Salad suggestions (Wow that may be the most boring title ever)
 

Hi y'all,
So despite the boring title I'm looking for help with salads. I'm trying to start eating right. i have fast food twice a day and I want to cut down. i work at a pizza place and there's no microwave. They do have a salad bar but I hate salad. I want to learn how to eat salad without gagging or whining. Any suggestions on how to make salad palpable? I'm thinking like a beginner's easy peasy, no wussy-whining salad. Or something like that. i'm learning to like veggies in their cold and natural state like carrot sticks, cucumbers sometime broccili (yes I know it's spelled wrong). i don't know a whole lot about salad dressings but if they'll help me eat salad I'd love suggestions. just somethng to make salad good eating. Well thanks fer reading through my wanderings and I can't wait to hear from ya'all. send me questions if I made no sense at all.:D

Hmm. My sister in law dumps a cup of Wendy's chili on salad and swears it's really tasty - sort of like taco salad. Chili is low in fat, has a bit of fiber, and is filling. Does that sound like something you could do?

I'm a salad lover, so I don't know if this will help you, but I like my lettuce chopped up into tiny little pieces. I'll put everything in my salad, then chop it up.

I suggest starting with some iceberg (the beginner's lettuce :lol:) and adding some baby spinach leaves. They don't have a whole lot of taste and they add nutrients. Make sure it's baby spinach though - it's a lot tastier and more tender than "grown-up" spinach. Add shredded carrots, diced cukes, pretty much any veggie you like diced up, LF cheese, beans - if you like them, etc. Go really easy on the dressing. The dressing is where the calories are hiding. That, and the cheese and croutons.

One of my favorite dressings is Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette. It really packs a flavor punch. One tablespoon is more than enough for a very large salad. I put my salad in a tupperware container, dice it up, add dressing, put the lid back on, then shake it to coat everything with the dressing.

Another way to make salad tasty is to wrap it up in a tortilla with some LF cheese or chicken and LF ranch dressing. Like a big soft taco. :)

Good luck!

I swear by Paul Newman's Lighten Up Balsamic Vinaigrette. It's yummy and really low calorie.

alt to iceberg?
 

Ick. I'm also trying to acquire a taste for salad. But texture is a big deal for me, maybe more than taste. I HATE the feel of iceberg lettuce. I've never really tried any other kinds. I do know that I've had food with spinach in it that I've liked. If I were to attempt a spinach-based salad, what would you recommend adding?

What about grilling the other veggies on your salad? Tonight's dinner salad consisted of mixed salad greens, topped off with 4 oz grilled chicken, some grilled bell peppers, zucchinis, and red onions, a tablespoon of reduced fat cheddar cheese, some sliced black olives...topped that off with 2 tbsp of sour cream that I mixed with some cumin and chipotle tabasco sauce, as well as a crumbled corn tortilla that I baked in the oven with some cooking spray until crispy and chip-like. It was great, and very different for a salad.

Spinach-based salads are great with lots of things...nuts, dried cranberries, grilled chicken breast, and asparagus are naturals, but it really works as a base for lots of things.

I eat a salad almost everyday and over time I've built a salad that I LOVE eating everyday, although I've never had much of an issue with eating veggies. I use a mix of spinach and spring mix (that might not be something great to start with, as it has a lot of strange things in there that I got used to eating in Europe haha), then I top it with olives (kalamata to be exact), grape tomatoes (sweeter than regular), mushrooms, some feta cheese, and some Maple Grove Farms Fat Free dressing, usually either Cranberry Balsamic or Raspberry Vinaigrette. They make my favorite dressings, mainly because for only 30 cals a serving you get a dressing that doesn't taste fake or weird like most fat free dressings do.

Other suggestions would be grilled chicken or salmon on top, bell peppers, onions, shredded cheese (use sparingly, lots of cals here), nuts, sunflower seeds (w/o the shells), cottage cheese, salsa, or on a spinach salad maybe some fruit like apples, blueberries, raspberries, diced pears... really almost anything your noggin can come up with. You can go from spicy to tangy to sweet, depending on your tastes. It's fun to experiment!

Hey,

I wasn't a big salad eater myself but here are two that I love and that, shock!, my husband will eat too. (this is the man who would eat steak with a side of steak)

1. Rocket leaves (you call it arugula?), baby spinach leaves and watercress with shaved parmesan cheese and balsamic dressing. Add grilled chicken to make it a main meal, I usually do the chicken with a lemony yogurt marinade for this.

2. Cavello nero, lollo rosso and corn salad leaves with small balls of marinated mozerella and sundried tomatoes. You can add hot chicken or beef to this.

