Salad Help
kywy84
Posts: 20 Member
Hi, I know this is bad but I hate eating salads. I always feel like I am eating rabbit food. If I have to eat salad I always try and eat a Caesar Salad with lots of salad dressing. Well, I know that isn't good for calories. I know there has got to be way better salads then what I am aware of so what kind of salad do you make? Also what is a good salad dressing and how do you count the calories in it? Any ideas will be helpful. Thank you.
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Replies
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I use fat free feta crumbles
yummmm
I like my dressing to be vinegrette to the max- Maple Groves of Vermont makes a very tart Balsamic Vinegrette thats perfect for me
Add grilled chicken for protein...0 -
What foods do you like to eat? In general, you can put anything together in a bowl on top of a veggie base and call it salad.
I love combining a veggie base (lettuce, spinach, cabbage) with chopped veggies or fruit (either things like broccoli, zucchini, cauliflour, carrot, tomato or nectarines, strawberries, berries, kiwis) and a source of protein (meat, cheese, and/or egg). If you are looking for a light dressing, try low fat yoghurt with seasoning or even just citrus juice. Truly, salads are so very easy, and so very delicious! Oh--and instead of the veggie base, you can do a carb base (potato, pasta, rice, couscous, etc). I'm grain free so I forgot about those.
If you need some ideas, name your favourite ingredients in any dish that comes to mind and I'll put together a few salad ideas for you. If you hadn't guessed, I get very excited about salads and have one pretty much every day
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You don't have to eat salad, there are other ways to get your veggies in. At work I either bring those steam-in bags (California Blend is my favorite) or I use Glad Steam Fresh bags. The Glad bags are great multi-use bags. I bring in a mess of green beans, add 2 teaspoons of water & steam for 4 minutes. Season with butter. My co-workers think I'm a little nuts.
A non-lettuce salad I like: Matchstick carrots, sliced celery, 1/4 C. (thawed) green peas. Stir in 2 Tbl. Newman's Sesame Ginger dressing....2 Tbl is only 36 calories. I use a coffee scoop to measure dressings. Thawed French style green beans are good in this salad also.
Slaws are great - there are lots of recipes that don't use the mayo type dressing. I like a sweet & sour one (use Splenda to cut calories) and Asian inspired ones are good also.
I love Cesar salad but I use Kraft Light Cesar dressing and measure it out. Lifestyle changes - I have to learn to like less dressing. I grill up chicken breast and store it in portion size zip-lock bags. This gives me a meal with protein. I always have chicken for my Cesar, South West, Asian, or Harvest salads. I like to copy fast-food salads. I also get ideas from "salad kits" sold in the fresh produce aisle.0 -
What is it that you don't like about salads? That might help us in helping you find a salad you enjoy.
Agreed: any veggie can be called a salad when dressing is put over it. I often leave the lettuce out completely and often use left-over cooked veggies as well.
Adding a protein is tasty and filling. A handful of cooked beans (kidney beans, etc) add lots of flavor. Chopped fresh dill is also nice.
I can't make a salad dressing to save my life and have tried a wide variety of the bottled ones. I find the assortment in the cooler section of the grocery store (the ones displayed by the bags of salads & lettuces) taste the best. Some of them are quite low in calories, too.
I enjoy salads and have one almost every day. There is no end to the variety of items you can throw together, so it always tastes different and has different textures.
Today's lunch salad is carrots, celery, tomato, avocado, red peppers, cucumber, cheese, olives with Renee's Sweet Onion dressing.0 -
Bolthouse Farms makes yogurt salad dressings that are amazingly good. I love their cilantro avocado and caesar parmesan. You can pour on 60g for 80 calories.0
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My salad game has recently gotten a lot better! A few tips that come to mind:
Do your salad prep like they do at Chopt. Cut everything up including your lettuce/greens into small pieces and toss it all together with your dressing a big serving bowl (ie don't just build it on your plate). If your ingredients are cut too large you can only get a few flavors on the fork at a time. Salads are best when you can have everything at once.
Have a mix of textures and lots of them! I like to pick a base green, a few crunchy elements (peppers, nuts, cucumbers, etc) , a softer/chewy element (grains, eggs, beans, chicken) and something creamy (usually either avocado or cheese. Occasionally honey mustard dressing).
Salt and pepper. Makes all the difference.
