I am curious to hear what everyone's favorite salad is. I want to know what kind of lettuce you use, what extras you put on it, what salad dressing you use (be specific) and if you put any toppings on it (croutons/tortilla strips/nuts, etc). I need to eat more salads but I need some ideas. Thanks!

A lot of my salads don't even use lettuce!

- chop up a fresh tomato, add some basil, mozzerella, and a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar and pinch of salt
- or the tomato, some feta cheese, crack some black peppers and a little lemon vinaigrette! (lemon juice, olive oil). Pinch of salt.
- right now I'm making a lot of cucumber salads... often with tomato...

I've found some flavor combinations I like together (e.g., lemon and feta, lime and cilantro) and work around those...

I love salads with fruit. I use either a spring mix or romaine, depending on what I have. I add whatever fruit I have.....strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, pineapple, a little goat cheese or parmesan, and a sprinkle of chopped pecans for crunch, topped with some poppyseed dressing. A Panera copycat. They add chicken now too, but when it first came out it did not have chicken on it. I prefer no meat on my salads.....unless it is fried chicken. Which is another one of my favorites, romaine, a baked "fried" chicken strip, cheddar cheese, grape tomato, and cucumber topped with Bolthouse Farms yogurt based Ceasar dressing with a bit of parmesan on top.

I usually don't make too many salads because lettuce doesn't sit well with me but I do buy some salads sometimes. Its usually a variation of the cobb salad- I like the Chick-fil-a chicken strip salad, TGI Friday's Cobb Salad (favorite salad I tell them to get rid of the blue cheese crumbs), Panera's classic salad (without the onions), and Wendy's Cobb Salad. I should look into a healthy version for the taco salad because that used to be one of my all time favorite meals.
I use the dressing on the side so I use less of it. I like blue cheese dressing and low fat balsamic vinaigrette.

Toward the beginning of my weight loss I used to make salads with sunflower seed kernels, romaine lettuce, spinach, dried cranberries, grape tomatoes, carrots, and low fat shredded cheese with whatever dressing I had in the refrigerator.

My FAVE:

- Baby Spinach & Spring Mix
- Handful of Grape Tomatoes
- 2-3 Panko Breaded Chicken Tenders (cut up) (100-150 cals)
- 2 TBS Bleu Cheese Dressing (Kraft, 120 cals)
- Splashes of Frank's Red Hot

Buffalo Chicken Salad! Sooooo yummy and filling and SO LO CAL (like 300) for a whole meal! I eat it almost every day.

My standard lunch is a honking big salad:

Big bowl of mesclun mix
A few slices of vidalia onion
1 T EVOO
2 T parm
Fresh ground pepper
sprinkle of chopped ham/chicken/olives (OR not AND)

YUM!

I have 2 favorites depending on what I am craving!
For salty cravings I make a "southwestern" style salad.
Pan roast some corn, black beans, red bell peppers, green bell peppers. Toss with some baby mixed greens. Top with a tbs of lime juice and olive oil. Add a half an avocado and a half a tomato, chopped. Throw in some cilantro if you have it.

If I am craving sweet:
2 cups or so mixed baby greens, a cup sliced strawberries, 2 tbs chopped pecans or walnuts, 2 tbs blue cheese or feta crumbles. Top with a tbs balsamic vinagrette and a tbs olive oil.

I like crunchy lettuce (NOT iceberg, but just about any other type) with some arugula and/or baby spinach. I usually have it with any mixture of the following: chopped cucumber, green or red pepper strips, some chopped celery, bean sprouts, shredded carrot, sugar snap peas or snow peas, mushrooms, Napa cabbage and Cherub tomatoes. I usually use Wishbone Fat Free Italian dressing. Sometimes I'll throw in leftover cilantro or parsley if I have it in the fridge. I usually have my salad with a low fat cheese stick....for some reason I don't like cheese actually in the salad. I've been known to have leftover grilled tilapia or chicken chopped on top of the salad, too.

One of my summertime favs is a variation of my Mom's cucumbers and onions salad. Sliced cucumber, onion, cilantro and tomato in a mixture of apple cider vinegar, sugar, water, olive oil, salt/pepper. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving to blend flavors.

Oh I almost forgot the Chicken Taco Salad I made all last summer!

- Spinach & Spring Mix
- Cubed Chicken Breast cooked in taco seasoning (I like the hot & spicy, personally)
- Black Bean & Corn Salsa
- Chobani Plain Yogurt
- Splash of Picante Sauce

YUMMMMMMmmmmmm, might need to make this soon, it's been a while!

This one. I love it.
http://ohsheglows.com/2011/06/17/wee...ow-kale-salad/

Spring mix or butterhead lettuce
roasted red pepper strips
thinly sliced onion
a couple of olives, sliced
super sweet tomatoes
a light splash of smoked olive oil and an aged balsamic vinegar

My favorites are cut up chicken breast, pork chop, or any other kind of boneless meat.
Then I add lots of baby romaine lettuce or spinach...you can't even taste it the meat works so well with it
Oh and I always cut off the fat on my meat...the obvious fat anyways

Fruit salads are amazing too! Mmm

i like to put together, shredded romaine lettuce, bits of chicken, walnuts, and a good raspberry walnut vinaigrette...yumm!

I love salads! Thursdays are usually my salad for dinner nights because my bf goes out with the guys. I usually have a leftover protein from earlier in the week or I cut up a frozen Barber brand chicken tender I buy from Sam's. Here are some of my favorite ones-

Romaine and/or mixed greens, steak, green pepper, red pepper, roasted corn on the cob, red onion, tomato, 1 ounce of sharp cheddar w/ 1T of full fat Ranch

Romaine and/or mixed greens, chicken, red onion, cucumber, tomato, 1 ounce mozzarella, 1T full fat Blue Cheese

Romaine and/or mixed greens, kalamata olives (usually 4 cut in half), cucumber, red onion, tomato, 1 ounce feta with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Salads are great because you can mix in whatever you want! I've added roasted brussel sprouts and red potates, grilled zucchini and yellow squash, whatever is leftover in the fridge.

Not that I make this all the time because of the last 4 ingredients, but it is my favorite salad, and if you go light on the last 4 ingredients it isn't that bad at all.
Iceberg lettuce, grape tomatoes, black olives, green olives with pimentos, hot banana pepper rings. <--- not so bad.

The 4 next ingredients: cut up bread and butter pickles, Chatham Village brand garden herb croutons (has to be this brand, also their salt/pepper croutons are the bomb), a few slices of crispy fried lean bacon, and Good Seasons Italian dressing prepared.

There have been evenings when we've had this, alone, for dinner. My husband calls it "Bacon salad" because if it is the main meal, he will have probably 6 slices of bacon on his salad. If you take it easy on the croutons and the bacon, and don't over dress it, it isn't that treacherous of a meal. The bread and butter pickles have sugar, of course, but I only put a few in, not the whole jar.

It really is delicious.