Healthy Pesto and Chicken Salad

If you've been a little burned out by all the prepared meals I've been sharing here, you're in for a treat with today's Healthy Pesto and Chicken Salad recipe from Morgan of Morganize with Me.  She's a girl after my own heart with a passion for health, exercise, organizing, and of course, her family (they have three adorable youngsters) and are currently living abroad.  That she lists "Target, pedicures, books you can't put down, and happy tears" as some of her favorite things makes me adore her even more.  I hope you like this healthy pesto and chicken salad.  I told Morgan I've never made pesto before, but this makes me want to give it a go!  And chicken for added protein? Perfect!

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I'm really thrilled to be here today and to share a yummy recipe with you! I'm also so happy that spring time is here. The fact that I am able to start wearing my flip-flops again just makes me giddy. Do you know what also makes me giddy? Being able to just toss a salad on the table for dinner. Especially if it falls into the category of being a "one dish" salad. (Meaning I don't have to make other sides.) This Healthy Pesto and Chicken Salad is the perfect example of a "one dish" salad. It is packed with protein and veggies and topped off with a homemade pesto dressing.

 

This simple salad is a recipe that you can whip up ahead of time and have waiting for you when you roll in at the end of the day. (Just keep the lettuce and pesto dressing separate from the pasta mixture. Then toss and serve together when you are ready for meal time.)  

Healthy Pesto & Chicken Salad

Serves up to eight salad lovers.

Pesto

• 2 cups basil leaves
• 1 cup parsley leaves
• 6 tablespoons chopped walnuts (toasted)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 garlic cloves

Combine all of the pesto ingredients in a food processor; pulse 5-6 times or until finely minced. Set aside.

Pasta

• 4 cups cubed cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast
• 3 cups uncooked bow tie pasta
• 2 cups quartered cherry tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons chopped pitted kalamata olives
• 8-12 curly leaf lettuce leaves

Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain and rinse with cold water.

Combine (cooled) pasta, chicken, tomatoes, and olives in a large bowl. Add pesto to pasta mixture, tossing gently to coat.



Then place 1-2 lettuce leaves on each plate and top each serving with pasta mixture.

Toss this delicious salad on the table and you can say; "Dinner is done!"

Also if you prefer gluten-free just omit the pasta and replace with a gluten-free pasta, such as a quinoa. And if your kids aren't interested in the lettuce - just serve them the pasta portion.

Are you a fan of salad like me? How about flip-flops?

Enjoy your spring!

Morgan is the energetic and motivated, but also realistic girl, behind Morganize with Me. She specializes in Personal Organizing and Personal Training. Her mission is to share tried and true techniques that she hopes will encourage her readers and clients as they focus on their health and homes. She believes in simplifying, prioritizing, and measuring progress one day at a time.

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More Graphs of Calorie Intake vs. BMI

In the last post, a reader commented that the correlation would be more convincing if I graphed calories vs. average BMI rather than the prevalence of obesity.  It was a valid point, so I went searching for average BMI values from NHANES surveys.  I dug up a CDC document that contains data from surveys between 1960 and 2002 (1).  Because these data only cover five survey periods, we only get five data points to analyze, as opposed to the eight used in the last post.  The document contains BMI values for men and women separately, so I averaged the two to approximate average BMI in the general adult population.  It's also worth noting that I use the approximate midpoint of the survey period as the year.

First, a graph of average BMI over time.  It went up:

Now, let's see how well average BMI correlates with calorie intake:

The correlation between calorie intake and obesity prevalence was remarkable, but this correlation is simply incredible.  An R-squared value of 0.98 indicates that daily calorie intake and average BMI are almost perfectly correlated.

We can further deduce that each 100-calorie increase in daily food intake is associated with an 0.62-point increase in average BMI among US adults.  

Calorie Intake and the US Obesity Epidemic

Between 1960 and 2008, the prevalence of obesity in US adults increased from 13 to 34 percent, and the prevalence of extreme obesity increased from 0.9 to 6 percent (NHANES surveys).  This major shift in population fatness is called the "obesity epidemic".

What caused the obesity epidemic?  As I've noted in my writing and talks, the obesity epidemic was paralleled by an increase in daily calorie intake that was sufficiently large to fully account for it.  There are two main sources of data for US calorie intake.  The first is NHANES surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control.  They periodically collect data on food intake using questionnaires, and these surveys confirm that calorie intake has increased.  The problem with the NHANES food intake data is that they're self-reported and therefore subject to major reporting errors.  However, NHANES surveys provide the best quality (objectively measured) data on obesity prevalence since 1960, which we'll be using in this post.

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Can You Get More Toned Skin From a Bottle? (Bliss Fat Girl Six-Pack)

Happy Monday friends!  Hope you all had a great weekend!  With all the working out I've been doing lately, I've noticed that I've been more tired at the end of the day (which is a good thing!) because it means I'm getting to bed at a decent hour instead of staying up way too late.  I even slept from 9:30 p.m. to 10:15 a.m. on Sunday.  I guess my body needed it.  As I write this on Sunday night, I'm thinking of the Monday morning workout with my trainer, which I know is gonna be awesome (and so hard).  I'm loving these workouts and actually look FORWARD to them!

