Black Bean Burger Salad with Cheddar &

From time to time, people I know will bring up my blog and say things like, “All of your recipes look great, but I think they’re too complicated for me.” While the word “complicated” when referring to cooking is very subjective, and I feel like most of my recipes are not all that difficult or time consuming, I do understand that some people don’t enjoy preparing a meal or care to be savvy in the kitchen, and simply want to be able to eat something they can feel good about that took 15 minutes or less to make.

Guess what? Healthy eating does not have to be time consuming. Sure, it may take more work than, say, pulling through a drive-thru, but it doesn’t need to be a huge, intricate task to make a nutritious dinner. In fact, a lot of my dinners are thrown together really easily. I have a rotation of meals that are on my go-to list when I’m lacking creativity and feel my belly grumbling with hunger, which is how I feel half the time after I workout in the evening. One meal heavily in rotation in my household these days is this salad….

I thought of making the black bean burger and ranch dressing from scratch when I shared this with you guys, but then I thought, let’s just keep it simple. Since I’ve been using a frozen black bean burger and store-bought dressing, I’m keeping it real and sharing exactly how I’ve been throwing this salad together with you today. If you’re looking for a healthy, delicious dinner that can be ready fast – 10 minutes tops – this is a meal idea for you.

First, you need a black bean burger on hand to cook. The kind that I buy often is Morningstar, and I always have some hanging out in my freezer:

As for the veggies, you’ll need lettuce and carrots – and if you want to go the really simple route, as I usually do, you can just buy a bag of spring greens and shredded carrots (minimal chopping necessary!). Avocado is a nice addition to the salad but is optional.

For the cheese, a high-quality cheddar pairs really well with the black bean burger.

Although for most of my salads, I make a simple olive oil/lemon juice/balsamic dressing, for this salad combo, ranch is divine. I’m not crazy about the egg yolks regularly found in ranch ingredient lists, so sometimes I buy vegan ranch. But if we’re being honest here, I nabbed a regular low-fat dressing last time, and it has just been tasting better to me. So you’ve got vegan, low-fat, fat-free, or full fat regular ranch options to choose from.

Combine all of the ingredients together in a big ole salad bowl, and voila! A healthy, delicious, balanced meal in 10 minutes flat (probably less).

Tell me… What’s one of your go-to meals? What salad combo is your current favorite?