That moment when you and salads become enemies!

NotShena

I usually add buns, hamburger and cheese to make my salads taste better.

lemurcat12

merisaOct3 wrote: »

Our grocery store sells field greens with fresh herbs mixed in - fresh cilantro, fresh dill, fresh basil, fresh oregano. I love the flavors and it's even turned me on to dill. This may help liven up your greens.

Also being gluten-intolerant, I'm pretty used to turning an entree or sandwich into a salad. Don't be afraid to mix hot/prepared foods into a salad. I love fajita salads with skillet-cooked onions/peppers/meat, corn and black bean salsa, and a touch of sour cream. Last week I had a spinach salad with a grilled piece of salmon, quinoa, and tomatoes. It was definitely different than the same old "house salad."

Instead of the same old dressings, try hummus or baba ganouj, salsas, or even pesto or a chilled marinara.

@redpandora56 had some great suggestions, and I echo the comment about pinterest for interesting options.

Great ideas. I also particularly love some dill in a salad.

Kalikel

I don't even like to smell feta cheese.

A good way to mix it up, as salads go, is to remove limits. ANYTHING can be in your salad. If it's food, you can throw it in there an make a meal out of it. So, experiment. See what you like and don't like.

Canned and frozen (thawed) fruits have juices that can double as dressings.

If you're really sick of salads, take a week or two off. There is no law saying you must eat salad.

williams969

Hmm, sick of salads? I've no advice for that, since I LOVE em. But...I love pizza, too. Have a (note, a SINGLE, or two if it fits your goals) slice(s) of pizza sometimes. If you're looking to get your veggies in otherwise, make some hearty veggie laden soups or stews.

I don't have specific recipes, but throwing a bunch of root veggies, some greens, tomatoes, and potatoes into some broth/stock in a crock pot sounds pretty tasty, doesn't it?

Amitysk

I have been on a huge salad kick lately. I usually cook up a batch of chicken over the weekend and then shred. Then daily, I mix different sauces over the chicken like bbq sauce, buffalo sauce etc. Then add other fun toppings and change the dressing up. Today I am having a Chicken BLT salad with Creamy Avocado dressing. So delicious!

cwolfman13

I eat a lot of veggies...I rarely eat salads. When I do eat salads, I do not use "blah" dressing. Also, have a slice of pizza once in awhile...it's good for the soul...and if you're hitting your calorie goals, it doesn't matter one bit.

You don't have to eat salads and suck on celery sticks to lose weight...

Unknown

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mildammm

-brie cheese or blue cheese
-raspberries
-craisins
-crushed walnuts
-pear
-arugula
-balsamic dressing

This is why I love salads.

mojohowitz

Spinach, apple slices, walnuts, bleueueueueueueueueueue (sp?) cheese, red wine vinaigrette.

zeal26

I must say, I rarely eat salad. If you're not enjoying them then why bother? I've lost 30lb without eating salads often. It's not like we're so limited with food options that it's salad or Big Macs.

That said, every so often I have some friends over and we like to share a big bowl of salad. Last week it was lettuce, zuchinni, yellow/red/green bell peppers, tomatoes, onion, boiled eggs and a greek dressing from a packet mix. It was simple and everyone enjoyed it.

JoRocka

TavistockToad wrote: »

if you're sick of salad dont eat it... you just need to be eating in a deficit.

and whats wrong with feta cheese?

this.

I eat salads pretty much exclusively when I go out to eat- I'm way to lazy to eat them daily- and I waste to much food.

so I don't.

I eat meat and veggies all week- and ice cream.

And when we go out somewhere- I order a salad. Don't eat food you don't like.

JeffseekingV

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10014650/spinach-smoothie#latest

The moment you hate salads, you blend them and drink it instead.

stealthq

What's in season and really tasty to you right now - veg or fruit? Build a salad around that. Add whatever sounds good to you - meat, cheese, more veg/fruit.

Usually if I've built a really good salad, I don't need dressing at all. This is also why I tend to avoid lettuce. It's hard to make that anything but dry and tasteless.

Dawmelvan

I make my own dressings and I add cooked vegetables to my uncooked greens. It mixes it up and tastes super yummy. I also find that a "chopped" salad with tons of different veggies mixes it up when I get tired of leaf lettuce/spring mix/romaine, etc.

