Life is short. Eat your dessert first.

Grilled Chicken and Zucchini Noodle Salad with Meyer Lemon Balsamic Vinaigrette

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and dinner should be a time to sit down and catch up with your family or friends, but what about the forgotten middle meal - lunch? The one that powers you through that painful 2 pm lull. The one that gives you something to look forward to around 10 am. The one that fuels you to get the maximum amount of sh*t done in a day that you possibly can? I present to you a new way to “do lunch.” With some short preparation, you can throw together delicious, guilt-free, could-go-for-$20-at-honeygrow-and/or-wholefoods salads. The base of the salad is raw zucchini noodles instead of romaine because let’s be honest- who isn’t hungry approximately 30 minutes after eating a plate full of lettuce. Decorate this salad any way you like but this is what I had in my fridge and it was freakin delicious. 

“Pro” tip - In the summer (or winter if you’re brave or live on the West coast), grill up a bunch of chicken breasts with olive oil, salt, pepper, and spices. Then put each in small ziplock bag and combine all in a freezer bag. You can take one out the day before you intend to use it or microwave it for a minute or two for immediate use. 

Ingredients

One zucchini, spiralized (or ½ a zucchini depending how hungry you are)

½ small red onion, diced

½ grilled or sauteed chicken breast, cubed, or sliced thinly if you want to take a picture for instagram and make it look fancy

A few artichoke hearts marinated in oil, chopped

A few roasted red pepper from a jar, chopped

1 hot and sweet cherry pepper, diced

Some (or a lot of) crumbles of blue cheese

For Vinaigrette:

Douse some balsamic vinegar and Meyer lemon olive oil all over your salad. If not mixing your vinaigrette before you put it on is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. Wait, you don’t have Meyer lemon olive oil just hanging out in your pantry? Just use regular OO and throw some lemon juice on if you’re feelin fancy. 

What To Do:

Mix everything up and serve on a plate if you’re feeling domestic or just eat from the tupperware if you’re in a rush at work. 

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