I just eat salads.

It's been like that for weeks now.

Any ideas how I can spice them up a little without blowing the calorie bank?

I'm into mushrooms and broccoli. Shrimp are amazing and low calorie

What do you put in them now?

My typical salad consists of the spring mix blend of lettuces. I add cucumber, red onion, green onion, cilantro, and a little bit of real bacon bits and Gorgonzola cheese. My dressing is either Ken's Northern Italian Lite or a balsamic vinaigrette. Sometimes I will add some heart of palm. The Gorgonzola gives it a lot of flavor, and a little goes a long way because its so strong.

I don't have much experience with salads.
But I have this funny picture:

LOL. Just kidding.

Okay- but I've heard that cottage cheese and greek yogurt can make the base of a fabulous dressing and then you really have increased the protein intake.

This is a lovely salad- Add some chicken and it would be divine:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/a...-feta-and-dill

Really- you can add all types of fresh herbs to your lettuce selections and totally change the salad experience.

I think I would need to have the perception in my head that I was eating super fancy wonderful salads for me not to feel sad:
http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/greensalads

Ooh- a soft boiled egg. Great protein and nutrition.
YUM.

(This INCREDIBLE looking picture is to make up for my cranky cat picture above.)

Have you checked out the pinterest boards just about salad? There are TONS.
http://pinterest.com/kerrybea/salad/

I got this idea from my friend: adding fruit to salad. Usually just one type of fruit, like strawberries or pear or mango.

You can also play around with different dressings (Trader Joes has awesome ones) or you can even make your own if you're feeling ambitious.

Lunar lol I love the kitty!

Oooooooooh. Great ideas. Thanks. I have an excellent salad bar at work but have clearly been too conservative.

Hands down, the best discovery I have made with my salads is to use cottage cheese in the place of dressing.

I always liked the taste/moisture of the dressing but it seemed to take too much and it was over calories and the taste was off.

Finally I figured out to put about a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and then a teeny dab of dressing on there for flavoring (something like ranch or bleu cheese)

It still has a wonderful creamy taste/texture and with the protein makes it all the more filling.

Also, I will add I don't even like cottage cheese by itself, don't enjoy it at all. BUT adding it to my salads has totally changed how much I enjoy them.

I make awesome salads, see for yourself.



I always have some on hand.

Using a variety of veggies and even fruit does the trick for me. In fact, every time we have a family get together I'm pretty much expected to bring a bowl. Everybody loves it, and I'm guaranteed to have something healthy to eat no matter what else is being served.

Elladorine, that looks wonderful!

I am known for my yummy salads too! I use mixed salad greens from the natural market and add all kinds of things... fruits, nuts, veggies... steamed eggs chopped also make a nice addition... also pickled beets.

One option I started doing quite some time ago... and ALWAYS get asked to bring it to potlucks...is to use slaw... cabbage and broccoli slaw both, along with grated carrots... as the "base" and then still go ahead and add in all the stuff. Yummy.

Salads don't have to be boring and blah!!!

My current favorite for salad is spring mix, or spinach with a handful of sliced black olives, red, yellow or orange bell pepper, tomato, a little cheese (something that packs a punch, like gorgonzola or feta), and a little dressing. Sometimes I make my own ginger/soy/lemon dressing that is really yummy.

My fave right now (and has been for a while) is baby spinach with thinly sliced red onion, strawberries, goat cheese crumbles, maybe a few slivered almonds, w/ balsamic vinaigrette. Sometimes just balsamic if I'm watching my fat that day.

Thanks for all the tips. I'll work through them.

My big thing now is dressing. I love dressing. And the best tip y'all gave me was to put a little on the side and dip the fork in to avoid an overage on the calories.

As long as there's dressing, I'll get some good mileage out of salads yet!

YUM! Had one like that last summer. Except instead of strawberries, orange was the fruitiness in it.

Mixed greens, thin red onion, with just a few crumbles of blue cheese, few walnuts, and a few dried cranberries with a vinaigrette, so good.

And look how good all of us are, we don't talk about croutons evil tasty things!

I use croutons. A quarter cup. 25 calories. No probs.