Fall Cooking: Turkey Harvest Salad
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! We celebrated a little different this year. My sister and I did delivery service to our family. I cooked all day, just like normal and then we bagged everything up. We had to bag it multiple times, because my sister couldn’t keep it straight! ;) It was definitely an experience.
2020 has been full of experiences. I think a lot of the time we focus on negatives. Was this the Thanksgiving that my family wanted? Probably not, but will this be one they will remember? I’m sure it will be! I tried to add some special touches to these delivered meals to make them memorable. I hand wrote thank you cards to each family, created to-go charcuterie boards, and individual desserts. We spent time with each family member that we delivered to. Thankfully, it wasn’t a cold day in Ohio.
My nephew even got to help with the desserts! I think it’s safe to say, he likes sugar.
However, In my opinion, the star of the show was the turkey breast that my husband smoked. He has a signature rub that adds a hint of spice with mix of herbs. He smoked it for a few hours and then wrapped it in foil with butter to finish cooking. He nailed it.
The best part of Thanksgiving, in my book, is the leftovers.
After cooking for 3 days straight and eating a ton of Thanksgiving carbs, I was ready for something easy to make and light. This salad is simple to make. It is low carb. You can mix things up and use what you have on hand. It is the perfect dish for your leftover Thanksgiving turkey. It can also be served with grilled chicken. It is honestly so good that you don’t need meat at all!
Lets get started cooking…
Ingredients:
Greens of your choice
Bacon, cooked and chopped
Pecans
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup Dijon mustard or whole grain
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves chopped fine
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup of olive oil
Blackberries
hard boiled eggs
Goat Cheese
Left over Smoked Turkey Breast OR meat of your choice ( grilled chicken would be great!)
Directions:
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Start by hard boiling your eggs. Place the eggs in a pot and cover them with cold water. Bring the eggs to a full boil, turn off the heat, and cover. Let them sit in the covered in the pot for 10 minutes. Place the eggs in cold water to stop the cooking. Let them cool, peel them, and chop them.
2) Toss the pecans with a tablespoon of olive oil and some kosher salt. Place them on a baking sheet and toast for 7-10 minutes. Remove and coarse chop.
3) Make the dressing. Place the Dijon mustard (or whole grain) in a boil with the balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, minced garlic, and chopped thyme. Stir to combine. Slowly whisk in the olive oil to emulsify.
4) Toss the greens with the dressing. Top the salad with pecans, hard boiled egg, chopped bacon, blackberries, goat cheese and protein of your choice. Enjoy!
This salad is exactly what my body needed after the carb overload on Thanksgiving day. It was easy to make, light and didn’t lack flavor.
