Salad, Salad, Salad

As I child my Mother's idea of salad was iceberg lettuce, with tomatoes, and carrots. So, needless to say I have never been a big fan of salad. But, now I have a renewed interest in eating salad everyday. Not only  because of all the micronutrients in lettuce and vegetables and fruits (except poor old iceberg -which has hardly anything in it but water!), but because I now know the secret to making a great healthy calorie appropriate salad thanks to reading The Diet Cure by  Julia Ross and discovering the blog 100 days of Real Food. Below is a list of some of the super yummy salads on the 100 days of Real Food blog. But, I really like these guidelines from Julia's book, which I have put my own twist on:


Select-a-Salad Guidelines

1. Two cups: green or red leaf lettuce, spinach leaves, romaine lettuce, arugula, mesclun, other mixed greens, cabbage or any green leafy vegetable.

2. One cup: broccoli or cauliflower (steamed or raw - raw can be a little hard to digest for some), tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, avocado, carrots, asparagus or green beans (steamed) or any other lower carb veggies. (Any combination of these is fine. But, I don't think I would use one whole cup of avocado! I might want to, but would know better!) Today I put cucumber, tomato and avocado in my salad.

3. 1/2 cup: peas, black beans, garbanzo beans, cannellini beans, pinto beans, corn, rice, or other cooked grain, or cooked potatoes or sweet potatoes (again any combination that adds up to 1/2 a cup) or any other starchy vegetable. Today I put corn and garbanzo beans in my salad.

4. 3/4 cup: chicken, turkey or roast beef, cottage cheese, or 1/4 cup of cheese of your choice - blue, feta, cheddar, mozarella or 1/4 cup of nuts of seeds like walnuts, pinenuts, almonds.  Today  I used 1/2 cup of chicken, and 1 tablespoon of blue cheese and 1 tablespoon of pine nuts in my salad.

5. 2 Tablespoons: vinaigrette, any salad dressing with good oils and little or no sugar.

This isn't my mother's salad!!! And, neither are the delicious salad suggestions from the 100 days of Real Food blog below. I can't wait until my summer garden is ready to harvest and I can eat the organic vegetables from my garden.

• Mixed greens with apples, toasted walnuts, blue cheese, and olive oil
  Variations of this salad:
• Add dried cranberries, hold the blue cheese, and use a balsamic vinegar with the olive oil
• Add strawberries, use roasted pecans instead of walnuts, top with salmon and balsamic vinegar
• Gorgonzola or feta cheese instead of blue cheese
• Pears instead of apples
• Add grilled chicken
• Spinach with hard boiled egg, bacon, avocado, and a warm bacon dressing (with our without blue cheese)
• Mixed greens, goat cheese, glazed pecans, cherry tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar
• Cobb salad with blue cheese dressing
• Spinach or mixed greens with apples, walnuts, feta or asiago cheese, shredded carrots, avocado, raw garlic (sliced and diced very small) and sometimes some black, garbanzo, or kidney beans for more substance topped with olive oil and a little rice wine vinegar
• Shredded Napa cabbage, red cabbage, edamame, julienned carrots, cucumbers, peanuts, cilantro & any Asian style dressing
• Spinach, roasted beets, pears, goat cheese, toasted walnuts or pecans, and red onion all drizzled with olive oil and a nice citrus vinegar
• Baby spinach, chopped granny smith apples, dried cranberries, goat cheese and toasted pecans dressed with olive oil, raspberry vinegar and minced shallot
• Greens, strawberries, pecans, feta, and vinaigrette
• Mixed greens, grilled chicken, sliced strawberries, sliced almonds, crumbled blue cheese, thinly sliced red onion with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• Arugula, shaved parmesan, lemon juice, olive oil and red pepper
• Caprese salad – tomato, basil, and fresh mozzarella – with pesto and balsamic vinegar
• Mixed greens, feta, tomato, chickpeas (or white beans), carrots, olive oil and vinegar
• Spinach, cranberries, mandarin oranges, blue cheese, and candied walnuts
• Spinach, pears, dried cranberries, pine nuts, cherry tomatoes, and chicken (if you want meat) with oil and vinegar
• Mixed greens, cooked sliced beets, green or red onions, feta or goat cheese (I prefer goat) toasted walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette dressing
• Broccoli, cauliflower, grape tomatoes, cheese (cubed small), green onion, cucumbers, bell peppers, and natural sunflower seeds tossed with olive oil & balsamic vinegar.
• Arugula, shaved parmesan, good olive oil, and pine nuts
• Romaine, almond shavings, avocado, mandarin oranges, some whole wheat cork screw pasta with a honey & sesame oil dressing (with or without chicken)
• Spinach or mixed greens with honey roasted butternut squash, pomegranate seeds, mushrooms, avocado and goat cheese
• Spinach salad with red bell pepper, carrots and cucumbers with home made maple vinagrette
• Spinach, goat cheese, strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, pine nuts, and a poppy seed dressing
• Spinach, strawberries, feta cheese, sunflower seeds, and a balsamic dressing
• Grilled chicken, roasted red and yellow peppers, grape tomatoes and fresh mozzarella over bib or romaine with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar
• Mixed greens, roasted butternut squash, goat cheese, pumpkin seeds, and dried cranberries with an apple cider vinaigrette
• Roasted pears and grapes over spinach with walnuts, goat cheese and a honey lemon dressing
• Greens, olives, tomatoes, red onion, and this Greek feta cheese dressing
• Mixed greens, shredded carrots, seedless cucumbers, avocado, hard boiled egg, walnuts, parmesan or asiago cheese, and bacon (sometimes chicken too) with maple balsamic vinaigrette
• Arugula, cherry tomatoes, Romano cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic
• Mixed baby lettuce, purple onion, sliced navel oranges, avocados, toasted almonds, balsamic vinaigrette
• Romaine tossed in a homemade lime dressing (lime juice, stone ground mustard and olive oil) and topped with taco seasoned ground meat cooked with minced onions and garlic, corn, black beans, avocado, black olives, a sprinkle of cheese and sour cream
• Taco salad
• Spinach or salad greens topped with pistachios, goat cheese, pears & balsamic vinegar