After a double workout session last week—Bar Method then River Road run—Bec and I foraged at Trader Joe's in Edgewater, NJ. First we beelined to the sample station for a few bites of mini quesadillas. Then we each bought a snack to eat while we shopped, trail mix for me, a peach for Bec.
I don't get to grocery shop with a car very often, so I decided to load up. On my own I would have wandered the aisles, picking a random assortment of snacks. Knowing this, Bec marched me through the store, guiding me to mostly ready-to-eat ingredients that I could easily assemble into healthy dinners for the week. Of the no-cook meals Bec devised for me, my favorite is this iron-rich baby greens and beet salad topped with a filet of smoked salmon.
TJ’s Power to the Greens mix includes organic baby kale, chard, and spinach. The baby greens are more delicate and milder than the regular kind, so they don’t require chopping or stem removal, two things that scare me away from buying big bunches of greens. I questioned Bec when she instructed me to add the Parmigiano-Reggiano, but combined with the lemon and olive oil, it gives this super healthy recipe a whiff of Caesar salad, a favorite comfort food of mine.
Bec would probably roast her own beets and cook a piece of fresh salmon. But she happily ate this—when, for what might be the first time ever, I made her dinner. —Laurel
Baby Kale and Beet Salad with Smoked Salmon
Time: 10 minutes
Serves 2
1 5-ounce package of Trader Joe’s Power to the Greens or other baby greens
1 tablespoon lemon juice (from about half of lemon)
2 teaspoons olive oil
large pinch fine sea salt
2 grinds black pepper
1 8-ounce package of prepared roasted beets or 4 cooked beets, cut into ½-inch pieces
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
¼ cup sliced honey roasted almonds
¼ cup raisins
2 Trader Joe’s Wild Smoked Salmon filets (not the sliced lox-style)
Toss greens with the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, beets, and cheese in a large bowl. Divide the salad between two bowls and top each with a small handful of sliced almonds and raisins. Place 1 salmon filet on each salad.
