A Thanksgiving-inspired Leftovers Salad with dark greens for a meal that’s rich in fiber, antioxidants, and a creative use for cranberry sauce.

Whether you enjoy leftovers or not, this simple salad is a great solution to being more resourceful with lovingly prepared dishes from the holiday season. Today, try this

If you’re like me, then wasting food doesn’t sit right and I’m always trying creative ways to use food or compost, especially when it’s from the Thanksgiving table. However, after a few days later, you may be tired of eating the same turkey-and-cranberry-sauce combo. I completely get it. That’s why today’s Thanksgiving Leftovers Salad can be your new go-to combination for using leftovers no matter what time of year.

I was hesitant to call today’s recipe a “recipe” because it’s so simple and incredibly versatile. To build the base of your salad, you’ll want any dark greens such as leftover sautéed kale, fresh arugula or spinach. I used fresh arugula, but all of these dark greens will pack a nutrient-dense punch and encourage your body to get back in sync, just in case you got off your routine. Once you have dark greens as the base, you’ll add in any other leftovers you have on-hand — cooked corn, sautéed green beans, fresh apples, diced vegetarian nut loaf, roasted squash, etc.

The beauty is in the variety, so don’t be shy about piling on the leftovers with any fresh fruit or vegetables you have, too. Lastly, to top it all off, I made a simple homemade dressing with my Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce—you can use any cranberry sauce here, but ideally, one that uses whole-food ingredients and not from a can—and olive oil, apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper. The best thing about this recipe is getting in those greens!

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Endive is cool — we’ll show you how to make a crowd-pleasing endive and apple salad with it.

If you haven’t used endive before, say hello to this delicate leafy bundle in the chicory family. It’s the star of this simple salad and it’s a nice change from routine — if you’re like me, you don’t buy endive on every grocery run! Endive is typically more expensive than most lettuce at the grocery store, but it’s worth it for the right recipe. Here, its delicate, crisp leaves offer a nice little crunch alongside sweet apple slices for a light, refreshing salad. This endive and apple salad is a simple, light, and is beautiful enough to make for your friends the next time you have them over.

Endive delivers a nutritious punch too. It’s full of fiber, and it’s rich vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin E, folate, beta-carotene, riboflavin, iron, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. Add that to apples, which are incredibly digestive-friendly and packed with their own gang of vitamins and minerals like vitamin C, B vitamins, calcium, potassium and phosphorous and you have a winning combo.

In this recipe, you’ll see that I use a very simple lemon and olive oil dressing on the salad. I’ve found that it’s all you need — the endive and apple really shine that way. If you’re looking for another variation, try the Zesty Lemon Shallot Dressing!

If you try this endive and apple salad, I want to hear about it! Leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag a picture #nutritionstripped to show how you live and try these recipes on Instagram. I’d love to see what you come up with and how you enjoy this simple salad.

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Thought quinoa was so last year? Quinoa gets a salad makeover rich in plant-based protein, fiber, and antioxidant-rich toppers.

You know how we’re always saying “sneak in those greens”, incorporating dark leafy greens with a grain-based salad is great to add more fiber and phytonutrients from greens. Along with greens and quinoa, there’s a full flavor profile here with sweet golden raisins, crunchy almonds, tangy sun-dried tomatoes, and bright dressing with olive oil and lemon to bring it all together. The result is proof that simple flavors can come together to make a dish that tastes really complex, is easy to make, and leaves you satiated.

Quinoa, when paired with fresh greens and nourishing toppers, is a great meal that can be pulled together in a flash. When prepared on batch cooking day, it can easily be added to meals throughout the week. This plant-based protein has a neutral, versatile flavor that combines beautifully with tons of flavor-packed ingredients. As you may remember, I’ve shared different variations of quinoa salad before; the Curry Quinoa Salad, Warm Quinoa Salad, and Apricot Quinoa Salad all prove how amazing — and different — quinoa salad can be!

Are You Trying It?

Let me know when you try out this recipe — I want to see how it turns out! Submit your photo in the comments section below, and/or tag NS on Instagram @nutritionstripped and #nutritionstripped.

xx McKel

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This is not your average vegetable slaw or salad recipe made with heaps of mayo — this is the best cauliflower salad.

I’m from the midwest and we grew up on cauliflower and broccoli salad — my mom would make it pretty close to the traditional recipe using lots of mayo, sugar (I know, it sounds super weird typing it out too), garlic, cheese, dried cranberries or raisins, lots of red onion, and oh yeah, broccoli. I loved it and would eat it by the spoonful. Fast forward to adulthood and my taste preferences have changed coupled with my expertise in nutrition so I’ve come up with a way to enjoy the concept of this salad but I put a spin on it using just cauliflower and a mayo-free dressing.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of mayo, everything from the texture to the flavor is offputting to me and I’ve always come across this in conversation with other foodie friends — mayo seems to be a divisive food, you either love it or it’s totally not your jam. The best way to create a dressing sans mayo is to use a vinegar-based dressing made with olive oil and apple cider vinegar (sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar will do just fine, too).