Top tip: The secret to non slimey salads (which was why I wasn't too keen before) is to use only a little dressing but toss it loads so everything gets a thin coating.

Good luck with it- you will definitely find one you like.

I use straight white vinegar instead of salad dressing. Most people probably wouldn't like that, but I love vinegar and it saves me a lot of calories. My typical salad consists of bagged lettuce (usually a romaine blend of some kind), white onions, grilled chicken breast strips, shredded cheese, and croutons. It's not really a vegetable-heavy salad, but it's pretty low in calories, and the most important thing is that I like it!

I make salads almost everyday and they can be so much fun!
Some suggestions are:
Caesar salad (or chicken caesar) - buy bagged romaine, add caesar dressing , and a bit of parm and bacon bits ..yummy!

Greek- to your favorite greens you can add chopped cucumber, black olives, feta cheese :) and vinegarette or greek dressing.

The one I have every afternoon ( I am on a plan that is moderate carb, but the starches I can only have for breakfast and lunch) SO, I have a warm chicken pasta salad for lunch. I get excited thinking about eating it! lol
I cook up a bunch of chicken breasts, when they are done I slice em up and put them in those gladware square containers , 3.5 oz per container)along with 3/4 c cooked whole wheat fusilli. Then I refrigerate or freeze em. At lunchtime, I take them out of the fridge, or freezer (and zap it to thaw), add 1-2 cups of chopped veggie (red pepper, green pepper, are really good, as are cuke, mushrooms, etc...then take 2T of a lower cal cream based salad dressing (I use lite ranch) and 1T cider vinegar, and a sprinkle of splenda. It sure hits the spot, large, filling, really healthy..awesome!!

Along the lines of bravissima, I also use a vinegar trick on my salad. I don't like straight vinegar except balsamic, BUT I found adding half the vinegar to the dressing you are using, (So 2 parts dressing to one part vinegar) and then a tsp or 2 of splenda really is great becasue you get more milegae out of the dresing, it's easier to cover the salad with a flavorful "glaze" instead of dousing the whole thing with a thick dressing, you get that sweet/sour flavor going on which is awesome, and vinegar is so good becasue if you have vinegar it lowers the GI of the meal you're eating, so you'll digest it slower.
I used to think I used my dressing sparingly (I guess as opposed to dh) but when I measured it I was horrified and rudely awakened! lol What they give you as a salad at McD's (with the dressing) is about double the cal's as a burger!

Are there any tips as to how to make salads less...bitter? My housemate made a salad that I had part of last night, chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, and red bell pepper, with spinach/spring mix, and a garlic-olive oil-balsamic vinegar dressing. It was just so bitter that I had to force myself with every bite and try not to make faces about it. I don't mind Romaine lettuce, I rather like it, but I hate tomatoes/peppers, don't really like cucumbers, and dislike vinaigrette-type dressings rather vehemently. Makes "healthy" salad-eating difficult.

I'm a seasonal salad eater :sunny:

During winter I will mostly eat cooked veggies (steamed, sauteed, grilled, baked, etc) and only the occasional smallish salad, but as soon as the warm weather rolls around, I usually have at least 1 large salad a day (plus a smaller one or steamed veggies at night).

Here's my basic salad: :hun:

3 cups mixed dark leafy greens (baby spinach, arugula, radicchio, etc)
cherry tomatoes
olive oil
a squeeze of lemon or lime

I often add one or more of the following:
- radishes, peeled and chopped
- kalamata olives
- red onion, sliced very thin
- avocado chunks
- cucumber slices
- steamed peas
- raw, unsalted seeds or nuts
- chunks of apple, orange or blueberries

And if I need more protein:
- organic cheese cubes (small)
- hard-boiled eggs
- grilleed chicken breast

And vary my dressing with one of the following oils or sour elements:
- sesame oil
- flaxseed oil
- squeezed slice of grapefuit
- apple cider vinegar
- balsamic vinegar

Fennel is a very sweet vegetable and it makes a fantastic salad when cut very thin and seasoned with salt and olive oil. You can also add some chopped apple and walnuts and make sort of a Waldorf salad, very yummy! :T

I used to gag everytime I ate raw vegetables, like salads. I started off with baby spinach with the stems twisted off. I ate whatever kinda dressing I liked (really fattening ranch). Then kinda added stuff to it, mandarin oranges, chicken strips, and won ton strips. Then as I got used to it, I lessened the won ton, salad dressing changed to light dressing, etc. I honestly still dont love salads, but iceberg is ousted!! I hate it!! HTH :D

I also add chick peas (garbanzo beans) and red kidney beans to a salad.

I find that grapes and pears in salads is fabulous, no matter what else is in it. Adds a little something that's always missing from lettuce.