I showed y'all last week that, although my tummy is looking much tighter these days, there's still work to be done.  I was provided a toning gel formulated to help firm and tone your skin, called Fat Girl SixPack by Bliss.  I'm giving it a try and will let you know what I think. The product states that it's not a weight loss or fat loss cream, but is formulated with amino acids, creatine, oat kernel extract, latex-rich manilkara tree extract, menthol, and a special botanical extract to help you get firmer skin (in combination with exercise and a healthy diet).

I have the exercise and healthy diet going on, so let's see if I notice any difference with this gel.  I'm going to follow the directions and put it on my stomach twice a day for 20-30 seconds for 2 weeks and will report back with my "findings".  I have tried it once (you pump the bottle up and massage the gel into your skin with the applicator. It's easy to apply and the cream feels nice and tingly on your skin- perhaps from the menthol.  

With bikini season/shorts and sundress weather right around the corner, now is the time to start working toward that body you want. ;)  Are you ready to start making some changes so you feel healthy, beautiful and happy this summer?  Have you tried Fat Girl SixPack?  If so, I'd love to hear what you think.  You can buy it at most beauty supply stores like Ulta or Sephora.   

Below are some pics I snapped on Sunday night, which shows where I'm starting with my Fat Girl SixPack, and also marks 13 weeks out from my bikini competition.  

Let's kick some butt this week! 

*Thanks to Bliss for sponsoring today's post.

Sample Bikini Contest Prep Meal Plan

I know some of you would appreciate a bikini contest preparation meal plan that includes the nutritional breakdown of the food, so I snagged one from a friend of mine who is a bikini competitor. She is in her early 40s, about 5'3 and this is her second year competing.  She gave me permission to post the meal plan here, so it's all yours!

Have a great WEEKEND!

Uncovering the True Health Costs of Excess Weight

Is excess weight hazardous to health, or can it actually be protective?  This question has provoked intense debate in the academic community, in some cases even leading researchers to angrily denounce the work of others (1).  There is good evidence to suggest that excess body fat increases the risk of specific diseases, including many of our major killers: diabetes, heart attack, stroke, heart failure, cancer, and kidney failure (2).  Yet strangely, the studies relating excess weight to the total risk of dying-- an overall measure of health that's hard to argue with-- are inconsistent.  Why?
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Veggies, Mushrooms/Onions & Brown Rice Meal Prep

We all know it's important to eat our veggies, but how many of us are actually doing it? I know I wasn't until recently.  The surprise is, I really like it!  I look forward to eating my vegetables, especially a variety, and prepping them is really easy.   

I'm eating a good 2-3 cups of veggies per day and typically prep a big bunch (my husband eats them too) so they are ready to eat right away. On Monday evening, I made a colorful variety of steamed veggies, brown rice, and sautéed onion and mushrooms to add to my lean protein meals.  Be warned, this makes a lot of veggies, so you may want to half it. 

Veggies = appx. 17 cups 

• broccoli (2 bunches)
• cauliflower (1 head)
• squash (2)
• zucchini (2)
• carrots (1 cup)

Mushrooms & Onion 

• mushrooms (16 oz pre-cut) 
• onion (1)

Brown Rice = appx. 10 (1/3 cup servings)

• brown rice (1 cup) 

After washing and chopping my veggies, I put them into a large pot with about 2 inches of water.  Put the lid on and let the water come to a boil and steam for a few minutes.  I don't let it boil too long because I don't like mushy veggies and these cook quickly.  Then, I strain the veggies and rinse in cold water to stop them from cooking.  I don't use any salt or seasoning. 

 

 

The mushrooms are pre-sliced, so I just cut up an onion and put it in a skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil and let them sauté, uncovered, until nice and brown.  Just turn every once in a while.  They take a good 10-15 minutes to cook on medium to medium-high heat.  At the end, I poured in about a tablespoon of blackberry balsamic vinegar, but you don't need to.  

For the rice, I don't follow the package directions because I never thought it tasted right, so I found a way of cooking brown rice on the web (I don't recall the site) that recommends rinsing the rice (I use one cup dry rice), then add it to a lot of water (maybe 4 cups) and boil uncovered for about 15-20 minutes- I keep tasting it until it tastes cooked through.  Then drain and rinse again, returning to the pot with the heat off for a few minutes.  I don't use any salt or seasoning. 

I prepped and cooked everything at once.  The picture below is just before I put the lids on the veggies. 

And below is everything all cooked. 

It's really nice to have this prep done so you don't have to think about it for the next few days at least.   It takes a little time on the front end, but then no time later.  :) I haven't made this large a batch before, so I'm not completely sure how long it will be before it's gone (or stays good).  

Here's the food in action the next day at lunch and so you can see how I store them.  I just popped this in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. 

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