BORING SALAD NO MORE

Last night for dinner, I wanted a light quick salad.  I opted for the boring romaine and any veg I had laying around.  I chopped up the romaine and added yellow bell pepper, cuc, and tomatoes.  Boring!!!

I've been watching a lot of You Tube videos about Fruitarianism and Low Fat Raw Vegan Diet/Lifestyles and thought I would try a version of one of their salad dressings.  I threw in the blender the rest of the yellow pepper I had.  I remembered that a mango was one of the dressing ingredients, so i threw in a chopped up ataulfo mango.  To add a hint of saltiness, I threw in one chopped celery rib.  And then for some added watery consistancy I threw in  a few grape tomatoes and a bit of fresh dill from the garden.  Blend, blend, blend.  No water needed to be added as there was enough from the tomatoes.

OMG!  This dressing was amazing!  Sweet, creamy, and delicious.   I could have probably eaten the dressing all by itself like a gazbacho.

My husband did suggest to add a bit of red onion.  But little did he know there was NO FAT in this salad dressing at all.  Only fruit and veggies.  As for Chris's suggestion, next time I will try a little red onion.  Maybe it will add another yummy dimention to my dressing.

I turned my boring salad into Extrodinary.

Try making your own salad dressings.  It's quick and easy and LOW FAT!!!
Fat makes you FAT!!!!
Use a dense fruit as the base.  Start with a mango, a peach, some pineapple even.
Add in a few veg like tomato, or cucumber or bell pepper ( any colour )or all of these.
Add in some celery for a bit of saltyness.
Finish with some fresh herbs, dill, basil, mint, etc.
Your dressing can be a mix of fruit and veg or fruit only or veg only.  Although I do recommend adding some fruit, they make any salad taste yummy with a hint of sweet.
Add a small piece of hot pepper if you want an extra little kick.
If you need to, add a bit of olive oil or any vinegar of your choice.  A bit of avacado can replace the olive oil, or a few pecans too.  But I would recommend using only fresh fruit and veggies as these make the dressing low fat and super fresh tasting.
Just blend everything as much or a little as you like.  Start with a few ingredients and work up to more.
The best part is you get to taste as much as you want through your entire new salad dressing journey.  Yum!

I have also tried fruit only dressings..
A whole peeled clementine orange and tomato.
Orange and mango.  Yum!
Pineapple and mango.

But the all sweet fruit dressings, I like to use for my all fruit salads only.

Here's the recipe for my NO MORE BORING SALAD.

INGREDIENTS FOR SALAD

1 head chopped romaine lettuce
1 large handful baby spinach
2 mini cucumbers ( these are my favorite, I find the english cuc's have very little flavour anymore )
1/4 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 tomato, chopped

INGREDIENTS FOR SALAD DRESSING

1/4 yellow pepper chopped
1 rib celery
1 ataulfo mango
6 grape tomatoes
1Tbsp fresh dill

INSTRUCTIONS

Place all salad ingredients in a bowl.

Place all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend away. You can make it as chunky or as smooth as you like by how long you blend up all of the ingredients.

looking down into the blender.

Pour dressing onto salad and devour.  Yummmmy!

Enjoy!
Eat Well,
:)

LOW FAT WALDORF SALAD

Since I will be having a lot of tropical fruit this weekend with my family, as we celebrate my son Dylan's 17th birthday and I've decided to have a Jamaican theme, today I wanted something raw to eat that was still sweet but a little more towards a Canadian climate.

I definitely wanted an apple, so I began there.

I love, love, love Waldorf Salad.

I first discovered it and made this salad during my high school years while attending a Home EC. class. ( basically a class where you learn how to cook and sew )

My salad was sooo good, I made it every day for the next 3 days at home.

As years have gone by I've learned many new and exciting ways to make this delicious salad.  I've made the dressing with sugar, honey, mayo, yogurt, sour cream, lemon, lemon zest, to list just a few and not used all  of the ingredients at once of course.
But what has mainly stayed the same was the use of the salad ingredients themselves.
Apple, grapes, celery and walnuts.  Although, I have used pecans in the past as well, or whatever nut I happened to have at the time and in any style, sliced, slivered or chopped.

