Healthy Salads Mean Healthy Eating

I write about salads a lot because they are often healthful and easy to put together as long as you have the ingredients you need.  You can make low calorie salads easily for lunch and dinner or just snacking. I usually put some kind of nut or seed in the salad for fiber and extra magnesium.  I try to cook food that has as many vitamins and minerals as possible.   I have talked about salad bars  several times in restaurants.  People often feel self-righteous if all they have is a salad from the salad bar.  You can consume more calories from a salad bar than an entire meal. So to have a healthy lunch or dinner from a salad bar you need to use caution.  Look for all the healthy greens, cucumbers and tomatoes.  All fresh veggies add to a healthy salad.  Try to avoid pasta and potato salads.  The cheeses such as blue cheese and cheddar are filled with fat and calories.  And the dressings should be used judiciously.  If you are really watching your diet opt for straight vinegar and oil with a little salt and pepper.  If you do this you can be assured of exactly what you are eating with no mystery ingredients.

Here are a few more of my favorite salads:

Quinoa and Chicken Salad

I make this salad with left over Quinoa.  Of course I always make sure there is enough left over from the night before  I also take advantage of left over chicken—dark or light meat will work.

Ingredients:

1 cup of cooked quinoa

2 cups of chopped cooked chicken

1 cup of thinly sliced celery

1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds

1 cup of chopped cauliflower

1 cup of chopped sweet red pepper

Salad Dressing

1/2 cup of Avocado oil

Squeeze of one lemon

1 teaspoon of tarragon, oregano and garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1 Blend all of the ingredients together except the dressing

2. Mix the dressing well

3. Pour the dressing over the salad

4, Chill till ready to eat

Cold Steak Salad

I love steak and cold steak is what I look forward to the next day after a steak dinner.

I normally just eat the left overs as is, but I had a large amount left one night and made this salad for both my husband and I to enjoy the next day for lunch.

Ingredients

Cut up steak in small cubes (however much you have)

3 cups of chopped spinach

1/2 cup of feta cheese

1 medium tomato chopped

1 medium cucumber chopped

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Salad Dressing

1/2 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of wine vinegar

2 tablespoons of water

one tablespoon each of basil, oregano and marjoram

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1, Blend all the ingredients except the cheese and walnuts

2. Mix the salad dressing until well blended

3. Pour the salad dressing over the salad 

4. Add the cheese and nuts on top of the salad

5. Chill the salad until serving

Check out more salad recipes and other healthy solutions in my book Feel Better Every Day on Amazon   http://a.co/8Y7LHwq is the link.