Any good ideas to make salad extra tasty

Ohhhhooo! I have good stuff for this one.

-Lets see, crasins for sweet,

-other stuff, shredded, skim milk mozzerella cheese
-Pine nuts or sunflower seeds
-mushrooms (I like marinated but you can go with just out of the store mushrooms)
-broccoli
-Snow peas are great
-baby corns
-Bacon bits if you like them
-raddish slices
-beats
-mini onions
-field greens are usually better then straight lettuce because the actually have vitamins in them.
-cucumbers
lets see, what else did I forget
oh, bean sprouts, apples, tangerine slices
There's more but I can't think of any others off the top of my head.

1 tbsp of finely chopped onion
2 tbsp sliced salad olives
1/4 cup sliced cucumber
I've even placed 1 oz of leftover grilled chicken breast seasoned with garlic powder
Some other things I like were listed by another.....
Bren:drinker:

Green peppers and mushrooms! Yum!

I also like to vary from just the regular side salad and play with different fruit, cheese and nut combos... bonus points for making your own vinagrette

This all sounds so yummy it is making me hungrey. I like to put shrimp in my salad. I cook a few up with some garlic and throw on top and it makes it nice and tasty along with peas, carrots, peppers, cucumbers, sometimes cheese.

Definitely use a mesclin mix or mixed greens
almonds...especially good if you are making a meal out of it
apples or pears, trust me its delicious
grapes are awesome too
dried cranberries

As for the dressing, go for homemade. I add 1/4 cup of olive oil, lemon, maple syrup..maybe 2 tbs, and a bit of balsamic vinegar..no more than 1 tsp, its strong stuff.

You could replace the maple syrup with strawberries blended as well.

I love cobb salad, with chicken, please. Sometimes my family gets burned out with salad as the side, so I make it the whole dinner. I just use lower fat ingrediants than the traditional restaurant version and serve it with some nice, thick, chewy kind of bread....

I always add celery and green peppers....volume, crunch, and flavor with very little calories! Use different types of greens, too (iceberg, romaine, butter lettuce, raw spinach). Cucumbers and mushrooms add volume without many calories, too, but I don't like either one of them.

Be careful with cheeses, eggs, croutons....very calorie-rich!

We have switched to low-fat dressings, as well.......low fat ranch, low fat balsamic vinegrette, low fat Catalina....YUMMY! Reduce the calories even more by keeping the dressing on the side....dip your fork into the dressing before spearing a bite of salad. A little goes a long way!

My favorite salad is a dinner meal for me, I could eat it twice a week:

1/2 cup black beans
2 grilled chicken breast tenders
2 cups baby spinach
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tsp hot sauce

You can add some portabello mushrooms that you sautee in water and seasoning
cucumber, etc.

It is super filling , low in calories,and it gets my taste buds going with the sour and spicy from the hot sauce, and the creamy from the sour cream.

Hearts of Palm
kalmata olives
artichoke hearts
flavored rice vinegars ( you won't need to use oils that way)

Also, I love hard boiled eggs on salads!

lucky for me my kids love fruits and veggies so we play with it a lot..

try cut oranges and red onion with toasted sesame seeds and rice vinegarette on spinach or greens

strawberries...mmmmmm
beets, almonds and a little soft goat cheese
apples and asparagus with a blue cheese dressing (I can post the dressing recipe if wanted)
tuna salad with dates....no dressing needed
dried fruit and nuts
garbanzo beans with toasted pine nuts, feta cheese and cherry tomatoes (theres a dressing for this too) (not usually served on greens but could be tasty)
beets with chopped almonds or walnuts, a sprinkle of blue cheese and red wine vinegarette
blueberries / blackberries / raspberries with sweetened red onion and a raspberry vinegarette
jicama is great in salads, kind of sweet
chopped tri color bell peppers with dressing of choice or a spicy ranch
chopped melon with finely chopped mint and a white balsamic dressing

ok, so I guess what I am saying is as far as salads go anything goes!

I like to find anything low cal or no cal to add into my salads. Any spices you like will work and often I make my own dressing to avoid salt but still have a powerful taste.

I will go with grilled chicken for the meat most of the time and if I am in a sweet mood add apples, bananas, nuts, mandrine oranges, tomatoe, etc. Even if your fruit has a little more calorie you still need to get your fruits in for the day. This is a fun way to help the sweet craving. I have a great Rasberry dressing to put over my sweet salad.

Other times I might feel like tuna and put that on top of lettuce, tomatoe, and any other vegie I can find in the fridg. Basalmic Ving. is usually my favorite here.

I have a pan to bake flour tortillas so I can do a taco salad. The meat I use ground beef adding onion jalapeno garlic then when it is browned I add chili powder and a can of pinto beans and about 2 tbs of salsa. Then I add a serving of taco meat to my bed of lettece in my tortilla bowl and add tomatoes, a little cheedar cheese with a salsa dressing.

Almost always I like a little jalapeno dice mixed in.

There are SO MANY variations of fruits, nuts, vegies to make a HUGE salad and very low calorie. I have been filling up one Salads and not tire of them yet.

Stacy