Why single out cauliflower? A couple reasons why we’re using cauliflower solo in this recipe is because it lasts longer in the fridge when you make this for the week ahead, i.e. more meal prep friendly. Also, like broccoli, cauliflower is in the cruciferous vegetable family and both of these vegetables have incredible health benefits and nutrients you should know about. I have a hunch, the best cauliflower salad will be a crowd pleaser to bring to your next party, spring or summer picnic, and to share with friends.

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What do you get when you mix peanut slaw with crumbled tofu? A delicious protein-packed salad and meal for lunch or dinner!

I created this recipe on a whim when I was in the mood for my routine “pad thai” recipe yet didn’t want anything hot since it’s the middle of summer in Nashville — enter in, slaw.

Cabbage and Peanut Sauce, A Delicious Combo

Cabbage is one antioxidant-rich ingredient we always have stocked in the fridge, mainly because it’s so versatile to use and gives any dish a fresh flavor, crunchy texture, and a boost of the health benefits cruciferous vegetables have. From polyphenols that help reduce inflammation in the body and protect the body against free radical damage to the fiber content for promoting healthy digestion, it’s a win!

Peanut butter is another star in this recipe with it’s slightly sweet, roasted, and nutty flavor, you can make this sauce and use it on anything! I recommend getting organic peanut butter to make this recipe with,

Peanuts are rich in B vitamins, copper, manganese, phosphorus, molybdenum, vitamin E, and of course healthy fats and protein. Peanuts are also on the list of the top food allergens so if peanuts don’t fit your lifestyle you can use cashew butter or sunflower seed butter for that same texture and nutty flavor. To read more about the health benefits of peanuts, check out this guide to make nut butter and tips on how to buy peanuts.

What Is Tofu?

Tofu is an incredibly versatile food and a complete protein that contains all amino acids. Like other soy products such as tempeh or edamame, tofu contains fiber, healthy fats, and is a great source of plant-based protein. One serving of tofu can offer up to 20g of protein depending on the source!

It’s versatile in that it easily soaks up surrounding flavors in dishes, which makes it perfect for this slaw recipe and the peanut sauce. Tofu can be found at most local grocery stores and health food stores — if you have the option for organic, I recommend opting for that when you can, and also sprouted if you can find it.

Like most of the recipes I create for you guys, it’s all about leftovers or making larger amounts of recipes so that you can make healthy meal prep work for you! There’s nothing better than having a nutritious meal ready to go for a quick lunch or dinner that tastes delicious even 3 days after you’ve made it. Just store it in an airtight glass container and enjoy it with fresh garnished like lime, cilantro, and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes for some heat.

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Looking for a light, fresh dish that celebrates the season? Try this Tomato Basil Edamame Salad.

This simple salad combines some of my favorite flavors all in one fell swoop. This is a great salad to make on your batch cooking day for a quick side dish all week long — in 4 servings. You can also enjoy this salad as an entree with additional healthy fats and protein added, or enjoy a larger serving — to 2 servings.

Tomatoes are the star of this recipe, and here’s why: they contain a large amount of the antioxidant, lycopene, that’s been linked to a reduced risk of heart disease and cancer. They’re also packed with vitamin C, potassium, vitamin K, and folate.

Simple Sides

Trying It?

If you make this tomato basil edamame salad, I want to see how it turns out! Submit your photo directly on this post in the comments section below, and share on Instagram by tagging @nutritionstripped #nutritionstripped. Happy cooking!

xx McKel

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This Celery Olive Salad is the salad that’ll make you love celery and olives.

As if you need another reason to enjoy celery, one of the crunchiest and most hydrating vegetables. If you didn’t catch on to the sarcasm, I’ll call it out here.

So many of us don’t enjoy celery plain, most people find it a bit of a boring vegetable, sometimes bitter, sometimes slathered in peanut butter with raisins or cream cheese (ants on a log anyone?). But rarely are people celebrating this crunchy vegetable on its own!

Like cucumbers, celery is made up mostly of water and fiber and has a mild flavor and crunchy texture.

The Side Salad You Never Knew You Needed

It’s great to have a handful of side salads that you can whip up anytime you need to boost a meal with more vegetables. From Massaged Kale Salad to Radish Salad, salads are a great way to make vegetables a little more exciting! One of my biggest hacks for making salads more interesting and ones that you’ll actually really enjoy eating is to play up the texture.

Celery has one of the most interesting vegetable textures, it’s extremely crunchy, can be cut, diced, and thinly sliced in so many ways where it feels like you’re eating a different vegetable every time. Celery also has a pretty neutral flavor, one that’s a little sweet and sometimes a little bitter, but always absorbs what flavors you have around it making it a great vegetable to mix with others.

