Innovations with salads to mix it up a bit

Hi everyone,

I have been trying to make salads more exciting so I can continue to look forward to eating them regularly and not get bored.  Here are some of the tricks I have been trying.  I would love to hear from others too!

• Warm sweet potatoes on a salad are SO tasty and full of nutrients.  Here is my favorite of my recent recipe creations:

Peel and dice a sweet potato.   Spray a baking sheet with all natural olive oil spray, arrange diced potatos in a single layer.  Sprinkle lightly with salt if desired.  Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are browned and cooked through.  For dressing, mix together 1 tablespoon each of honey, spicy brown mustard and apple cider vinegar and microwave for 30 seconds.  Serve potatoes over baby spinach leaves, snap peas and orange bell pepper slices and drizzle with dressing.  Makes 2 main dish servings.

• For tasty low fat salad dressing, try mixing your favorite bottled sauce (sweet chili sauce, BBQ sauce, teriyaki, hot sauce, etc.) with your favorite vinegar.  Today I mixed 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce with 2 tablespoons of seasoned rice wine vinegar and had enough dressing for a HUGE salad for a total of 50 calories! 

Any other tips would be welcome.

Thanks!

One of my favorite salads is a spinach, citrus mint salad. Very simple easy and delicious!

Peel and dice one grapefuit and 1 orange and add to one or two cups of baby spinach. Chop half a head of fennel. Add to spinach.

Juice another orange and mix it with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Julliene a small bunch of mint and throw that into the dressing.

Top the spinach/grapefruit/orange mix with the dressing, add 1 tablespoon of chopped nuts and enjoy!

This is such a fresh salad tasting salad I love it!

broken up, still warm salmon steak, baked in tinfoil and seasoned with salt and pepper before cooking; diced slice of watermelon; cherry toms; diced cucumber; salad leaves; some raisins or mixed seeds (optional)

Don't know the cals but it's a damn good salad :D

One of my favourite dressings is Ranch but to cut calories I use Light Ranch mixed half and half with fat free sour cream.  It cuts calories and maintains the flavour.

If you like Ranch, I made up this amazing dressing, and totally healthy: mix 1/4C low-fat plain yogurt (the thick kind) with 1t light mayo, chopped green onions, a little s&p, and any other chopped fresh herbs you have kicking around like chives, thyme, oregano....and then add just a pinch of ranch powder. You get all the big taste of ranch but not all the sodium, that way...you'd be surprised how far a pinch goes. This makes about 5T of dressing, 10 calories per T, and is soooo delicious. Also great with oven fries, in wraps, as a dip...

My friend made me the most delicious lunch salad once, she warmed some leftover rice (a multi-rice mix with red, brown, and wild rices) and put it on the bottom of a bowl, topped with meslun mix, grated carrot, grated beet, sliced cucmber, tomato wedges, and avocado, and drizzled with a vinaigrette. Heaven in a bowl.

My fave side salad has to be butter lettuce with blanched asparagus, tomatoes, avocado, with a squeeze of lemon over all then a smidge of a simple vinaigrette of olive oil/dijon mustanrd/white wine vinegar.

And if you like ceasar salad but not the calories....I make a killer ceasar that everyone who had tasted says is the best they've ever had....and it's low -cal:

 Make the dressing using 1/2C low-fat plain yogurt, 1T light mayo, 2T red wine vinegar, 2t dijon, 2t worchestershire, 1t anchovy paste, 1 clove garlic, and a ton of cracked pepper. Blend on liquefy and refrigerate for about half an hour to re-set the yogurt. Meanwhile, make your croutons, cubing two slices of multigrain bread, coating with a light spray of olive-oil cooking spray and tossing in italian herbs, cayenne pepper and s&p, bake until lighly browned and crunchy, about 20 min at 350. While they are toasting make your "bacon bits": finely chop some low-fat or fat-free ham into a small dice (teeny dice), place in a frying pan coated with cooking spray on medium heat. When they brown and start to jump out of the pan like popcorn, they are done. Wash a head of romaine, and toss everything together along with a couple of T of parmesan cheese, and you have the best ceasar ever! I actually only use about half or 2/3 of the dressing, depending on the amount of lettuce, it makes quite a lot, and just store the rest for later use.

I guess you could say I am a salad freak...but only for cool, interesting salads, the regualr ones are too boring.

1/2 chicken breast (cooked with pam and lemon - chopped)
half an orange (chopped)
1/4 - 1/2 cup raspberries
iceberg lettuce
spinach

mix and top it off with some sesame - simple, full meal salad. doesn't need dressing due to the fruit.

coleslaw style.
1-2 carrots (shredded or chopped fine)
1 1/2 -2 cups cabbage (shredded or chopped fine)
1 - 1 1/2 cups broccoli (chopped very fine)

dressing: lemon juice, splenda, black pepper and paprika.
nice, light and simple.

peas (cooked)
corn (kernels only,cooked)
pepper (red,orange or yellow - chopped)
green onion (if you want)

dressing: rice vinegar, splenda, black pepper

cup zucchini
tomato
cucumber

dressing: lemon and lime juice, splenda, black pepper

spinach
1/2 an avocado
mango
grilled chicken
sesame

dressing: lime with splenda

Asparagus
cold cooked pasta
crushed almonds (1/4 cup only)
pepper (red,yellow or orange)

dressing : lemon juice, lemon zest, dijon mustard (1 tbsp)

my favourite simple quick salad

iceberg salad
apple (red delicious)
sesame
half an orange (chopped)

i personally try to stay away from cream base dressings, or salad with cheese, and generally they're low calories except for chicken, pasta ones - but those can be served as a full meal.

Original Post by opt2mistic:

Sounds wonderful - any ideas how many calories in this salad?

 Hey guys,

There is a cool tool on CC for figuring out how many calories are in any recipe.   Click on the "Foods" tab then click "new recipe."  You can then type in the recipe and click analyse, and it will tell you how many calories are in your recipe.

I am a big fan of this as well. I love to use lunch meats in my salad especially when you know that you only have a couple days left before the lunch meat spoils. I also like to add crumbled banana chips. Then I can have that crunch without the croutons. Love it!!!

Yomie,

Those are some great ideas for salads. I trie the one you posted with zucchini, tomato and cucumber and with the dressing it was perfect!

Thanks for the ideas!!

you're welcome :D

i had one today that was

iceberg lettuce (at least 1 1/2 cups)
half a granny smith apple
half a small zucchini
1/4 of an orange pepper
and 1/2 cup of puffed wheat

then added lime juice and black pepper.  Very low in calories, sodium, a bit sweet and tangy. Definitely worth having again.

Mixed Field Greens

1/3 cup Craisins

Some Reduced Fat Feta Cheese

1/4 cup Pecans

Light Balsamic Vinegarette (Newmans Own is good)

Could add grilled chicken if you want a hearty salad

Super delicious!