salad dressing substitues/salad ideas?

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24

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  • Tbias78
    Tbias78 Posts: 120 Member
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    I put chicken & spinach leaves on mine. I use Newman's own Italian dressing made with Olive oil, it has very little sugar and I put it in a small cup and just dip my fork every bite. I find I only use half a serving this way.
  • freebird777
    freebird777 Posts: 63
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    who so many salads? I would get tired of that. Besides, where's the protein?

    Anyway.... really like zesty italian. I will sometimes mix some olive oil, lemon juice, and chop a few pepperacinnis up and a tad bit of dijon. whisk whisk whisk whisk whisk.

    TADA!

    Love your dressing recipe. But I also eat salad every day for lunch...and I'm never bored. Salad is probably the most creative meal you can create. You can add anything and everything that you little heart desires. And...believe it or not...you too CAN add protein to your salads! Grilled chicken, tuna, turkey burgers, fish, the list goes on and on.
  • angied1226
    angied1226 Posts: 15 Member
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    Bolthouse has some AMAZING salad dressings made out of yogurt at about 45 calories for 2 tbsp... look in the refridgerated section... Or make your own by mixing a ranch powder with greek or regular yogurt
  • skm4jc
    skm4jc Posts: 62 Member
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    Spinach is my green of choice because of the great vitamin content. For a dressing I've just been using oil and vinegar. I use extra light olive oil and then I change up the vinegar: apple cider, red wine, and Pompeiian makes flavor infusions of vinegar. They have garlic white wine vinegar (which I have yet to try), blueberry pomegranate red wine, açai pomegranate red wine, and pomegranate red wine. The fruit infusions add a carb or two, but it's a nice, slightly sweeter change-up. Sometimes I'll also add fresh strawberries and/or blueberries to my salad.
  • salcha76
    salcha76 Posts: 287 Member
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    use darker lettuce...and fresh herbs...throw in some avocado....pick a theme...italian one night, mexican another....bbq another....switch it up....an asian dressing another night....I am a huge fan of Hellmans REAL mayo...and measure out a serving, smash it w/fresh tomatoes and use that for my dressing...yum:)
  • Missjulesdid
    Missjulesdid Posts: 1,444 Member
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    Avocado and yogurt with seasonings mixed up in a blender. YUM.. creamy and still has fat and calories but healthy and helps to fill you.

    Salsa is a great salad dressing

    I make italian dressing with oil/vinegar garlic and spices.. you can sub a portion or all of the oil with a mixture of water and cornstarch. Just heat a cup of water with a tablespoon of cornstarch to boiling and boil until thickened. You want it to be about the same viscosity as oil so add more water if necessary. let it cool and then you can sub this for your oil.. Cornstarch in this quantitiy has hardly any calories.

    balsalmic vinegar.. good all on its own!

    Chili or taco meat
  • fysty75
    fysty75 Posts: 88 Member
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    My new favorite is hummus
  • bekah818
    bekah818 Posts: 179 Member
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    Olive oil and vinegar makes for great salad dressing. Very healthy
  • Saucy_lil_Minx
    Saucy_lil_Minx Posts: 3,302 Member
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    I use Iceberg lettuce in my Asian Lettuce Wrap recipe, and that is about it for Iceberg. Since it has no nutritional value. Arugula is good, and peppery. Spinach is full of nutrients. Kale is an A++ choice, but I prefer it slightly wilted in a Quinoa salad. Watercress is delicious with fish. Spring mix is a great mix for basic salad. I will add mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, sprouts, carrots, grapefruit, pomegranate, sunflowers seeds (raw), pumpkin seeds (raw, a.k.a. pepitas), walnuts (raw), apples, grapes, watermelon, strawberries, colored peppers, sliced olives, artichokes, roasted peppers, qunioa, brown rice, crab meat, talapia, tuna steak, salmon, shrimp, chicken, the list goes on.... just keep trying different combos! I hardly ever do cheese, bacon, or bread. I make a lot of my own dressings, some of them are from Dr. Joel Fuhrman's recipe books, and Dr. Alejandro Junger's book. I also visit the hungry girl website often. Most of the time I invent my own. I will use avacado in the place of olive oil, and rice wine vinegar, minced garlic, fresh ginger. Olde Cap Cod has a some good dressings. I try to look for dressings (if I get packaged) that has less than 80 calories per Tbsp.
  • imhungry2012
    imhungry2012 Posts: 240 Member
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    Over easy egg on top of a salad, break the yolk and mix it around. I love eggs.
  • sugboog29
    sugboog29 Posts: 630 Member
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    I no longer use dressing....I use salsa..Much prefer it over dressing!!
  • Chara221
    Chara221 Posts: 4
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    I'm working on finding a dressing i love as well but as far as stuff to put in your salad, i use spinach instead of lettuce and i love boiled egg whites, turkey bacon (cooked in the oven so it's crispy) and avocados in my salads!
  • Saucy_lil_Minx
    Saucy_lil_Minx Posts: 3,302 Member
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    Ohh yeah, and great mayo is Follow your Heart Veganaise (i am not vegan by the by.) My son and husband think it is WAY!!!!!! better that any other mayo, and at least the fats in it are healthy fats, and MUFAS!!!!
  • MelisMusing
    MelisMusing Posts: 421 Member
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    Salsa is good- I also like a good balsamic.
  • Pangea250
    Pangea250 Posts: 965 Member
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    I like rather plain salads, so I'm probably not the best person to answer this. But I enjoy throwing dried cranberries on a salad.
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member
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    Most of the time I drizzle Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar on my salads, then sprinkle a little granulated garlic. When I was younger, and my mom was on a diet cycle, she would use lemon juice and sweet and low as a salad dressing. It's not too bad.
  • RooBug88
    RooBug88 Posts: 55 Member
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    This is by far the best salad dressing i have ever made:

    1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
    1 tablespoon basalmic vineager ( apple or any vineager really is yummy)
    juice from one lemon or lime

    Just dump on a salad and mix

    Take 3 seconds to do is way cheaper than premade and dont get me started on how much lower cals and sodium it is

    Love this idea! I'm adding this to my stash of awesome substitution recipes! Thanks for the share :D
  • JessHealthKick
    JessHealthKick Posts: 800 Member
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    dark green veggies are the best, and remember to make the salad COLOURFUL! I love mixed lettuces, tomato, carrot, olives and tuna. Adding some tinned tuna/salmon adds a whole world of flavour.

    My other flavour suggestion would be balsamic vinegar. I loveeeee it to bits. However it is possible to just go without - who doesn't love the flavour of tomatoes or sweet carrots??
  • luziferl
    luziferl Posts: 82
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    i like joghurt/vinegar/mustard dressings - one tablespoon each and water. you can also use orange juice if you want it a bit fresher.

    this way you can avoid oil or pre made dressings - and it's delicious!
  • freckledrats
    freckledrats Posts: 251 Member
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    Annie's has a lot of really delicious low calorie salad dressings. One of my favorites is Green Garlic and it's only about 45 calories for a tablespoon.

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