Some of my go-to salads:
*Spinach base with red and green pepper, tomato, chopped cucumber, quinoa, chickpeas, onion and feta with red wine vinegar.
*Spinach and kale base with cannellini beans, blanched asparagus, radish, green peas, feta, walnuts, lemon juice and olive oil
*Spinach base with thinly sliced strawberries, cubed chicken, shallot, goat cheese, pecans and white balsamic vinegar.
*Romaine with radish, carrot, celery, green peas, tomato, chicken, hardboiled egg, sunflower seeds and honey mustard dressing
*Romaine with black beans, bell pepper (all colors), tomato, black beans avocado, and green salsa for the dressing0 -
Hi, I know this is bad but I hate eating salads. I always feel like I am eating rabbit food. If I have to eat salad I always try and eat a Caesar Salad with lots of salad dressing. Well, I know that isn't good for calories. I know there has got to be way better salads then what I am aware of so what kind of salad do you make? Also what is a good salad dressing and how do you count the calories in it? Any ideas will be helpful. Thank you.
How can you hate eating "salad" when salad can be practically anything edible. I've seen antipasto salads that were mostly salami and olives swimming in oil. For simplicity sake, I'll just discuss "tossed green" salads.
What do you mean by rabbit food? Lettuce? Lots of different kinds of lettuce and you probably don't hate them all. Maybe what you think of as just salad is iceberg lettuce and Caesar salads are usually made of romaine and that's what you prefer. Have you tried butter lettuce? Or red green leaf, endive or radicchio?
Or maybe "rabbit food" means other raw vegetables. I prefer sautéed mushrooms to raw in a salad. Beets, cauliflower and broccoli can be steamed or, better yet roasted first. Hey, as long as you're roasting them, why not drizzle with an olive oil you like the taste of and some garlic. Then guild the lily by finely grating some parmesan on the roasted veggies while they're still hot. When they cool the cheese stays stuck.
Speaking of parmesan cheese, could that be why you like a Caesar salad a little better. An ounce is only about 100 calories and, grated on a micro plane, that's a lot of cheese. Or maybe try crumbling some blue cheese over your salad.
But maybe it's the croutons on the Caesar. You can make better croutons at home than you can buy in any grocery store or get in most restaurants. If you're interested google it or start a thread on MFP.
You didn't mention them, but beans are a common ingredient in a lot of good green salads. I really like chickpeas (garbanzos). For a special treat make 'em spicy fried. Any legume will due. Kidney beans and lentils are common. How about boiled peanuts?
Dressing? I usually prefer vinegarettes. Vinegarettes are just vinegar or citrus juice emulsified in oil and there are infinite possibilities, the dressing on a caesar salad being one. Again, a topic worthy of its own discussion. Maybe you like yogurt or mayonnaise based dressings better. How to count calories? No different than anything else that I can think of.
Need another strategy? Why don't you start by writing down 3 foods you like and make a salad out of those?0 -
Step 1. Take whatever food you actually like. Portion out a small amount that will fit your calorie/macro goals.
Step 2. Put that on top of a plate of veggies. Cooked/raw...it doesn't matter. Just find some veggies you like.
Step 3. Eat.0 -
IF you love Ceasar dressing try making it yourself. Use plain Greek yogurt imstead of mayo and add a packet of ceasar mix. Another gressing idea is the litehouse greek dressing.
I like to take large romaine lettuce leafs, add some canned or cut up chicken breast, sprinkle with some grated parmessan and drizzle a little dressing, roll it up and eat it as a wrap. This makes me not feel like it is a salad. You can also add any other veggies to it you like, I just chop them up first. Avocado is also great on this,
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i don't like my salads made with dressings and other toppings like croutons on my salad. They never fill me up and too many wasted calories to me*. I use romaine or spinach lettuce, sliced onions, baby carrots and top it with egg/tuna salad made with a little spicy mustard, mayo and seasonings. mmm ,delicious and high protein. plus fills me up. 0
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Step 1. Take whatever food you actually like. Portion out a small amount that will fit your calorie/macro goals.
Step 2. Put that on top of a plate of veggies. Cooked/raw...it doesn't matter. Just find some veggies you like.
Step 3. Eat.
I'd go with this advice here. find what you like to eat, make it into a meal and enjoy!0 -
I make a Taco salad quite frequently. I use salsa and sour cream as my dressing. Super delicious, and I can always fit it into my calories.
