Healthy Recipe Challenge – Arugula (Rocket Leaves) & Pine Nuts Salad

My fitness challenge took a blow last week when I came down with flu that was bad enough to keep me in bed for a week!

That’s got to be the first time that has happened to me in my life. I suspect it was related to a dust-filled environment I exposed myself to the day before the flu started.

I got into 2 days of Insanity Max 30 before the flu struck. It’s going to be a challenge getting back into the routine this week.

Before the flu, I tried another variation on my salad experiment with 2 ingredients that I had leftover at home.

I discovered I have a tendency to waste the ingredients because I’m cooking for 1 so I’ve devised a strategy.

The strategy involves mixing and matching leftover ingredients until I run out before purchasing more. It’s worked well so far.

I’ve used arugula (rocket leaves) in previous recipes. Arugula is full of vitamins C, K, and A as well as potassium, manganese, iron, and calcium.

100g of arugula comes to roughly 25 calories and contains up to 25% folic acid and 90% recommended intake of vitamin K.

OXO Good Grips Green Salad Spinner

I’ve written some articles about pine nuts previously – Why You Should Add Pine Nuts to Your Diet Now and The Secrets Behind Pine Nut Oil for Better Health.

Pine nuts are something you definitely want to include in your diet. They’re so yummy and delicious and make an amazing healthy snack.

Anytime I get the munchies during the day, I just grab a handful of pine nuts and some juice and I’m good to go.

Arugula (Rocket Leaves) & Pine Nut Salad Recipe

For this recipe, I used 1 pack of arugula (rocket leaves) and 2 handfuls of toasted pine nuts.

• I rinsed the arugula several times then ran through a salad spinner twice to get out all the water. This is my favorite salad spinner.
• After drying, I tossed in a bowl with the pine nuts and added the dressing.
• For the dressing, I used olive oil, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar.

The salad worked quite well as a side dish to pan-fried salmon.

Some people add blue cheese or feta cheese to a rocket salad but I like to keep it as green as possible because of my picky taste buds.