Aldi Single Serve Salad

If you need to grab a quick lunch, try Aldi single serve salads. They come w/ a fork for eating. This is the one I had recently. I'd buy it again. There are a couple of other combinations. The accoutrements are packaged separately, so if you are a vegetarian no worries about the bacon in this salad. It never touches the other ingreds. Everything is sealed.

It had spinach in the bottom of the bowl. 

 In the top, there was:

  Sweet Onion Dijon Vinaigrette dressing

uncured bacon bits 

 hard boiled egg 

dried cranberries 

sunflower seeds

crispy noodles 

one fork for eating

It was yummy.

Sunny Salad Americana

American salad mix**

fresh baby spinach 

sweet onion

tomato 

cucumber

avocado

Kraft Creamy French Dressing

Y**U**M**

No pretentious ingredients here.
Good ole down to earth salad.

**Ready to eat, comes in a bag, has iceberg lettuce, carrot, and sometimes a bit of purple cabbage.

No Tomatoes Salad

fresh baby spinach

diced apple

walnuts

apple cider vinagrette

Apple Cider Vinagrette Recipe:

equal parts cider vinegar and sugar

salt to taste

a dab of honey mustard

 oil: 2 or 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil per 1 tablespoon vinegar

Beat w/ a whisk while dripping/drizzling in the oil.

Continue to beat until it is thick and creamy.

ENJOY

Autumn Salad Number Four

 salad greens

diced cabbage

sliced celery

sweet onion or french fried onion rings

cucumber diced

bacon pieces

cheddar cheese

ranch salad dressing

This uses foods that keep fresh for a long time, are in season in the fall, and it has lots of healthy filling fiber.

Tip for keeping celery fresh for 2-3 weeks:

Leave it in the store package.  Place that in a plastic grocery bag and roll up so it's wrapped around itself; secure w/ a rubber band or place flat so it won't come unrolled.  Celery will stay crisp for a long time.

Autumn Salad Number Three

mixed salad greens

pineapple chunks

grated cheddar

sliced almonds

bacon pieces

sesame oil salad dressing

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Salad dressing recipe: 

•  5 TB mayo
• 2 TB honey
• 1 TB white vinegar
• 1 tsp honey mustard
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil 

Combine with whisk until smooth.

If you don't have honey, you can substitute sugar.

Autumal Salad Number 2

INGREDIENTS

greens of your choice: I like Romaine, Ice Berg and a little chopped cabbage

Small pieces of fresh chopped Broccoli

Red apple, if you can, leave the skin on

grated sharp cheddar cheese

bacon pieces

golden raisins

french fried onion rings

curried honey mustard dressing

METHOD 

Amounts are left to your discretion. I like to simply layer them in a shallow bowl, and make it look pretty.

The dressing: use your favorite honey mustard dressing and add a bit of your favorite curry powder.

Simple!

Here is my easy cranberry honey mustard dressing which is an option for the salad above; it can be mixed up quickly.  The amounts given are for a single serving. This is delicious on a turkey or ham sandwich with hot cheese like habanero jalapeno jack cheese.

2 TBSP mayonnaise

1/2 tsp mustard

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp honey

1 tsp whole berry cranberry sauce

Note: You can substitute honey mustard for the honey and mustard in this recipe; also white vinegar can be used in place of the rice wine vinegar, but you may want to use a little less and  add a little salt.

Hearty Late Summer Chopped Salad

• 3 ounces cabbage slaw mix(contains  green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrot)
• 3 ounces baby spinach
• 1 rib thinly sliced celery
• 1 cup well drained crushed pineapple
• sliced almonds, as desired

 In large bowl combine cabbage mix, baby spinach, and celery.  Top with the pineapple.

 Salad Dressing

•  10 T mayo
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp honey mustard
• 4 T honey
• 2 T white vinegar
• dash sircacha optional

In small bowl combine mayo, honey, mustard, oil and siracha.  Mix together.  With a small whisk blend the vinegar a tablespoon at a time until smooth.

Drizzle over salad.

You can adjust the amounts of the ingredients to suit your personal preference.  If you're not a fan of pineapple, mandarin oranges or diced canned peaches make a good substitute. 

Spring Salad

No tomatoes necessary..............

