Favorite Summer Salads

I am so excited to link up with the stunning Shelley and classy Kate today with their Spiel the Beans series.  Twice a month they host a themed link up and this week it is Favorite Summer Salads.

In case you weren't aware...I eat a lot of salads.  Here are the salads that have stolen my heart and inches away from my waistline!

Number one is an on-the-go salad and comes straight from Chicfila!  The classic, grilled Market Salad is my go to meal at my favorite chicken spot.  This salad is fresh and so good with their juicy grilled chicken, fresh fruit, and crisp lettuce.  My go to dressing is the Avocado Ranch which is low in carbs and sugar!

Number two is also from Chicfila (I promise I am not from Georgia nor am I related to the CFA CEO!  But if I were...) this is the Southwest Chicken Salad and it is ahhhh-mazing!  There is a nice little heat that comes from this salad which separates it from Market Salad.  Plus, to make it all Southwest you have the addition of Mexican Corn, black beans, tortilla strips, and the seasoning that caters to your Tex-Mex-Food-Love!  I also have the avocado dressing with this salad.

McDonald's has something good going with their Bacon Chicken Ranch Salad.  When I had my first one I was in total shock at how delicious the salad was.  I was expecting limp lettuce and a weird color tomato but I got crisp and fresh.  When I order this salad I get the Newman's Own Light Balsamic Vinagrette Dressing with it.  

I am a sucker for a Cobb Salad.  A bed of lettuce and then all the meat (traditionally grilled chicken and bacon; sometimes steak!) and all the vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, now-days avocado, sometimes raw, fresh corn, green bell peppers if you are me) and finally all the additional protein (boiled eggs)...it is seriously a sugar free girl's heaven.  There is no set recipe for the perfect Cobb so you can create it however you wish.  To make it a cobb make sure you put everything in rows on a bed of lettuce.  And yes - it is a Southern thing.

I haven't had any of this amazing deliciousness since I gave up sugar and carbs.  This is one of my most favorite Southern foods - Southern Broccoli Salad.  It's sweet but tangy and goes so good with just about anything.  My most favorite broccoli salad can be found at Sixty-Six Pizzeria in Winston-Salem (shout out to home!).  They also rock the most amazing salad bar!

Another salad I love locally is in Historic Downtown Mocksville at Restaurant 101 - Their Buffalo Chicken Salad (grilled with ranch on the side) is pretty fabulous!  The produce is always super fresh and the chicken is juicy with a good kick to it.

But my most favorite local salad...that can never be eat, ever....goes to Milner Brother's  The Brad.

For a girl who isn't a fan of NC BBQ or fried chicken this dish has stolen my heart and stomach and taste buds and held them all hostage until I go back for more.

I just realized....I eat a lot of salad!  Loved sharing these with you today and I hope you'll be inspired the next time you're grabbing fast food or visiting a local favorite around the area!

xo - 

Amanda

I Think & Stuff & Things Thursday

Thursday you're here, have a seat, please.

I think....

....Whatever the hell this weather pattern is I do not like it.  What happened to 70 degree February days.  Don't look at me that way we have had them all my life, popping up here and there.  I am so angry about this.

....I am so sick of snow.  No, I know I am.

....I dared to go to Walmart right before the other snowpacolypse began.  There wasn't a big deal going on or anything.  What has happened has the South became numb to this horrid weather pattern?

....McDonald's is the most mind numbing, make me hate society place in my hometown.  I spent a lunch break there (only drinking coffee) and felt violated just sitting in there.  A couple - massively obese - were just there to use the free wi-fi.  Laborers were there that needed a good grooming appointment (anyone can get a haircut guys....its called Great Clips).  And one lovely gentleman on his cell phone basically screamed "take the g.d. drug test" ----- and to top everything off they screwed up my husband's Big Mac.  

....Hold on, wait a minute, isn't the Big Mac the freakin' whole purpose of McDonald's?  And you screwed it up?  What?  

....McDonald's was an OK place back in the 80s and 90s when teenagers worked at it.  Now you have adults, obviously strung out on an overdose of stupid (or at least meth) who cannot comprehend the idea of fast food OR how to put a freakin' mystery meat sandwich together.

....I'm over the rant.  I hate MCD.

....I pulled in there two days later and had the freshest fake nuggets ever.  Ugh I give up. 

....Men who leave their wives and then try to spin it like they were forced to should be hired by MCD.  My bestie J will smile at that one.

....Kevin Spacey is a fantastic actor; creepy but fantastic.

.....I will never drink another libation with a buffalo on it.  It trampled me.  (Keep it to yourself Judah)

.....I am very excited to have a paint brush in my hand this weekend.  More excited I'll be with my college bestie but ya know that paintbrush is just an added perk.

.....You should go purchase Joey's book Yeah, Maybe for $1.99 before it jumps back to $7.99

.....I rocked that Pinterest, nearly fail, dessert I made last weekend!  (It was on the IG account)

.....I miss the beach. Maybe its all this winter weather but I really miss it.

.....I feel bad for all those negative people comments about MCD up there.  Ugh always happens.

.....I think I am a Carolina girl....Carolina, Puerto Rico that is.  When it was all nasty out and snowing on Tuesday morning I found that beautiful municipality and thought, yes that is my Carolina.

That's a beautiful shot to leave you with, no?