Healthy Cobb Salad with a Spicy Honey Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Cobb salads are a combination of some of the most delicious things. Their only downfall is they generally aren't particularly healthy. I was craving a Cobb but wanted it to fit into my normal eating habits without sacrificing flavor. So I decided to give it a little remix of my own.

I wanted to include most of the normal, delicious components. So this salad is all about moderation and healthier alternatives. I kept most of the whole, healthy ingredients, switched out bacon for turkey bacon, and still managed to get some blue cheese in there. I also decided to skip on the blue cheese dressing and replace it with a seriously delicious spicy honey apple cider vinaigrette. Trust me, the dressing makes the salad.

Here's What You'll Need:

-4 cups spring mix
-1 medium tomato, chopped
-2 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
-4 pieces turkey bacon, cooked and chopped
-1/2 avocado, sliced
-4 tbsp blue cheese crumbles
-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (with mother)
-1 tbsp Bushwick Kitchen's Bees Knees Spicy Honey
-1 tbsp water
-1 tbsp olive oil
-salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) Mix together the apple cider vinegar, honey, water, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
2) Split the spring mix between two bowls.
3) Top each bowl with 1/2 of the tomato, egg, bacon, avocado, and blue cheese.
4) Drizzle 1/2 of the dressing over each bowl.
5) Enjoy!

If you aren't a fan of spicy, you can switch out the spicy honey for traditional honey. But if you are a fan, you really need to try this. Spicy honey is SO good! Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Shrimp Cobb Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Shrimp has been one of my favorite foods since I was a little kid. It has a nice flavor, provides protein, and is still light and low calorie.

I knew that I had shrimp at home and was really feeling a nice salad. I started going over the things I had in my fridge and literally couldn't think of anything. Then I thought about the bacon I randomly had leftover from a couple days ago (random because I never buy bacon). Shrimp wrapped bacon? That sounds delicious but not exactly what I was looking for.

I sifted through the limited other ingredients I had lying around, and each one fit perfectly into a summer-inspired lighter cobb salad. Instead of heavy bleu cheese or ranch, I could make a nice citrus vinaigrette and cut out the cheese.

Here's What You'll Need:

For the Salad:
-4 cups of baby spinach
-10 cherry tomatoes cut into thirds
-1/2 avocado, chopped
-1 ear of corn, kernels removed from cob (or 1 small can of corn, drained)
-2 slices of bacon
-2 hardboiled eggs, chopped
-6 oz shrimp
-1/4 tsp of paprika
-salt and pepper to taste

For the Dressing:
-The juice of one lemon
-1 tbsp olive oil
-1 tbsp white wine vinegar
-1/2 clove garlic, minced
-1/8 tsp oregano
-salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) If you haven't already, cook your bacon slices in a pan or microwave until they are crispy, and chop them into small pieces.
2) If you haven't already, hard boil your eggs (you may also buy them already cooked). Chopped up the eggs.
3) Add the paprika, salt, and pepper to your shrimp and cook on a grill or in a pan on the stove. If you are using pre-cooked shrimp, I still suggest adding the seasoning and just heating up the shrimp a bit using either method.
4) You can either add all the ingredients into one large bowl or split ingredients in half and serve separately.
5) Mix together the dressing ingredients, add to the salad(s), and enjoy!

If you are hesitant about the dressing, please try it! It is seriously delicious in the salad. It balances so well with the egg, shrimp, and bacon and gives just that extra bit of added flavor to this meal. Let me know what you think, and feel free to subscribe below!