BORING Salad!

AmyBinthe603

My lunch salad is so boring... Any ideas what I can add to them without adding sodium? I'm fine with adding natural sources of sodium, like from vegetables, but I need to say goodbye to my Kalamata olives and feta cheese!

melaniecheeks

Leaves - baby spinach, watercress, rocket (arugula), little gem.
Protein - chicken, boiled egg, ham, fish, prawns, beans, cheese (cottage, grated cheddar, blue, feta)
Crunchies - bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, grated carrot, fennel.
Fancy stuff - artichokes, capers, olives, seeds.

Pick a few from each of those groups and you'll never be bored.

susanrule16100

Dried Cranberries or Goji berries; awesome in yoghurt too!

SunofaBeach14

Why are you cutting down on sodium from olives and feta cheese?

Are you under specific physician's orders to do so or are you just trying to be "healthier?"

If the latter, read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/health/panel-finds-no-benefit-in-sharply-restricting-sodium.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The low sodium diet seems to be going the way of the low fat diet.

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

Why are you cutting down on sodium from olives and feta cheese?

Are you under specific physician's orders to do so or are you just trying to be "healthier?"

If the latter, read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/health/panel-finds-no-benefit-in-sharply-restricting-sodium.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The low sodium diet seems to be going the way of the low fat diet.

This is true. I have a friend on here who reduced her sodium, and she ended up light-headed and dizzy frequently. Too little is as bad as too much.

But if you have high blood pressure, that is a different matter entirely. Point is, don't restrict unless you know you need to restrict.

cardbucfan

I eat a lot of salad for lunch. I will have the "sweet salad" with lettuce, berries, ham or turkey and goat cheese with just a little balsamic vinegar. There's the "savory one" with lettuce, veggies, feta, leftover meat from dinner the night before. The spinach one with spinach, hard boiled eggs, chicken, craisins or strawberries. The taco one with lettuce, either roast pork or chicken, avocados, black beans, salsa and cheddar cheese.

Agree with the above posters on the salt thing but it's still good to mix things up. Boredom leads me astray,

MeanderingMammal

My lunch salad is so boring... Any ideas what I can add to them without adding sodium? I'm fine with adding natural sources of sodium, like from vegetables, but I need to say goodbye to my Kalamata olives and feta cheese!

So give us a clue, what's in your lunch salad. Huge range of options around, but in the absence of knowing what's boring about it the suggestions are merely random noise.

Notwithstanding that, I make up a basic salad with peppery salad leaves, couple of celery sticks, radish, mushroom, tomato, coleslaw, handful of seeds and then make up the bulk with something from; sliced ham, sliced beef, mackerel, feta and olives, sliced cheese.

I've done Avocado and chicken a few times as well

Sunbrooke

You can make your own low sodium farmers cheese. It has a texture similar to goat cheese, but drier. Just almost boil milk that isn't ultra-pasteurized and add vinegar or lemon juice, wait about 15 mins, and strain. You can add your own herbs and stuff. Lots of recipes and directions will pop up if you google it.

AmyBinthe603

Not trying to go real low sodium, just trying to bring it down a bit. I have been eating too much and have been over the MFP limit. My reason for lowering it is to see if it helps with retaining water (especially once a month...) and also want to see if it makes a difference in my blood pressure for which I take meds for. I know that losing weight, which I'm doing, will help with my blood pressure - but I also wanted to see if I drop it to under 2000mg a day will help too. So I'm trying to cut out the biggest culprits in my diet. And between four little kalamata olives and one ounce of feta, that raises my sodium for the day up 700mg!

AmyBinthe603

My current salad consists of lettuce, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, a protein (usually Tuna or Chicken) and a balsamic vinaigrette. I was just readying about Red Raspberries - Low calories and loaded with vitamins and potassium.. and sun dried tomatoes and dried cranberries! Thank you! I will add those and I will totally try to make that cheese! I've added stuff to my grocery list

LaurenDanielle014

my lunch for today is baby spinach, 1 tblspoon of Feta Cheese (35 cal) and 1 Tblspoon of Maries Yogurt Rasberry Vinagrete Dressing (25 cal) all clean and low sodium! and so good/refreshing. sometimes I add strawberries and blueberries.

JustineMarie21

http://mommyondemand.com/healthy-copycat-applebees-oriental-chicken-salad/

I Only made the dressing in the recipe. I poured it on a greek salad with pieces of baked chicken.

arios952013

This is a good one - something different:

Romaine lettuce leaves (or whatever you like)
Lime Juice
Cilantro
Green Onions,
Mango cubed
Black Beans
Garlic
Avocado
Frozen corn - brought to room temp (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl minus the romaine lettuce. Let sit for 15 minutes or so. Place mixture on Lettuce leaves.

trisH_7183

Measure 1 Tsp of olive oil,2 Tbl rice vinegar,add garlic,Italian seasoning,black pepper for dressing.
To your green salad,try shredded cabbage,carrot,zucchini,broccoli,cauliflower,green onion,hard boiled egg,green or other colored peppers,
Frozen green peas,beans of choice (drained), few nuts like walnuts or almonds.a shake of Parmesan.

