Spring Reset to Health: Grilled Spiced Grapefruit Ricotta Dessert and Chinese Chicken Salad with Mandarins

So, it’s that time of year….y’all know what I mean. The holidays have been over for almost 3 months, but those skinny jeans are still hanging in your closet, feeling decidedly UN-skinny. You’ve been slacking on your workout and damn, it’s almost tank top weather. Time for a ~~detox~~ Healthy Spring Reset.

No need to do the Master Cleanse for 17 days– yup, did that. (Never again!!) It’s just a matter of swapping out some fries for a scrumptious salad– and passing on the chocolate cake and going with grilled what? Grilled grapefruit, lovelies. It’s a thing. And it’s GETINMYMOUTHRAWTNOW kinda good. Like, I am kind of obsessed with it right now. This is my first time trying Wonderful Sweet Scarletts Grapefruit and I’m hooked– so sweet, so juicy! These are a new brand of Texas Red Grapefruits, launched nationwide in November. I remember being a little girl and my Mom would sprinkle sugar on grapefruits to get me to eat it—- you don’t even need sugar, they are so sweet! The Texas climate has warm days and cool nights, so they are getting some of the sweetest, premium grapefruits around.

And the lavender honey sounds fancy, but it’s super easy. Just grab a lavender plant from the grocery store or a local florist, pop a few buds of lavender in some honey and let it soak for an hour or so. Didn’t know you could be so fancy, did ya??

OK, onto the salad next…

Chinese Chicken Salad with Peanut Ginger dressing and Wonderful Halos

This is one salad I can actually stand. I hate salads, people. For real. I know, I know, I’m like the 1% of chicks who chooses NOT to eat salad. So when I do, it’s got to be really freaking good. This one is really. Freaking. Good. It’s one of those, ‘slurp it off the plate with your tongue’ yum. The Wonderful Halos add the perfect, citrus element to this sweet and savory salad. And they’re only in season until April, so you still have a few weeks left to enjoy these sweet, seedless mandarins.

Another Go-To in my pantry now is Great Grains Granola in both Super Nutty and Blueberry Flax. Pop it on some Greek yogurt with some fresh fruit and call it breakfast. Or a snack. I keep some in a ziplock in my purse for those times when hunger starts gnawing and you really want to pull over and hit a drive thru! They’ve got 26 grams of whole grains per serving and are made with real fruit, nuts and oats. Try this granola– you’ll find in most grocery stores.

And try these recipes– I guarantee those Skinny jeans will be feeling skinny again very soon!

*This is a sponsored post, but all of the opinions are my own.

Spring Reset to Health: Grilled Spiced Grapefruit Ricotta Dessert and Chinese Chicken Salad with Mandarins

Ingredients

For the Grilled Grapefruit

2 Wonderful Sweet Scarletts Grapefruit (peel sliced off with a paring knife) and cut into thick slices
1 Tb olive oil

For the Spice Mix

1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 Tb brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of kosher salt
sprinkle of cayenne

For the Ricotta Yogurt

1 cup Ricotta (full fat)
2/3 cup Greek Yogurt

For the Lavender Honey

1/3 cup local honey
3-4 lavender flowers (soak in honey for one hour and remove)

For the Chicken Salad

1 cup diced chicken
3 cups butter lettuce
1 cup dry coleslaw cabbage mix
2 Tb each of mint, basil and cilantro chopped up
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
Handful of snow peas
5 Wonderful Halos mandarins pulled into individual pieces

For the dressing

2 Tb garlic chopped up
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 Tb Rice vinegar
1 Tb fresh ginger
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 Tb soy sauce or tamari
1/4 cup mandarin juice
1 Tb honey

Instructions

For the Grilled Spiced Grapefruit

Spread the spice mix on the slices of grapefruit and heat up oil in a grill pan.
Put slices of grapefruit down on hot grill pan and grill for 2 minutes on each side. Add some more spice mix to the flipped side.
Mix ricotta and yogurt together.
Top with grilled grapefruit and Drizzle with honey.

For the Chinese Chicken Salad