- Romaine lettuce
- Lean ground turkey
- Cheese
- Tomato
- Black Olives
- Grilled corn
- Salsa + Sour Cream for the dressing
- Top with some crispy tortilla strips ( I make these from 80 calorie tortillas, bake in the oven until desired crispiness). I generally use about half of the tortilla unless I have extra calories to fill.
If you don't like salads, don't eat them. I'm not a big fan of them myself and so I generally skip them and fill my food allowances with things I actually enjoy eating.0 -
I also make Lettuce cups - which I guess could be considered Salad.
- butter leaf lettuce
- lean ground turkey or chicken
- carrots
- cucumber
- sesame seeds
- green onions
- quinoa
- dipping sauce of your choice. There are lots of low calorie or fat free options, if you're into that. I made a peanut sauce and portioned enough out to stay within my calories.
Fill the lettuce leafs with quinoa, protein, veggies.
Roll, dip, eat, repeat!!
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Thank you everyone for your help. I have some great ideas on what to do. Those don't seem boring. I like mixed veggies and never thought about using them to make a salad before. I have never ever thought of making the combinations that you guys have. I look forward to trying them.
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Thank you everyone for your help. I have some great ideas on what to do. Those don't seem boring. I like mixed veggies and never thought about using them to make a salad before. I have never ever thought of making the combinations that you guys have. I look forward to trying them.
Definitely try a variety of flavors together. The options are limitless, really. Is it lettuce that you dislike? Possibly a texture thing? Personally, I don't like lettuce so none of my salads contain lettuce. They are a wide variety of vegetables, some fruit (fresh or dried) and homemade dressings. The key is to not limit yourself to the standard "salad" you see on a restaurant menu. Nothing wrong with them, but there's a lot of other options available.0 -
Salads are seriously one of my favorite lunches, I basically had one about every day last week. (Friend me and check out my diary.)
I do chicken (typically 4oz or so), 1tbsp turkey bacon, 2tbsp light honey mustard, 1/4c fat free cheddar cheese, 1/4c tortilla strips (LOVE THEM), a crap ton of lettuce (normally a mixture of whatever is in my fridge), tomato, cucumber, and whatever other veggies are on hand.
Seriously, hands down amazing.
I also like to do an 'Asian' inspired one with lettuce, a sesame dressing, those little chow noddle thingys, and either a fillet of tuna fish or more chicken.0 -
Bolthouse Farms makes yogurt salad dressings that are amazingly good. I love their cilantro avocado and caesar parmesan. You can pour on 60g for 80 calories.
This. Seriously (IMO) the best light dressings out there, and if you like caesar, this is a great option. You will find them in a refrigerated case in the produce section of the store.
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I've never heard of yogurt salad dressing!! What stores have you seen them in? I'm gonna give them a try!sheermomentum wrote: »Bolthouse Farms makes yogurt salad dressings that are amazingly good. I love their cilantro avocado and caesar parmesan. You can pour on 60g for 80 calories.
This. Seriously (IMO) the best light dressings out there, and if you like caesar, this is a great option. You will find them in a refrigerated case in the produce section of the store.
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lisajane4271 wrote: »
I've never heard of yogurt salad dressing!! What stores have you seen them in? I'm gonna give them a try!sheermomentum wrote: »Bolthouse Farms makes yogurt salad dressings that are amazingly good. I love their cilantro avocado and caesar parmesan. You can pour on 60g for 80 calories.
This. Seriously (IMO) the best light dressings out there, and if you like caesar, this is a great option. You will find them in a refrigerated case in the produce section of the store.
I'm in Florida and all our Walmart's carry them and our regional chain Publix too. They also make a ranch that must be amazing because I've been trying to buy it for over a month and they are always sold out. I've seen others say the carmelized onion is really good too.
They are also good for wraps. Some chicken, spinach leaves, whatever you like in a 90 calorie wrap and drizzle on some Bolthouse Farms, 30 grams for 45 calories is all you need. Quick and easy.
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Instead of salad, eat some roasted vegetables like green beans or squash
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mmm roasted green beans
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Personally, I love salad. I eat a different one every day! I have a couple pieces of advice for you:
1) Chop/shred your veggies very small - the texture and consistency between bites can be easier to stomach for some.
