Salads!

I never realized how GOOD salads are until I started trying to lose weight. They're REALLY good and there are SO many possibilities!  If you're not a salad person, try just making a side salad with most of your meals.  It will make them more filling, and possibly make you try different kinds until you find one you really like, and hopefully turn you into a salad person.

I have to brag here...while I'm not that great of a cook, I've never made a salad that didn't get compliments. SO, here are some salad options, along with a few secrets that I think make a salad top notch:

Tuna-red leaf lettuce, thick tomato slices (or cherry tomatoes),celery, boiled egg, red onion, cheese and tuna. Pickle on the side.

Southwest-chopped grilled chicken, tomato (or pico de gallo), grilled or fresh bell pepper and onion, corn, black beans, avocado, salsa, cheese and light Hidden Valley ranch.

House-Chopped lean lunch meat, tomato, cheese, cucumber, carrots, celery, peas, cheese and light Hidden Valley Ranch.

Olive Garden- green leaf lettuce, thick tomato chunks, olives, red onion slices and mozzarella cheese and light italian dressing mixed with light Hidden Valley Ranch.

I know there are ENDLESS options for salads but those are the ones I've tried and stick to. I've really been wanting to master a fruity or Asian type salad but haven't found one that's stuck. Probably mostly because I can't give up my ranch! Does anyone have any good salads to share?

Now for my "What Makes a Good Salad Great" spiel:

First, I always use crisp lettuce. I may be wasteful, but I will throw my lettuce out once it starts to wilt or brown. Lettuce is not the food to try to stretch the expiration date...eeew! Use that for motivation to eat more salads before the lettuce goes bad!

Second, I always chop my lettuce. Whenever I see a "chopped salad" on a menu, it always speaks to me. Something about it just seems crisper, fresher and more...I don't know...crunchy?

Third, use real lettuce! Iceberg is an imposter and steals away all the nutrients you could be getting with real lettuce! If I can only afford one lettuce, or am making a small salad, I almost always use red leaf lettuce. I like the flavor and you get some color and nutrition without the rougher texture of some other lettuces. Ideally, when I make a big salad, I use a mix of red leaf, green leaf and romaine. If you're new to lettuce options, these three are usually right next to each other in the grocery store and tend to cost about the same.

Fourth, evenly distribute your ingredients. Most people tend to be more in favor of ingredients like tomatoes, avocado, olives and cheese; and those are ingredients I usually let overpower the salad a little more. It seems like beets, celery and radishes rarely make the "favorites list" but I still feel like they're a key to a healthy salad so I still use them, just more sparingly. Although I really like veggies like bell pepper and red onion, they carry a lot of flavor on their own so I try to be sparing with those as well. Usually, I try to have the "un-favorite" veggies be about 1/2 the size of the "favorites". Does that make sense?  Have you ever eaten a salad and afterward, your plate is left with a bunch of one or two ingredients, even though you tried to choke down as much as possible?  That was probably an unevenly porportioned salad.

And last, but certainly not least, season your salad! I've gotten to the point where I can not eat a salad without at least peppering it first! Usually I will use garlic salt, Mrs. Dash and pepper before tossing a salad. And, if I really want to make it good and have the time, I'll individually season some of the more wet ingredients like tomatoes and avocado.