The Problem I Have With Salads
....is that they are generally dry and boring. If you make them less dry and less boring the calorie count goes up. I recently read an article in Prevention magazine about the healthiest salads in the world and it really appealed to me, so I thought I'd pass it on. Below is a quote from the article, the colour categories and some examples, but really anything that is naturally that colour will work. I find the visual and taste variety really makes it good!!
"To get all the five age-defying colours - and countless disease-fighting nutrients - choose one item from each colour category. Add the dressing of your choice and toss well to coat."
Green:
Boston lettuce (3 cups shredded is 21 calories)
Baby spinach (3 cups shredded is 21 calories)
Romaine lettuce (3 cups shredded is 24 calories)
Watercress (2 cups is 8 calories)
Mixed field greens (3 cups is 30 calories)
Yellow/Orange:
Yellow bell pepper (1/2 pepper thinly sliced is 25 calories)
Dried apricot (4 pieces thinly sliced is 67 calories)
Carrots (1 cup thin slices is 50 calories)
Mango (1 cup cubed is 107 calories)
Pineapple (1/2 cup cubes is 37 calories)
Blue/Purple:
Blueberries (1/2 cup is 42 calories)
Red grapes (1/2 cup halves are 52 calories)
Eggplant (1 cup roasted cubes are 35 calories)
Dried mission figs (4 figs coarsely chopped are 84 calories)
Blackberries (1 cup are 62 calories)
White:
Reduced-fat goat cheese (2 oz crumbled are 110 calories)
Jicama (1/2 cup thin strips are 25 calories)
Cauliflower (1 cup bite-sized florets are 25 calories)
Firm tofu (1 cup drained and sauteed with curry powder is 124 calories)
Mushrooms (1/2 cup thinly sliced - 11 calories)
Red:
Cherry tomatoes (1 cup halved if large are 27 calories)
Red kidney beans (1/2 cup are 109 calories)
Red bell peppers (1/2 pepper chopped is 21 calories)
Red onion (1/2 cup thinly sliced is 23 calories)
Radicchio (1 small head torn is 18 calories)
You can do any variation and if you add a protein (although the tofu or kidney beans would do quite nicely) and you've got a complete meal. Maybe a chopped boiled egg or a sliced grilled chicken breast or some diced ham.
Right now I'm eating a salad with two cups of mixed torn salad greens (GREEN), one carrot shredded (ORANGE), 1/2 cup of blackberries (BLUE), 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes (RED), 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms (WHITE), 1/2 cup of green onions with two tablespoons of fat free caesar salad dressing. Normally I hate the fat free salad dressings but with so much flavour in this salad and so much variety it makes it much tastier. I'm trying to change the way I think about food and the salad dressing should not be the main source of flavour in a salad. It should just remove the dryness. One weird thing I did with this salad is that when I was doing my colour checklist and realized I did not have anything red. So I opened a can of diced tomatoes. A bit juicier than regular tomatoes but just as tasty and actually made the salad less dry so it was actually a good idea in the long run. Total calories in my salad I estimate at approximately: 150 calories, less than one calorie and only 33 grams of carbs.
"To get all the five age-defying colours - and countless disease-fighting nutrients - choose one item from each colour category. Add the dressing of your choice and toss well to coat."
Green:
Boston lettuce (3 cups shredded is 21 calories)
Baby spinach (3 cups shredded is 21 calories)
Romaine lettuce (3 cups shredded is 24 calories)
Watercress (2 cups is 8 calories)
Mixed field greens (3 cups is 30 calories)
Yellow/Orange:
Yellow bell pepper (1/2 pepper thinly sliced is 25 calories)
Dried apricot (4 pieces thinly sliced is 67 calories)
Carrots (1 cup thin slices is 50 calories)
Mango (1 cup cubed is 107 calories)
Pineapple (1/2 cup cubes is 37 calories)
Blue/Purple:
Blueberries (1/2 cup is 42 calories)
Red grapes (1/2 cup halves are 52 calories)
Eggplant (1 cup roasted cubes are 35 calories)
Dried mission figs (4 figs coarsely chopped are 84 calories)
Blackberries (1 cup are 62 calories)
White:
Reduced-fat goat cheese (2 oz crumbled are 110 calories)
Jicama (1/2 cup thin strips are 25 calories)
Cauliflower (1 cup bite-sized florets are 25 calories)
Firm tofu (1 cup drained and sauteed with curry powder is 124 calories)
Mushrooms (1/2 cup thinly sliced - 11 calories)
Red:
Cherry tomatoes (1 cup halved if large are 27 calories)
Red kidney beans (1/2 cup are 109 calories)
Red bell peppers (1/2 pepper chopped is 21 calories)
Red onion (1/2 cup thinly sliced is 23 calories)
Radicchio (1 small head torn is 18 calories)
You can do any variation and if you add a protein (although the tofu or kidney beans would do quite nicely) and you've got a complete meal. Maybe a chopped boiled egg or a sliced grilled chicken breast or some diced ham.
Right now I'm eating a salad with two cups of mixed torn salad greens (GREEN), one carrot shredded (ORANGE), 1/2 cup of blackberries (BLUE), 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes (RED), 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms (WHITE), 1/2 cup of green onions with two tablespoons of fat free caesar salad dressing. Normally I hate the fat free salad dressings but with so much flavour in this salad and so much variety it makes it much tastier. I'm trying to change the way I think about food and the salad dressing should not be the main source of flavour in a salad. It should just remove the dryness. One weird thing I did with this salad is that when I was doing my colour checklist and realized I did not have anything red. So I opened a can of diced tomatoes. A bit juicier than regular tomatoes but just as tasty and actually made the salad less dry so it was actually a good idea in the long run. Total calories in my salad I estimate at approximately: 150 calories, less than one calorie and only 33 grams of carbs.