I hate it when salads are fattening!

grace173

I had a Caprese salad for my dinner yesterday but it shows up here as 500 calories which is about 132 calories more than I thought so that puts me over my daily calorie goal.

I wasn't exactly full after it either which is a pain when you eat something that has waaaaaaay more calories than you thought it did and you aren't even full from it, just really not worth it!

scs143

I know the feeling. I just found out the dressing I love at a certain place has 520 calories for one serving!!!!!!!! I am never getting their salad again. I feel cheated.

mike_littlerock

that sounds high to me.. the only real calories are the mozzarella and the olive oil. typically its light oil, a tablespoon should be MORE than enough. How big was the salad? how many ounces of mozzarella?

BTW. on the salad thing in general. Harvard did a study years ago that measured the perception of cafeteria food, in terms of calories and perception of the "health" of foods, versus the reality. they found that people ordering salads had a perception that they were eating better, and fewer calories, however; the hot lunches were actually lower in calories and fat as compared to the salads. So many salad bars in particular have very high calorie dressings and toppings.. makes it hard for us to eat right.

cydonian

Here's the problem: Mozzarella is high calorie. Olive oil is high calorie.

Just a couple slices and you're well over 400 calories for the cheese alone! I know, it's awful, I love cheese (and caprese!) but I have to watch how much I eat. Here are my suggestions:

First, use a part-skim or skim mozzarella. You may want to try part-skim first as the taste adjustment is a little to get used to... it definitely doesn't taste as flavorful. Check the calories between brands because even the same type of cheese can vary 50-75 calories per slice!

Second, lay off on the olive oil. 1 single tablespoon has 120 calories. Now, when you're using it in a pot of boiling water, that's different... but eating it on the salad isn't the best idea even as good as it tastes! My suggestion is to slowly back off how much you use and use balsamic vinegar instead... this has about 10-15 calories for a few tablespoons. Now, if this isn't your thing, don't bother but I love the way the balsamic tastes with the cheese, tomato and basil! My other suggestion would be Wishbone Fat Free Italian Dressing. 5 calories per 2 tablespoons and if you put 3-4 good tablespoons over your caprese, it'll have that oil and garlic taste and less calories. (Just check ingredients if you can't find Wishbone, a lot of them use HFCS in the fat free versions... Wishbone doesn't. At least my bottle doesn't have it)

Hope that helps!

dls06

I always add my food before I eat it to see if it fits within my goals. If I don't like the numbers I adjust it or pick something else.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I buy it, 1 oz of whole milk mozza is 85 calories, and you know they're not using the skim. I assume at least 4 oz on a normal caprese salad, I'd assume they use at least 1.5 Tbsp olive oil, the vinegar is negligable, and 1 tomato

cheese: 340
EVOO: 180
Tom: 35

Total: 555