2) Make your own dressings. I find them waaaaay more flavourful, and I can control the acidity level. My favourites are (these both make single serving amounts for one lunch salad):
Honey Dijon Dressing
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tbsp honey
1 tsp (or more, if you like) dijon mustard
Balsamic
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
a dash of soy sauce
3) Add a good amount of protein - for the nutrients, taste, and variety! My favourite protein toppings are usually a combination of 2 of the following: hard-boiled egg, smoked salmon, chicken breast, tuna, quinoa, white beans, black beans, cashews, walnuts, and every single cheese ever.
4) If you are missing your carbs, don't feel bad about adding in some croutons or other grain products. Some people think bread is the devil, but I assure you, it's not. You're still eating salad, and the goal is to be satisfied!
5) Get a proper salad bin! I love having all of my ingredients fresh and separated. This is what I use:
Today, I filled the bottom bin with 2 cups of mixed greens, half of the top was chopped egg and parmesan cheese, the other half was chopped onion, green pepper, and cucumber. I used the honey dijon dressing.
I hope this helps! 0 -
If calories are an issue, you might try Walden Farm's dressings. Zero calories. The Thousand Island dressing has the best reviews and I didn't think it was bad at all. Otherwise, seems like you got some awesome options folks have suggested.0
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Thank you again everyone especially the pictures. That really helps a lot. I have a whole new perspective on salads.0
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I just realized from all the questions above that I don't like the texture of lettuce and I didn't know the proper way to make a really good salad. Thank you. I now know that I can cut the lettuce up really small or not put it in at all. Also for the few who asked why I thought I was eating Rabbit food....I used to breed rabbits when I was a teenager and guess what I fed them? Lettuce!! I just didn't know how else to explain it. Thanks for your help everyone.0
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I just realized from all the questions above that I don't like the texture of lettuce and I didn't know the proper way to make a really good salad. Thank you. I now know that I can cut the lettuce up really small or not put it in at all. Also for the few who asked why I thought I was eating Rabbit food....I used to breed rabbits when I was a teenager and guess what I fed them? Lettuce!! I just didn't know how else to explain it. Thanks for your help everyone.
Then do not eat lettuce. Problem solved You need to eat some vegetables, but it does not have to be lettuce or even anything that looks like a salad, there are so many options out there. 0 -
smithie092015 wrote: »My salad game has recently gotten a lot better! A few tips that come to mind:
Do your salad prep like they do at Chopt. Cut everything up including your lettuce/greens into small pieces and toss it all together with your dressing a big serving bowl (ie don't just build it on your plate). If your ingredients are cut too large you can only get a few flavors on the fork at a time. Salads are best when you can have everything at once.
Have a mix of textures and lots of them! I like to pick a base green, a few crunchy elements (peppers, nuts, cucumbers, etc) , a softer/chewy element (grains, eggs, beans, chicken) and something creamy (usually either avocado or cheese. Occasionally honey mustard dressing).
Salt and pepper. Makes all the difference.
I second this, particularly about Salt and Pepper, I quite often skip salad dressing altogether in favour of S+P and the bonus is more calories saved for dessert
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I gave up salad dressing 5 years ago when I started this lifestyle change. Back then, I was following WW & a couple of tablespoons of dressing had a lot of points. I pack my salads every day for lunch. Spinach, grape tomatoes, English cucumbers, hard-boiled eggs, red bell pepper, freshly cooked REAL bacon, artichoke hearts & avocado. I don't need dressing. I enjoy the taste of each vegetable rather than the same taste in every bite (dressing).0
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Adding different ingredients to salads can help keep staple salad ingredients fresh!
I really like strawberries or blueberries in my salad. The sweetness meshes well with the vegetable flavors. I enjoy a quarter/half of an avocado in there sometimes. Other days, I'll add a dash of hot sauce, a bit of bacon, a few sunflower seeds, or a handful of homemade croutons. I sometimes add cheese too, depending on how it fits in the calorie count.
I always try to add a protein in as well, such as a hard-boiled egg, chicken, tuna, shrimp, etc. Otherwise, I feel that salads don't keep me full very long.0 -
what i like to do is buy those pre made salad kits. there are many different kinds of salad kits, so i get a variety there and then add a cut up chicken breast to it, maybe some cheese as well.0
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