Dawmelvan

JeffseekingV wrote: »

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10014650/spinach-smoothie#latest

The moment you hate salads, you blend them and drink it instead.

I do this also! Great comment.

aserranzana16

Grain salads! I love them. Use whatever grain you like best, but I tend to do a lot of farro and barley. I love this blog: http://cookieandkate.com/category/food-recipes/salads/

She has a ton of really fun grain salad recipes. And the nice thing is, you can cook up a huge pot of grains on Sunday, then eat them for the rest of the week, just adding in different mix-ins.

hurricanelena

Give yourself a break from salad. I find even foods I love if I've been eating them everyday for a while I start to loathe them. Take a few weeks from salad and look at other ways to vegetables.

I'm not sure where you are in the world, but if you're in the northern hemisphere the fall/winter is greens season. Try adding in greens you would never think of: collards, kale, mustard, radichio, endive that are all in season now and normally only eaten cooked. Lettuces also comes in hundreds of varieties, and are really easy to grown if you want to branch out.

Also brussels sprouts (raw), radishes (they come in a multitude of colors and tastes other than red), peas, winter squashes, herbs, etc. If you have a garden, a lot of plants we grow for the roots (aka carrots), the leaves/plant portion can also be eaten as a salad green. Just watch out for plants in the nightshade family (white potatoes, peppers, tomatoes) as those leaves are poisionous.

dunnodunno

AlyssaSupernova wrote: »

Hello everyone,

If you love salads, please, tell me how. How you're not sick of vegetables. Sick of lettuce, sick of tomatoes, sick of blah dressings.

How do I make myself eat more salads when just the thought of one makes me cringe?

I have been wanting to ditch salads and get myself a greasy slice of pizza but then, I'll be on MFP forever haha. So, salads. How though?

Please tell me what you do to make your salads exciting. And hopefully without feta cheese.


Thank you all for your wisdom!

You can still eat pizza & have it fit in your calories. If you want to still eat your vegetables then get a veggie pizza.

I second buying frozen vegetables & eating that with your meal or by itself. My favorite at the moment is Birdseye Lightly Sauced Asian Medley.

You could make a salad & add a few different kind of greens, chicken, hard boiled egg, cheese, basically whatever toppings you want to add.

The dressings I have been using lately are from Kraft since they list the gram amount per two tablespoons. I've been rotating between their Thousand Island dressing & a Honey Mustard.

arditarose

It took me months to get tired of salad. I just stopped eating it for awhile. Now I'm slowly starting to enjoy them again. I think I just hate washing lettuce more than anything.

MelanieRBrace

Eat your slice of pizza within your calorie goal

lifeskittles

Dont JUST eat salads. Switch it up and eat vegetables with light sour cream and a dip mix packet or something. They have some really good ones and you can alternate dips and vegetables...If you're bored of salads then you need to start adding different things to make it more interesting...try different dressings..I use kraft zesty italian because its hard to get bored of. I'm a total dip/dressing *kitten* and the only way I eat vegetables is with stuff on them...but now I LOVE vegetables.

SciranBG

I personally recommend to use romaine instead of iceberg in all situations involving lettuce. Also don't forget that spices can go in salads too. I usually toss in oregano, basil and a ton of black pepper.

Sinistrous

Lol.. Salads. I don't remember the last time I ate a salad.

MyChocolateDiet

AlyssaSupernova wrote: »

Thank you all for the overwhelming response. But to clarify: I used to eat and enjoy salads but after a while it started to become a routine and salads I typically enjoyed became blah, bland and tasteless. I know that there are people that enjoy salads a lot and I need to know their secret as to how they don't get tired and bored of it.

I hear ya sister...bland things suck...no matter how good they seem to be. Thats why i rid my life of them whenever i can. I still enjoy a good salad though and by "good"I mean interesting or unique or luscious. Like the asparagus salad with a yolky egg on top from CPK...or tomato and cuxumbers salads from the shawarma place, or mozarella tomato and basil, etc and so forth. For the next 30 days i challenge you to everytime you're in a restaurant ask for any salad they might have that does not have lettuce. If they dont haveone ask if they have a hot one. This should broaden your salad horizons. .. and give you the best chance to find salads and veggies and combos that pique your palate. #downwithbland

missiontofitness

AlyssaSupernova wrote: »

Hello everyone,

If you love salads, please, tell me how. How you're not sick of vegetables. Sick of lettuce, sick of tomatoes, sick of blah dressings.

