Sardine Salad

This takes 5 minutes to prepare, start to finish.  No kidding.  No heating up the house with the stove or oven, and hardly any dishes to clean.  It's low-carb (even lower if you make your own dressing).  One serving is about 300 calories (if you are judicious with the salad dressing), and most of the ingredients live in your pantry.  The only thing you need to make sure to get fresh is the salad mix. 

But wait a minute...sardines??  I hear you in the Peanut Gallery.  Do you eat canned tuna?  Oh really, well sardines taste pretty much exactly like canned tuna, except not as dry.  And sardines are WAY better for you than canned tuna.  Sardines have more Omega-3 fatty acids than canned tuna, lower levels of mercury than canned tuna, more Vitamin D than canned tuna, and receive an uncomplicated "best choice" sustainability rating from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch versus the tiered rating canned tuna gets.

I highly recommend getting boneless, skinless sardines which are slightly more spensy than bone-in, skin-on but worth the savings in aggravation.  The kids didn't go bonkers for this, but they did eat some sardines.  I left the salad dressing off their plates.  The 1yo ate bites of sardine tucked into pieces of bread, and the 2.75yo ate it dunked in ketchup.  So don't skip this one just because you don't think the fam will like it...you never know until you try! 

No picture this time, since this was dinner after my extravaganza of prep-ahead cookery and I was just pooped.

Sardine Salad
Makes 2 servings

2 4-oz. cans sardines, drained
1 tbsp ginger-sesame dressing (used Newman's Own Lighten Up dressing)
1/2 cup chickpeas
8 cups spring mix greens
1/4 cup ginger-sesame dressing

Drizzle 1 tbsp of salad dressing over sardines in a bowl and mix gently.  Toss remaining dressing with greens, and top with chickpeas and sardines. Pin It