I made this salad a few weeks ago as part of a dinner with my in laws.  My father in law, Joe, has never in all of his years had a Waldorf salad.  So I made one.  This salad had the usual apple, I used mutsu, a sweet and crisp apple, red grapes, celery, walnuts (lightly toasted) and a dressing made with yogurt, mayo, honey, and lemon juice and zest.  Well I am happy to say that Joe loved it and had two helpings for himself.

Today, was different though.  I didn't feel like being bogged down with a lot of fatty dressing.  I need energy!  I kept things as simple as possible and here's today's version of my EASY low fat Waldorf salad..... maybe too easy, since I only used 3 ingredients!!!



EASY WALDORF SALAD

INGREDIENTS


1 apple ( I have organic golden delicious in the fridge)
2 organic celery stalks
12 red grapes



INSTRUCTIONS

Chop the apple and celery and toss them together in a bowl.  Cut the grapes in half and add them in the bowl. Grab a fork and dig in.
Enjoy!!!  Make this super easy salad for a filling snack or a light lunch.  You can use another apple, more celery and more grapes if you are not full yet.

I did have an orange standing by in case I felt like squeezing on some fresh orange juice, but I didn't feel like it today.  Maybe next time!

This salad is sweet, crunchy and tasty.  I know it seems too simple,  but you'll be surprised, this salad is good!  The bonus is... its raw, gluten free, and vegan and packs vitamins and nutrients all in one neat little package.

A variation for you if the simplicity is too much for you is to add that squeeze of orange or lemon and stir in some nuts and some vanilla yogurt.  Also why not add a little fennel or incorporate some cous cous to make a salad with some added grains.   Mmmm sounds good.

Eat Well
:)

BRING A SALAD

You're invited to a dinner with family or with friends and you were asked to bring a salad. You don't have a lot of time so are ready to go to the store to pick up a prepared salad ready to go.  That's fine and dandy, depending on what kind of salad is purchased.  I prefer a salad with some cheese or nuts or both in them.  My favorites are a Greek salad with feta cheese, cucumbers and olives  and a goat cheese salad with mandarin oranges and almonds. Yum! But they can be costly and the dressings that are provided are high is fat, sodium, and sugars. In case funds are short, I've got a couple of salad ideas here that are quick, easy, using foods you probably already have in your cupboard or fridge and they actually taste good. But here's the kicker... they are healthy too.  Low on calories, fat, sodium and price. Minimal effort are all they take and they make a nice presentation.  Use one of your fancy bowls and you're set.  It'll look like it took you all day to prepare.
Since I've been on this raw kick lately, the first salad is all raw, the second salad is about half raw.  Also they are vegetarian, vegan and gluten free.  For all of the skeptics out there, just because a recipe says raw or vegan or vegetarian, doesn't mean it tastes bad or different or "healthy".  Give these a try, I guarantee you'll like them.

I made this carrot salad one evening last week when I wanted something light but filling for dinner.  My husband loved it and couldn't say enough about how good and fresh it tasted. We had a little bit left over from our meal so the next day I added a handful of pecans, some chia seeds and flax seeds to the salad for some extra protein to fill me up as there just wasn't enough salad on its own.  The veggies had not gone soggy sitting overnight in the fridge either, which is an extra bonus.  I've seen other versions of carrot salad out there made with jello. I just don't want to be eating artificial colors in my salad, no matter how good it may taste!!! This one has fresh ingredients. Nothing artificial here.  Any of the ingredients can be easily adjusted to your liking. If you don't like tomatoes, don't add them in!  A little bit of grating and chopping and your done. This is a nice alternative to the many lettuce based salads out there.

CARROT AND BROCCOLI SALAD


INGREDIENTS 

1 broccoli crown, cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 carrots, grated (good for you if grating by hand,
 but using a food processor is wayyyy faster)                                              
1/2 of a red onion, finely diced
handful of grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 apple, cubed  (i used a mutsu apple,
 use your favorite sweet apple)
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS


Place the broccoli in your desired serving bowl.

Toss in the salt and oil to soften broccoli a bit, while you are preparing rest of fruit and veggies.

Add in all other ingredients and toss together.

Now, wasn't that easy?

Salad serves 2 to 3 for dinner or up to 6 as a salad/side dish.
Enjoy.