How do I make myself eat more salads when just the thought of one makes me cringe?

I have been wanting to ditch salads and get myself a greasy slice of pizza but then, I'll be on MFP forever haha. So, salads. How though?

Please tell me what you do to make your salads exciting. And hopefully without feta cheese.


Thank you all for your wisdom!

I use full fat dressing, full fat feta/cheeses, and spice them up with new ingredients.

I like to throw some black beans, homemade guac, full fat sour cream, and homemade taco chicken to my salads with some crushed tortilla chips on tops. Tastes like a taco!

nuvimi

AlyssaSupernova wrote: »

If you love salads, please, tell me how. How you're not sick of vegetables. Sick of lettuce, sick of tomatoes, sick of blah dressings.

The first step to not having a blah salad is not having a blah dressing. Are you trying to buy your salads from stores, fast food places, and restaurants, or are you making them (and the dressing)? If you're trying to buy them premade, then it's pretty easy to see why you're sick of them.

akboy58

I'm not naturally a big salad fan, but I've learned to love them on this diet, because you get a big ol' chunk of stomach-filling food for relatively few calories. For me it's all about the dressing. I take a moderate amount, but full flavor/full fat -- no "lite dressing" for me, thanks. I'm lucky to have a chain salad/healthy food place near where I work. They post calorie counts for all their ingredients, so I can accurately log what I'm getting.

NoelFigart1

AlyssaSupernova wrote: »

Thank you all for the overwhelming response. But to clarify: I used to eat and enjoy salads but after a while it started to become a routine and salads I typically enjoyed became blah, bland and tasteless. I know that there are people that enjoy salads a lot and I need to know their secret as to how they don't get tired and bored of it.

Mix it up! I mean, I have my Standard Salad -- Romaine lettuce, a bit of red cabbage, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers, a bit of bacon, a bit of cheese and chicken, with Caesar dressing. (During my dieting days as a teenager, salads were recommended to have 5-7 different kinds of vegetables in it. I guess I never got away from that)

But I do other things. I had this amazing salad recently - chicken on a bed of baby spinach, with dried cranberries, walnuts and apple slices with a raspberry vinaigrette. Delicious.

Keep in mind that if you put it on a bed of leaves, it's a salad. Be creative.

RHachicho

Try adding some protein too. Prawns, Salt beef or chicken can make a salad much more satisfying. Make your own dressings. Simplest way is lemon juice a bit of olive oil and salt and herbs to taste. Try some hard to find herbs like soumak. Or ad pieces of toasted pitta bread. A salad is nearly always healthy but it doesn't always have to be an insubstantial meal. Using baby spinach leaves as a base is also very nice. There are many ways to spice up salads. Especially if you are not relying on them to be super low calorie. One of my favorites is this recipe. Although it relies on getting some ingredients that aren't easy to get in the west.

1 Packet (I forget the measurement but prob about 100g) Of Salt beef
100g of Shanklish (Arab milder crumbly goats cheese)
200g of Cucumber, Diced
200g of Onion, Diced
200g of halfed cherry tomatoes.

Dressing is
Juice of 3 lemons
2 tsb of olive oil
2-4 Crushed fresh garlic cloves to taste.
salt to taste
10g of Soumak An arabic herb that has a citrus like taste.

Prepare the dressing first as the soumak will infuse all the rest of the dressing with its taste. The chob the vegetables and crumble the cheese and the shredded salt beef over the mix. Add the dressing and toss.

For best results scoop it all up with some thin khubz bread if you can get it.

If you use the quantities mentioned above and 2 pieces of khubz bread which is what I do the whole ensemble comes out at around 1000 calories. Obviously if you eat it on your own it's a substantial amount. But you can scale down the quantities/share it with others as you like. And though the calories aren't nothing it's all healthy stuff.

And yeah family is half lebanese. But in a hot country like that we ate a lot of salads. If you can get your hands on the ingredients its a real winner. You maybe thinking urrgh all that goats cheese. But Shanklish though tart doesn't have the musky taste of western goats cheese or at least not as much. If I had to specify it's like a cross between western goats cheese and feta.

The same dressing can also be used on a salad of baby spinach leaves and diced onions.

Tea_Mistress

I barely have salad XD I do however eat a lot of steamed vegetables with my meals salads are boring to me <.<