First things first, I’ll be addressing the health benefits of celery (and celery juice for that matter) in great detail coming up in its own article because that deserves some space and nutrition myth busting. In the meantime, do you know much about the health benefits or nutrition behind olives?

What Are The Health Benefits of Olives?

Olives are used in so many cultures and regions of the world and for good reason! Olives taste delicious, they add a salty bite to any meal, and not to mention add some healthy monounsaturated fats.

But wait, did you know that olives are actually a fruit? Yes! Just like avocados are technically a fruit, yet we consider both of these whole foods a healthy fat because they’re generally made up of more healthy fats than carbohydrates — how we typically define fruit.

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The Best Roasted Beet Salad, this is one easy way to enjoy beets and reap the nutrition benefits.

I recently picked up the book Flavor Bible, which has been an amazing read and resource when I’m stumped with recipe development. Beets have always been a tricky vegetable to create recipes around—partly because I’m not a huge fan of their flavor and partly because of the texture.

All that to say, after reading the chapter on which flavors go with beets best, I felt inspired to whip up this super simple salad that obviously tastes great! To start, you’ll wash, peel and roast the beets in olive oil with sea salt and pepper. Roasting beets helps bring out the sweetness compared to when you eat them raw it’s very earthy.

The base of the salad is the best component in my opinion. Endive gives this salad a super crunchy and sturdy bite along with a slightly bitter flavor which bounces off the roasted beets so well. In addition to these two, you’ll make a simple dijon mustard vinaigrette with fresh thyme, garlic, shallots, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. The salad is finished when you top it off with crunchy and tart pomegranate seeds, voila!

In making this salad, there are a couple of tricks to it. If you plan to make it ahead of time to serve later, I recommend storing the beets tossed in the dressing separately, then upon serving adding fresh endive leaves to the mix.

Another way you can make this if you’re planning ahead several days in advance by just roasting the beets is to leave all components of this dish stored in separate containers (i.e. beets, dressing, endive) and then toss them together upon serving.

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Have you ever enjoyed dipping broccoli in ranch dressing? Now you can make it a broccoli salad with ranch dressing.

Broccoli isn’t just that vegetable that your parents tried to get you to eat when you were younger, it’s a “superfood” staple that should be in your kitchen! Broccoli is one of several cruciferous vegetables that are good for our health—it’s rich in fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, beta-carotene, B vitamins, manganese, and potassium.

Similar to kale and other cruciferous vegetables, broccoli contains fiber compounds that bind very well to bile acids in our digestive systems, which ultimately help to lower cholesterol, especially when cooked.

Broccoli, in general, can reduce inflammation while providing support for detoxification (especially from ITC’s), protection against oxidative stress, cardiovascular support, digestive support, and protection from certain cancers. Broccoli has overall health benefits from their antioxidants, sulforaphane, minerals, vitamins, and fiber.

The Ranch Dressing You’ll Want To Put On Everything

Yes, this ranch dressing tastes amazing mixed with a broccoli salad, but you can use this dressing on anything you like. I recommend making a large batch (double the recipe below for a larger batch) and save the rest of the week as a dipping sauce, dressing for a quick greens salad, or however you like to use ranch.

Typically ranch dressing is made with buttermilk, chives, salt, mustard, onion, garlic, dill, and black pepper. We’re keeping the recipe pretty on par with a traditional ranch except calling on cashews to replace the buttermilk. Of course, you can use buttermilk if that fits your lifestyle, but the addition of cashews is a nice texture, a great way to increase minerals and healthy fats.

In this ranch dressing recipe, it’s technically dairy-free, but contains cashews. If you’re allergic to cashews, you can try using a mix of blanched almonds and macadamia nuts for a similar taste and texture, otherwise, cashews are one of the best nuts to use in dairy-free recipes to create a creamy consistency similar to milk, heavy cream, or cheese.

The key ingredients in ranch dressing are the herbs and spices! You can use either dried herbs in this recipe, but I recommend using a mix of both dried and fresh for a more powerful flavor.

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Meet the Simple Green Salad, because we all still need to eat our greens even on Thanksgiving.

This time of year, it can be so easy to skip over the salads in favor for the sweet potato casserole or the mac and cheese but challenge yourself to get a good mix of all of those things you love, including a simple green salad.

Additionally, it’s important to make sure you’re eating enough fiber for the day to keep your blood sugars balanced (with the possible influx of holiday food!), and to give your digestion the fiber and bulk it needs to stay regular, which can be a stressor for so many people who travel for the holidays.

What’s So Nutritious About Greens?

Greens are incredibly nutritious and an easy way to add fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to your diet.

When it comes to making a simple green salad, there’s really no “wrong” way to make them! You can use whatever dark leafy greens you like combined with seasonal fruit and this simple olive oil and vinegar dressing.

Dark leafy greens are excellent sources of vitamin K, A, C, magnesium, manganese, calcium, and phosphorus. In addition to the micronutrients, dark leafy greens are a great source of fiber, low in fat, and low in protein.

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