• mixed greens
• well drained mandarin oranges
• slivered almonds
• cooked bacon pieces
• dried cranberries
• optional: grated cheddar cheese 

Layer in shallow bowl and drizzle with this dressing:

• 5 tablespoons mayonaise
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey mustard
• scant 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seed oil

Combine in a small bowl and whisk together until well blended. 

Enjoy.

Autumnal Salad Number One

Enjoy this delicious nod to autumn.

 

• mixed greens
•  diced apple
• dried cranberries
• pecans or walnuts
• shredded cheddar cheese 
•  diced roasted chicken breast, optional (I add this to make it a main dish salad.)
• apple cider vinaigrette 
• apple chips, optional***

On a plate or shallow bowl layer the above ingredients.  Drizzle with the vinaigrette and sprinkle a few apple chips around the edges.



Vinaigrette Recipe:  In a deep bowl whisk together 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.  Add salt and  pepper to taste, and a heaping teaspoon of  honey mustard (or more if you prefer; you can taste and adjust at the end).  

Whisk together briskly, while dripping in 5 tablespoons of canola oil. (You can use any mild tasting oil.  If you use olive oil use light olive oil.  Regular olive oil has a taste that will overpower the taste of the other ingredients.) 

As an option you can thin with apple cider or replace some of the oil with apple cider to reduce fat calories.

***Apple chips are not dried apples.  They are crunchy chips that look like potato chips.  They are usually found in or near the produce section of your grocery store.  One brand is Seneca . (Click on Seneca to go to the link and view an image of the chips.)

Kitchen Sink Salad

Try this combination.  It's really good.

Mixed organic greens.
Other raw veggies like:  bell pepper, cucumber, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, caulilflower
Dried fruit:  I use a mix of raisins, blueberries, cranberries, and cherries
Nuts:  I use salted pecans, raw sunflower seeds and raw almonds
For protein:  grated cheddar cheese, boiled egg and bacon pieces
Dressing:  I like Hidden Valley Original Ranch

The combination of crunchy, sweet, and salty is dynamite.  We eat this for supper--it constitutes the whole meal.

  

Cheeseburger Salad

Dynamite dish.
 

Not original. 

Borrowed it from Deerunstoo

She's a vegetarian so she used a veggie burger.

I used a turkey burger.

Make a green salad.

Top a cooked burger with a slice of cheese and heat to melt.  Put it on top of your green salad.

Now top the cheeseburger with your typical burger toppings.

Mine today were a slice of onion, dill pickle slices, mustard, catsup, and a tiny bit of mayonnaise.

Now eat with a fork.

All I can say is wow.

Didn't miss the bread in the least.

This will definitely go on my supper menu rotation.

Check out Deerunstoo's  website  , her you-tube channel 

and her blog.

And if you'd like to see her 'not cheeseburger salad' video   click here.

A Simple Side Dish

 When you get tired of a green salad and want a fairly low carb option that provides a good dose of vegetables and a rainbow of colors make this Cucumber Salad.

You'll need

• 2 regular cucumbers (not pickling, not English)--if waxed remove most of the peel...leave a few very thin strips for eye appeal, then slice...sort of thick but not giant sized thick.
• 1 rib of celery de-stringed and thinly sliced
• one firm tomato, cut into small bite sized pieces--or--one red bell pepper cut the same way--or both if you like
• one very thinly sliced carrot--or you could grate it if you don't have the patience to slice it paper thin
• thin wedges of  red onion
• zesty Italian salad dressing
• grated Parmesan cheese--the kind that comes in a can/jar, not the good stuff

Prep all your veg per above instructions and place in a bowl.  Add 2-4 tablespoons of the cheese, and enough salad dressing to coat and marinate the whole shebang. Toss to mix.  Let sit a bit before serving.

Note: you probably won't need to add salt since the parm is salty as well as the bottled salad dressing.  Black pepper is nice though.

Enjoy.

Under My Feet.

The scale moved downward again today, enough so that I can report another pound lost, totaling 12 pounds lost.

I'm very pleased with this progress.  The last time I lost weight--13 pounds total--it took me two years.  It was a real struggle.  Why the weight is moving now I'm not sure.  Maybe it's the B vitamins from the nutritional yeast I consume daily? Or the addition of iodine via the sea vegetables I mix in with my sea salt? Or the reduction of fat overall due to some fat free substitutes?  I doubt it's the fiber though the fiber does help me stay full--it's a real aid to prevent overeating and being satisfied with smaller amounts of food.

