Food Talk And Fabulous Finds - Favorite Salad Recipe

Hi,
I'm starting a new approach to diet today.
One of my biggest problems is food choices. I tend to eat too much bread and bagels. That makes me tired and then I want to eat sugar. blah !

I would love to make large quanities of salads (vegies or fruits) that keep well and are healthy (natural ingredients) to eat as snacks or meals.

If anyone has anything that you love - please pass on the recipe.

Hmmm...my favorite is dead simple.

1 x 400gm tin baby beets
1 x tin of mixed beans (mine usually has butter beans, kidney, borlotti, cannellini and sometimes chickpeas)
1 x Bag of mixed salad greens
a few generous tablespoons of mung beans

and for a dressing I mix a little worcestshire sauce with sweet chilli sauce or i'll sometimes use a low-fat balsamic Italian dressing Kraft makes.

Liv

I love this one because it's so versatile ... it can be a vegetable accompaniment for almost anything, easy to take with you, easy to make, and good alone as a snack.

Middle Eastern Salad

Ingredients:
2 cup roma tomatoes, finely chopped
2 cup cucumbers, finely chopped
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup baby dill pickles, finely chopped

Instructions:

Toss all ingredients together and chill. Delicious! This one must be in
your refrigerator at all times. Serves 1-4 Calories: 25 (1 cup) Fat: 0 gm 0%
fat

From: Stop the Insanity by Susan Powter

One of my favorite salads is a fruit one that I've started eating in the mornings instead of my usual higher-carb choices...I really like it!

- 1 banana
- 1 pear, peach or other fruit, chopped
- 1/4 C fresh blueberries
- 2 slices pineapple
- 1/2 C pineapple or other fruit juice
- cinnamon & splenda to taste

Mix everything together, pour the fruit juice on top & sprinkle w/flavoring. I was surprised at how filling it is, and it's a delicous way to celebrate all of summer's fresh offerings. You can add any kind of fruit or berries that strike your fancy. Enjoy!

There is another thread on salads that you might want to check out at http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88920.

Here is a salad that I tried recently that I really liked. It is a bit more work to put together; I made the dressing, cooked the chicken, toasted the almonds, and then divided chicken, almonds, and apricots into serving size baggies on a Sunday, so all I had to do was tear lettuce and cut veggies to make each day's salad during the week.

Chicken Salad with Apricots and Yogurt Dressing
6 tbsp slivered almonds
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp minced shallots
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp fresh mint or tarragon
1/2 tsp salt
ground pepper to taste
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cups cooked chicken breast (about 1 lb uncooked), diced
8-10 dried apricots, diced
2 mangos, diced

Place almonds in a skillet over medium heat and toast, stirring frequently, until brown all over. Be careful as they will go from toasted to burnt quickly.

To make dressing:
Whisk together next 7 ingredients (vinegar through yogurt). Whisk in olive oil in a steady stream.

To assemble salad:
Combine almonds, chicken, diced apricots, diced mango in a large bowl. Toss in dressing and season with salt and pepper. Serve over lettuce.

Nutritional Info per Serving: 235 calories, 11g fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 65g carbs, 3g fiber, 18g sugar, 20g protein.

You could substitue an avocado for the 2 mangos (the recipe actually called for an avocado but they weren't looking so good at the store the week I made this so I subbed the 2 mangos and really liked it), but you would have to adjust the nutritional info accordingly.

I served each day's salad over a cup to two cups of lettuce about 3 oz total). I also added a bunch of fresh veggies to it, including cherry tomatoes, cucumber, green peppers, and red cabbage (had some on hand that I needed to get rid of). With my extra veggies, each serving ended up being about 300 calories total.

If you are making individual servings, a single serving of the dressing is about 3 tbsp.

- Barbara