Salad Ideas
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Salad Ideas
| Thu, 02-17-2005 - 9:01am |
I am looking for ideas to jazz up salads with out adding so many calories they are no longer healty. I have been adding fresh herbs like dill and mint to assorted green bag salad. Any ideas?
Thanks
Robyn

hi Robyn, here are some things I like to do to my salads. I'm not terribly creative, but sometimes I like to put these things (all, or just some) in my salads:
spinach leaves
small number of raisins
small sprinkle of sunflower seeds
sometimes I shred my carrots with a cheese grater, sometimes I chop them up
beans sprouts (it's been awhile since I've done this one! I used to grow them myself)
a tablespoon or so of beans (like garbonzo or navy)
again, changing the texture is nice sometimes ...so chopping things up finely, or corsely
and here is something I never did until recently...I salt and pepper my salad.
Any type of veggie...even raw squash is nice for a change
add some pickles
small chunks of apple
Maybe an idea or two in there you can use. :) I'll be very interested in hearing from the others....I am always up for a change with salads.
Kim
Some of the best salads I have had lately have had some fruit in them. I tried it once, and it's not bad. I added apples to a dark green spinach type salad. The recipe called for red grapes, but the ones in the store looked awful and it was fall in MI and the apples are GOOD then.
I had a salad when I went to dinner with a friend at an upscale place where I'd never go on my own. It was a wonderful salad with basic greens, grilled chicekn breast, but the neat things were: fresh pineapple chunks, strawberry slices and mandarine orange. Mangarine orange and red onion seems to be a favorite combination among chefs BTW.
Some of the salads to which fruit is added also have some nuts. I know one has to be careful of the fat in nuts, but some nuts are recommended over others. Maybe someone else here knows about that.
Now I want a salad. I haven't had my lunch break yet, likely won't have sone so I'll have to order.
Lorie
Some great ideas here!!!
There have been some good suggestions already. I like to add cherry or grape tomatoes when in season. Mushrooms. Green or red onion. Berries. Dried cranberries (craisins)Slices of apple. Goat cheese (although it has some fat also adds protein). My supermarket has something called salad crunchies in the produce section and it's an assortment of bean sprouts, yummy. Pumpkin seeds. Jicama. I like to vary the dressing. Balsamic vinegar has a wonderful flavor.
Oh, and another herb to try is fresh basil leaves.
I make a big salad with lettuce, red pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, etc (all low calorie, 0 WW points) and then heat up a Michelina Lean Gourmet Garden Bistro salad bowl (in the frozen food aisle) and put that on top. It's fairly low cal (4 WW points) and I really like the Greek and Southwestern flavors. It jazzes up the salad, is filling and I find I don't get bored of it.
Catherine