Speaking of fiber--yesterday after lunch I got hungry for a snack.  Wanting a low calorie very filling snack and having some coleslaw mix (the bagged kind) on hand gave me the brilliant (not) idea of having some raw cabbage instead of fruit or a Fiber One bar (which I was out of).  I mixed about 2 cups of the slaw mix with some very low fat mayonnaise, a little yogurt, lots of garlic and onion powder, and some salt and pepper--all tossed together.  I must say it tasted really good.  So--take this away--eat cabbage for a mid-
afternoon snack.  It'll fill you up but won't fill you out.

We had taco salad for supper last night and I threw in a handful of slaw mix (unadorned) with my salad--it supplied extra chew and crunch, was way more filling and added very few calories.  Plus, cabbage is a one of those eat often healthy foods.  I omitted the cheese on my taco salad but I swear-- those cabbage shreds did look like shredded Monterrey jack cheese.  It's pretty easy to fool yourself like that especially when your taco salad is loaded up with other stuff--tomatoes, onion, corn, pinto beans, cooked ground turkey, low fat sour cream and low fat dressing.

The past couple of nights I have been hungry when I've gone to bed so I must be eating under my caloric need--which is good and creates that deficit necessary to lose weight.  Most days I eat around 1350 calories give or take.  Last time I dieted (to lose the 13 pounds) I was allowing myself to eat 1600 calories a day.  I really didn't think an additional 250 calorie deficit would make that much difference but evidently it does--coupled with reducing total fat intake by using some fat-free products.  Mind, I do eat some good fat daily but small amounts.  Nut butters, olive oil and avocado are some of my good fat sources, as well as nuts themselves...of late it's walnuts and almond slices, usually eaten in my yogurt and oatmeal.

So, that's all for now.  I hope I can keep this up--the loss part that is.  My way of eating I intend to do 'forever'.  Whether I will continue to lose weight remains to be seen.  Theoretically I should, but real life and theory don't always coincide, do they.

Humnut Sauce

 Edit:  I discovered where I found this sauce:  Heather Eats Almond Butter .  I think she may have gotten if from another blogger.  But it was her photos that caused me to have to try it.  And it was love at first taste.

I came across this recipe on a website, but I didn't note the name or I'd give credit. It was good as well as quick and easy so I'm passing it on to you.

Humnut

Combine 2 tablespoons of hummus, 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, a drizzle of tahinni and enough water to thin to desired consistency.

Easy, eh?

I used mine as a salad dressing. Said salad had lettuce, spinach, tuna, garbanzo beans, red bell pepper, onion and Humnut sauce. Loved it. It was filling and satisfying.

Sea Weed Salad

I was reaching for the coconut to pair with my oats and peanut butter when I spied the dried seaweed--also called fueru wakame-- on the shelf and I thought: aha--sea weed salad would be a good recipe to share on the blog. And in case you're thinking 'yuk' give this some consideration. It's good for you, inexpensive, easy to prepare and low in calories.

Once again there is no no recipe, but a method. If you're making the salad for one I'd use a scant 1/4 cup of the dried sea weed--it expands when it's soaked.

You begin by placing the dried sea weed in a dish and covering it with cold water. Let it stand 4-6 minutes or until rehydrated. Then, drain it. At this point it can be added to soups and salads. But if you want to make sea weed salad, you need to dress it.

The typical dressing is a mix of flavors. In a bowl I place some sugar--maybe a tablespoon-- and an equal amount of vinegar--rice wine vinegar is fine, though I often use cider vinegar. Stir to dissolve the sugar. It needs some fat, so I usually add a little toasted sesame oil--use this sparingly because it can overpower. If you feel like you want more oil, add any bland vegetable oil. Drizzle this mix onto the rehydrated sea weed and let it marinate. After about 15 minutes taste it and see if it needs salt--since the sea weed is salty it won't need much if any. I add either soy sauce or fish sauce. It's ready to eat when when it's absorbed the dressing.

I purchased my sea weed in a small local health food store. I imagine any international or oriental grocery would sell it as well . I have seen it in the regular grocery with the Asian foods.

The nutritional information on my package indicates 1/4 cup dry has 20 calories, no fat, 3 grams of fiber (wow!) and 1 gram of protein. It is salty though, with 730 mg of sodium. It also has small amounts of calcium and iron--2% each.