I choose by what I have in the fridge.Love to use left over chicken.You can change it up lots
Of different ways. Pat in Ohio

Sunbrooke

You are right. Sodium can add up fast. Most deli meats are 20% of the avg daily allowance. The low sodium starkest tuna is 4% if you want something convenient, or There's cut up hard boiled egg. I cook chicken or turkey breast when it is on sale, slice it up, and freeze it in single serving portions in press and seal. When I'm making my husband a salad for lunch, I can just take one if the little pouches out and stick in in his lunch bag. He says it defrosts in time.

mjsmamma

lettuce+dried cranberries, goat cheese, toasted pine nuts, and balsamic vinagrette
spinach+mandarin oranges, diced red bell pepper, snow peas, slivered almonds, vinagrette of ginger, mango, lime, garlic a little oil
roast vegetable 'salad' roast your favorite veggies, the serve room temp. with a little olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning

KPMP1992

Mix one can tuna (drained) with 1 tbsp low-cal mayo, one celery stick (diced), 1/2 apple (chopped), 1 tbsp dried cranberries...scoop onto a bed of lettuce. Delicious!

youtubeworkouter

I just added allrecipes.com app to my phone today. They give you nutrional information for every recipe. There are so many recipes on that app/site. Try one. Yummy.

33Freya

Berries!!! Berries make everything better.

julietlimanovember

Home made cheese suggestion:
Labne is a hung cheese made from yoghurt. Tip a tub of yoghurt into a muslin cloth (or a clean Chux cloth work well, too) and draw up the corners, like you're hanging plum pudding at Christmas. Suspend over a container in the refrigerator for a couple of days. (I put mine in a cloth, loop the cloth around a chopstick with a rubber band, place the chopstick across the top of a 2 litre plastic jug). The whey drains out over a couple of days - empty the jug every now and then. You are left with a soft, tasty cheese that is spreadable (on crackers/bread/veg sticks) or blob-able in your salad. Ramp up the flavour by mixing in crushed garlic, grated lemon rind, chopped herbs, minced chilli - mix your flavours into the yoghurt before you hang it, or fold through when you are about to eat it. Yum!

Our dinner salad last night (for two): 2 cups peppery rocket leaves, 4 diced roma tomatoes, one small red onion, halved and finely sliced, one red capsicum sliced, one lebanese cucumber diced, one cup cooked freekeh, 300g tofu with tempeh (this is in the dairy cabinet of my supermarket - way tastier than plain tofu. If you haven't tried it, I would recommend tempeh for taste and texture). Tossed this all together with 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil and 2 tablespoons light soy sauce. Should have finely sliced a couple of little red chilis in there too, but forgot to go out to the garden to pick them! It was sort of like Japanese tabbouli, or a crunchy, cold stir fry - definitely Asian-style flavour, which was great for a change.

julietlimanovember

mmm, mjmamma's one beginning spinach, mandarine oranges will be getting a spin at our place

SwampWitch666

I really like sweet salads. Chicken, apple chunks, cranberries, raisins, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds. Augh, so good. I got the idea from Jason's Deli (the Nutty salad) and just started making it on my own.

I don't use a dressing, but I'm sure that cranberry dressing I typically see on the grocery store shelf would be awesome if that's your thing.

allysteven880

I like to mix sauce and some organo in salads. just try this! I hope you love to take your salads.

Fodao

Just out of curiosity: do you toss your dressing in or just pour it on top? I can't stand poured-on dressing...the first 1/3 of the salad is just blanketed with flavorful ooze, and then you end up eating plain greens for the last 1/3.

Pour a bit of dressing in the bottom of a bowl and mix the salad in it w/your hands until every leaf is just lightly coated. You'll probably use a lot less dressing this way as well.

biochef

I have a various salad options. Just check below links for the recipes. Hope you like.

1. Semi Dried Tomato and Rocket Salad
http://www.biochef.com.au/recipes/semi-dried-tomato-and-rocket-salad/

2. Tofu and Egg Salad
http://www.biochef.com.au/recipes/tofu-and-egg-salad/

3. Watercress and Orange Salad
http://www.biochef.com.au/recipes/watercress-and-orange-salad/

EMTFreakGirl

Latest fave is Chicken Salad (made with a couple tablespoons of Greek yogurt instead of mayo, a little bit of diced onion, almond slivers and a couple diced up dried apricots. Served over your choice of greens (I prefer spinach or romaine) it is divine! No dressing needed.

Ckonner

Thank you for all the great salad ideas! Definitely going to be making a shopping list!

Natmarie73

If you really love your feta and olives as I do but want to reduce the salt simply store them in fresh water and change it every two days or so. The water will draw the excess salt from the cheese and olives but they will still taste pretty nice.

Avocado, mango, pine nuts, bocconcini cheese, and hard goats cheese is nice in a salad as well.

Dewymorning

My salad are typically

Some kind of green leaf (spinach/cos/lettuce)
Avocado
Pine nuts
Mixed seeds (sesame/sunflower/pumpkin)
Feta cheese
Cold meat (any kind really)
Some pesto


Other things I have added to my salads include:

Roast vegetables left over from the night before (pumpkin and potato
Boiled egg
Left over pasta
Freshly cooked scrambeled eggs
Diced lamb
Other cheeses
dried cranberries
other fruit

Praying_Mantis

Bump for tastiness.