Salads, NEED new recipes!

I have started to eat big salads as a meal lately. I put in 1/2 cup of protein (chick peas, chicken breast, tuna) or 2 hard boiled eggs, etc in addition to at least 2 other kinds of veggies. I like colorful veggies because they make the salad more visually appealing. Nuts add some crunch to the salad. A little bit of avocado or cheese keeps things interesting as well. For dressing, I just use salt, 1 tsp olive oil, and either lemon juice or red wine vinegar. You could also try to make couscous, tabbouleh, or quinoa and a few scoops of that adds a nice touch to green leaves (in addition to your protein).

I just checked that website and she's got lots of salad recipes!

i was watching tv one day and hungry girl was making a salad that is absolutely delicious (and around 500 calories)!

salad:
lettuce
grilled chicken
corn
cheddar cheese
tortilla chips

dressing:
ranch dressing
bbq sauce

obviously the chips and cheese need to be in moderation and i only use 2T of each sauce for the dressing but it is SO good. definitely a favorite and reminds me of the bbq chopped chicken salad from panera! yumm

Not sure what the calorie count is off hand, but it is yummy and satisfying!

1 cup favorite greens
1/2 pink lady apple (granny smith, gala, fuji work as well)
1/8-1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/8-1/4 cup pecans or almonds
1 - 1 1/2 cups veggies (carrots, cukes, radishes, peppers, onions, etc) cut/sliced

Mix all together then add 1/2 - 1 serving Kraft fat free french dressing. Mix well!

FANTABULOUS!

I have also added tuna, chicken, turkey, or ham. 2-3 oz of whatever I have.

I just toss in what sounds good at the time. I get iceburg and romaine as a base. I'll pick up spinach, spring green mix, edible flowers, (they're pretty and drive people at work nuts lol) strawberries, grapes, raspberries, feta cheese, blu cheese, dried apricots, shredded cheese, cantaloupe, apples, nuts, chickpeas, regular peas, corn and I love a good raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

I do a lot of experimenting!

I do Taco Salad almost every other day.

I either use lean ground beef (ground chicken/turkey) seasoned with no sodium taco seasoning or a chopped up chicken breast that was cooked in cumin. A couple of cups of greens, a tomato, sliced onion and if I have calories and carbs to spare I add cheese and crushed Doritos. I use a mixture of salsa and sour cream for the dressing.

** Oh, and I forgot the cup of so of Jalapenos. The best part.

My salads are usually lettuce, tomato, spring onion, either chicken or tuna. I add about 10g of cheese and 20g coleslaw and possibly a small amount salad cream or other dressing. That way it's still healthy but there's some tasty things in there that I love.

www.ohsheglows.com

There is a salad day challenge going on there right now. Our her salads are fantastic and tasty!

I love salads with grilled chicken, apples and feta....and you can mix it up and add berries too.

A pub near me does tortilla salad which is a light tortilla with lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, tomato and chilli!

confetti salad

red leaf lettuce
red cabbage shredded
red onion chopped
mozeralla cheese shredded
whole black olives
top with italian dressing

that is one of my most favorite salads

Warm Bacon & Balsamic Salad

Put whatever salad leaves/veg you like on a plate, typically i use mixed leaves, tomato, cucumber, spring onions and sweet peppers

dry fry 1 slice of finely chopped bacon in a non stick pan until crispy and sprinkle over the salad
Add 15 ml of balsamic vinegar to the frying pan and boil til its sticky... try not to breath in the vapor it will make you cough lol
whisk in 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil, then pour over the salad while the dressing is still warm

When I make a salad I put boiled eggs that have been cut up with cracker black pepper, mozzerla cheese (very little). Olive Oil (soo good!) a tad bit of salt and for dressing I use either itlaian or ranch!

I like:

Spinach
Sliced strawberries
poppy seeds
sesame seeds
raspberries

Use the juice of the berries as dressing. You can also add nuts like walnuts or pecans and it is amazing. I find if my salad isn't crunchy enough I get bored with it, hence the seeds and nuts. Enjoy!

Some great ideas here, I can see my salad making taking on a whole new look!

My standard "base" is usually

chopped spinach, or baby spinach leaves, or chopped lettuce
grated carrot
wee bit of finely chopped red onion
a bell pepper (I usually like red or yellow just because its a different colour than green, but if green ones are the cheapest at the shop that week I'll happily have green too)

Then I'll mix it up a bit by adding various other things like
Lightly boiled green beans so they are still crunchy, will add these hot
or some grilled zuchinnis
lightly boiled broccilli
some roasted parsnip "chips"

Often a bit of cheese, some like either feta or parmesan so you get lots of flavour for the small amount you use

Some fruit, grapes are awesome on salads, as are strawberries, orange, apples

And then for the meat part I'll grill some chicken thats been marinating in lemon juice for a while, or grill some bacon till its crunchy, or grilled salmon fillets. Or lean beef strips are really nice on top of a salad as well. If I add meat I won't have the egg, or the fruit, and sometimes will leave out the cheese as well if I need to get the calories down.


And dressing .... I'd rather have hardly any dressing on it and make it a full fat dressing than be able to have more but use a low calorie version, I just like the flavour better in the full fat ones. Quite often I'll just use a tablespoon on the Paul Newmans Caeser Salad dressing, or a tablespoon of mayo. If you make the salad up in a big bowl, you can put the dressing on top and thoroughly mix it through before you put it on your plate, that way it goes all the way through the salad and you don't make a mess all over the bench trying to mix it up!

Or for a fruity salad balsamic vinegarette is good.