Salad Solutions
I hate boring salads. There’s nothing worse than tragically tarnished tomatoes hiding amongst limp lettuce leaves and crusty croutons. And don’t even mention fat-free salad dressings. Don’t even think of putting fat-free dressing on this salad I'm going to share with you! I’m sorry, but there are some things I just won’t have: 1. Mayonnaise. 2. Fat-free salad dressing. Both are gross for opposite reasons. All I can think of is a big 'ol tub of lard when I look at mayonnaise. And salad dressing without the fat is just ... well ... sad. Low-fat ... Ok. But don't take out everything! Some fat – good fat – is important to have in your diet. You just can't overdo it and have salad soup!
Recently*, I fell in love with a salad at a local organic café**. Here’s a description of The Explorer just to give you a taste:
Chop up a cucumber.
Peel and shred your beets. If you don’t want to be caught red-handed, please wear gloves. Those beets stain!
Shred your carrots. Or! If you’re lazy, open your bag of pre-shredded carrots.
Chop up some sun-dried tomatoes.
Open a can of corn. (I know, this recipe is really complicated. Stay with me here.)
And plop it all-pretty-like on your leafy greens.
Garnish with some sesame sticks and you’re good to go.
But the real secret is in the sauce! Here’s my favorite: Honey Wasabi Dressing. I like to use a little less oil.
If you want to expand your healthy horizons, try a few of these recipes:
This recipe reminds me of Panera’s Asian Sesame Chicken Salad.
This is called My Most Favorite Salad Ever Ever Ever Ever. How can you argue with that?
If you’re sick of lettuce, give spinach salad a try.
Or check out this Lime Chicken Chickpea Salad.
There’s a whole world of salads out there. And don’t limit your lettuce selection. The Titanic wasn’t a fan of iceburg, why should you be stuck on it, too?
Recently*, I fell in love with a salad at a local organic café**. Here’s a description of The Explorer just to give you a taste:
Our scrumdelyishus homemade lowfat Red Lentil Hummus, paired with sesame
crunches, sundried tomatoes, cucumber, corn, spring mix and a sprinkle of
shredded carrots and beets all traveling together with our fantastic honey
wasabi vinaigrette. A dreamy destination!
How could you not fall in love with this? So I made it my quest to conquer this salad and make it my own. It’s incredibly easy and it changed my opinion of beets forever. (And I was wicked anti-beet for years!)
Start off with some pretty green lettuce. Doesn't matter what kind. The darker the leaves, the more nutriants in it.
Chop up a cucumber.Peel and shred your beets. If you don’t want to be caught red-handed, please wear gloves. Those beets stain!Shred your carrots. Or! If you’re lazy, open your bag of pre-shredded carrots.Chop up some sun-dried tomatoes.Open a can of corn. (I know, this recipe is really complicated. Stay with me here.)And plop it all-pretty-like on your leafy greens.Garnish with some sesame sticks and you’re good to go.But the real secret is in the sauce! Here’s my favorite: Honey Wasabi Dressing. I like to use a little less oil.
If you want to expand your healthy horizons, try a few of these recipes:
This recipe reminds me of Panera’s Asian Sesame Chicken Salad.
This is called My Most Favorite Salad Ever Ever Ever Ever. How can you argue with that?
If you’re sick of lettuce, give spinach salad a try.
Or check out this Lime Chicken Chickpea Salad.
There’s a whole world of salads out there. And don’t limit your lettuce selection. The Titanic wasn’t a fan of iceburg, why should you be stuck on it, too?
What's your favorite go-to salad?
*About a year ago, but I’ve got to keep this thing sounding fresh and up-to-date!
*About a year ago, but I’ve got to keep this thing sounding fresh and up-to-date!
**If you're in Mass., check out Life Alive. You'll thank me. Well, maybe you won't thank me, but you'll definitely see I was right. Try the Explorer wrap or Chai Alive.
Labels: honey wasabi dressing, salad
This entry was posted by kate, on Friday, April 9, 2010. You can
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April 9, 2010 at 11:12 AM
"The Titanic wasn't a fan of iceburg." You are wonderful. :)
So I'm not sharing this with a lot of folks (except apparently your readers), but you've definately helped inspire me lately. I'm going to do a "vegan for a month" challenge, and will be blogging about it at www.swirlsandmorsels.blogspot.com
Look for post #1 after my lunch break today-- and please be nice about my earlier flowery writing. It's taking an enormous amount of willpower not to delete every old post there.
April 9, 2010 at 11:55 AM
"the soft warmth of the apple flows into the rich onion sugar"
I love it!