dressing on the bottom, followed by harder veggies, protein and then softer veggies, cheese and topped off with greens. Seal it tightly and it’s ready to go into the fridge.
Cutting down on carbs can be made fun and easy! This Healthy Taco Salad Recipe with Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing is made with whole ingredients and is so flavorful. Make it ahead of time and enjoy throughout the week!
To prepare the taco meat, heat some olive oil over medium high heat in a skillet and then add diced yellow onion, minced garlic, lean ground beef, sea salt, ground black pepper, and ground cumin and stir to combine.
Cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is well-browned and the onion is tender, about 6-8 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the heat and allow to cool. To make the creamy cilantro lime dressing, combine plain Greek yogurt, unsweetened almond milk, freshly squeezed lime juice, chopped cilantro, minced garlic, and sea salt in a small mixing bowl and stir to combine. To assemble the mason jar salad, pour the creamy cilantro lime dressing into the bottom of a 1 quart mason jar, followed the whole grape tomatoes, the cooled taco meat, shredded jack cheese, and mixed baby greens. When you’re ready to serve, top just shake the contents of the mason jar out onto a bowl and then top with fresh avocado.The post Healthy Taco Salad Recipe appeared first on A Sweet Pea Chef.
I’d take these strawberry muffins over strawberry shortcake any day! They’re fluffy and full of fresh strawberry flavor, with a delightfully sweet crunch on top.
I like these muffins more than the average muffin, since they’re made with 100 percent whole grains, including whole wheat flour and old fashioned oats. They’re also sweetened with maple syrup, which offers some extra flavor that complements the strawberries and oats.
Greek yogurt rounds them out with a light sour cream-like tang. What more could you want in a muffin?!
I teamed up with Quaker to create this recipe. After a bunch of recipe testing, I’m pleased to report that you can add up to 1/3 cup old fashioned oats to any of my muffin recipes.
The post Strawberry Oat Muffins appeared first on Cookie and Kate.
Are you ready for our frosé recipe? If you haven’t tried it (and please tell us you have!), frosé is frozen rosé wine. Basically, it’s a mashup between a frozen cocktail and that quintessential summer wine. Now, most frosé recipes are sickly sweet. And some people complain that freezing rosé removes the character of the wine. So Alex and I set about to create a frosé recipe that was not too sweet AND tastes like rosé. We think we were successful, and so do our friends who very willingly volunteered as our taste testers! Wondering how to make frosé? Keep reading!
Frosé is very simple to make: the hardest part is thinking ahead. If you can, whip up the frosé recipe the night before, then blend and serve the day of. Despite the name, it’s not just rosé that’s frozen: simply freezing rosé makes it bitter and flat-tasting. A frosé recipe includes sugar to offset the bitterness (usually made as a simple syrup), and strawberries to add some color and additional flavor.
To put the A Couple Cooks spin on frosé, we wanted a healthier frosé recipe that was pretty simple to make. We also wanted to keep the character of rosé intact. Many frosé recipes can be sickly sweet, so we decided to make a frosé with no refined sugar. Here we’ve used honey to make a naturally sweet frosé (you can also use maple syrup for vegan). There’s only 1 tablespoon for 6 drinks, which keeps the frosé recipe just sweet enough.
The kicker in this frosé recipe is that we found a trick: we add a splash of room temperature rosé when serving! This makes it just sweet enough (since freezing rosé dulls the sweetness). It also brings in a nice slushy texture.
Have you tried a frosé recipe? Are you into this all natural version of frosé? Let us know in the comments below!
Here are a few other naturally sweet drink recipes:
Naturally Sweet Whiskey Sour Naturally Sweet Margaritas Lemon Mint Slush This recipe is…This All Natural Frosé recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, naturally sweet, and refined sugar free.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 1)
Prep Time: 6 hours 30 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 30 minutes
Yield: 6
Category: Drinks
Method: Blended
Cuisine: American
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeWondering how to make frosé (frozen rosé)? This all natural frosé recipe is simple, refined sugar free, and tastes just like rosé!
Open the rosé and pour 2/3 cup into a glass measuring cup; set aside for when serving.
Remove the tops of the strawberries and cut them in half.
In a blender, blend the remaining rosé, strawberries, and honey until smooth and fully combined. Then pour the mixture through a strainer and into a covered baking dish.
Transfer the baking dish to the freezer and freeze at least 6 hours, or overnight. (The alcohol in the mixture will keep it a slushy texture instead of freezing solid.) Blend the mixture again until it comes to a fluffy texture.
To serve, place the blended mixture into a glass. Then pour a splash of rosé into each glass (this step is important: it gives the final texture and brings in the character of the rosé). If desired, garnish with strawberries and serve.
Keywords: Frosé, Frozen Rosé, How to Make Frosé, Drinks, Cocktails, Summer Drink, Summer Cocktail, Rosé Wine, Wine, Wine Cocktail
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A Couple Cooks - Recipes for Healthy & Whole Living
Sometimes your food just needs to be extra.
Like, you don’t just want it to taste good. You also want it to look beautiful.
Those two needs are happily met in this SUPER creamy Dragon Fruit Smoothie Bowl that’s ready in 5 minutes with just 5 wholesome ingredients.
Frozen banana creates the creamy, sweet base. Frozen raspberries (or other berry of choice) add a bit of fruit flavor and antioxidants, while frozen dragon fruit creates that gorgeous hot-pink hue.
Creamy Dragon Fruit Smoothie Bowl from Minimalist Baker →