I ate this nappa salad for the first time a few years ago at a neighborhood barbeque.  This bowl of salad was the one that was empty first.  I, along with everyone else,  liked it so much, I had to have the recipe.  I prepared this salad for many dinner parties after that. Never failed to come home with an empty bowl. The only downfall is that it's LOADED with fat and sugar.  The original recipe called for 1cup of sugar in the dressing and 1/2 cup of butter in the topping. Becoming more health conscience over the years, I've since cleaned it up to be a little more hip, belly and thigh friendly.


NAPPA SALAD
My cleaned up version

INGREDIENTS

1 head nappa sliced into thin strips
2 snack containers mandarin oranges (one for the dressing and I drink the juice from the other for a treat)
1/4 red onion thinly sliced
3 green onions thinly sliced

topping ingredients
1/3 cup chopped pecans
2 tbsp or so of sesame seeds
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tbsp honey

dressing
juice from 1 snack size container mandarin oranges
1 tsp soy sauce
1-2 tbsp. honey (enough to thicken dressing a bit)
2 tbsp or so light olive oil
splash maple vinegar
salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Whisk the mandarin orange syrup, soy sauce, and 1 tbsp. honey and vinegar together in a fancy serving bowl.  Whisk in olive oil. Whisk in more  honey to emulsify and thicken up dressing if needed.  Whisk in salt and pepper to taste.

Place all salad ingredients on top of dressing, BUT don't toss.

Place all topping ingredients in a small fry pan on med heat and stir occasionally until pecans are fragrant and lightly browned.  Cool slightly and place on top of salad.  BUT do not toss.

About 30 minutes before serving you can toss the salad.  Tossing too early will cause the nappa to wilt a bit.
Enjoy.


Eat Well

EASTER

Cadbury Cream eggs, solid chocolate Easter bunnies, marshmallow chicks, oh my!!!
Easter is a diet disaster waiting to happen.
All that chocolate and sugar. Turkey and all the trimmings.
Well there is a bright side to all of this Easter overindulgence.

First have your mind set on eating healthy.   If only unhealthy options like deep fried cheese filled jalapeno appetisers, mashed potatoes made with cream and butter, fat dripping filled gravy, white rolls, etc. are available, choose the best you can.
There are always options. You can choose the pumpernickel bread and mayo based dip or you can munch from the veggie sticks platter.  If you are asked to bring something. Make it a healthy option.  So what if everyone else brought that fattening, calorie dense dip, you can always fall back and load up with your healthy veggie sticks, right!
Decide to choose wisely. Again, there are always options!


If you are hosting, choose a smaller dinner plate to set your table, if possible.  Most companies like to make their dishes at a whopping 11" in diameter. That's 2" more than what they were years ago.  And that's  2" more on your waistline.  Ugh!  You and your guests will thank you later. If a larger plate is the only option than fill your plate only 3/4 full.  And that's not loading it up and piling it high to the height of that solid chocolate bunny's ears.
 Eat until you are comfortably full. You don't want to overeat, that just causes unwanted bloating, gas and the "I don't feel good" feeling we've all felt one time or another.  Besides no one wants to be rolling their guests out their door.  If the weather is nice outside, go for a walk before the dessert course.  Hey, every little bit helps.  And walking helps digestion too.

Choose a fruit option for dessert rather than the high calorie cheesecake and pies.  If these are all that's available, you can choose NOT to have a piece of cheesecake or you can have a SMALL piece. If you choose to indulge, fine, eat it but eat it alone.  Don't start to load that small piece of cheesecake with processed fruit topping and whipped cream and chocolate shavings.... remember all those little extras are just that, extra calories on your waistline.    There's a little saying about that for us ladies.. "Once on the lips forever on the hips". Oh, how true!

But don't fret.  If you do overindulge a little or even a lot, make tomorrow a better day. Make the next week a better week.   Drink lots of water and eat lighter meals.  Your body will need the break anyway.  Eat plenty of fresh fruit and veggies.  Have a yogurt parfait for breakfast, a salad for lunch and lots of veggies and a smaller portion of lean meat (maybe leftover turkey) or fish for dinner.  Have fresh fruit for a snack and a few nuts and dried fruit. And by the end of the day your body will thank you and you will feel much better about your choices and much better than the day before. Maybe even a small piece of that dark chocolate bunny will cure any leftover sweet Easter cravings you may still have.  You did good today, you deserve it.

Happy Easter,

Eat Well.