salad inspiration

[elke1007]

I'm starting to get really bored with my lunch salad I have every day. Most days I eat lettuce , bell pepper (different color every day ) and cucumber. And every day again I seem to go for tuna and mayonaise (the easy option , I'm lazy )
I have the Atkins cookbooks , but was wondering what the favorites on the board are. Anyone who has tried some of those recipes?

And what type of dressing do you all put on your salad? I live in Belgium , so I can't go out and buy a low carb bottled dressing , so I need the homemade stuff. Any recipe ideas?

Thanks

[cypressgirl]

Re: salad inspiration

I don't know about homemade dressings but I would never buy a 'low carb' dressing either. Just look for the regular brands and check the labels. Can you get Bleu Cheese or Ranch? How about full fat Italian (of course, check the labels!)?

Do you have a microwave or fridge available at work or are you eating lunch at your home? If so, ditch the lunch salad in favor of some other foods to prevent burnout. Switch it up and have steamed brocolli or cauliflower. Better yet, mash up the steamed cauliflower and add some heavy cream, butter, salt & pepper for faux mashed potatoes - it is really good!

Or get your veggie count in from time to time by dipping fresh slices of your favorites into some dressing - bell peppers, cucumbers, celery etc.

Make a spinach based quiche with heavy cream and bacon crumbles - delicious.

It is real easy to burn out when you limit your choices. I know because I did it. I definitely learned from it!

[Heidi3]

Re: salad inspiration

Cypress I love that you say you would not buy low carb dressing OOOXXX

Elke there are tons of cookbooks out there that are not specifically LC but have great recipes...also there are several good sites for low carb cooking ...just google "low carb recipes" and there are a million of them I swear!!!

but for fast and easy dressed lunch salads some ideas are

you can use radishes, tomatoes cucumbers and dill with sour cream

fresh green beans blanched chilled and dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and garlic

tomatoes with feta black olives and olive oil

diced avocados with chopped tomatoes lime and chile

roasted peppers and tomatoes with a vinegar dressing

cabbage slaw made with mayo vinegar salt and pepper

celeriac with italian dressing (olive oil garlic vinegar oregano salt and pepper

thin slice fennel with lemon juice olive oil and parmesan cheese

you are only limited by your imagination on this ...just toss any veggies you like together and dress them to taste and see

[not2late]

Re: salad inspiration

My favorite low carb dressing is olive oil, a squeeze of lemon or lime and a bit of salt and pepper.

During the spring and summer, I use fresh herbs in place of or as part of my salad greens. So whole leaves of parsley, basil, mint, etc. plus cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, celery, etc. dressed with olive oil or tossed with alittle mayonnaise thinned with oil or cream.

I also like a 'salad' of roasted eggplant, red peppers, zucchini and onion---just drizzled with olive oil---and a couple wedges of boiled eggs or poached chicken or poached salmon.

And Heidi's advice about non-low carb cookbooks is spot on! There are many "regular" recipes that are naturally low carb or can be made low carb by substituting or eliminating a starchy ingredient.

Many European stew recipes that call for potatoes can be made without them---remember potatoes are a "new world" food product and have only been on the European culinary scene for 600 years. Many traditional recipes pre-date potatoes and tomatoes, therefore, can be made without them or using subsitutes like turnips, kohlrabi, etc.!

So look at a variety of cookbooks: vegetarian cookbooks offer fabulous ideas for vegetable preparation, Indian cookbooks---many recipes are naturally low carb, Asian cookbooks---eliminate the noodle and rice from some dishes and they too are low carb and delicious, etc.

[faith16]

Re: salad inspiration

I Grill 4 chicken breasts on sunday night and then bring one every day for lunch. I put them on a salad that consist of 1cup romaine lettuce/.25 cup of chedder cheese/bacon and then for the dressing I use 2 tbsp of mayo with one packet of Splenda.
I love it - it reminds me of 7 layer salad that my mom makes for thanksgiving!

[buttons44]

Re: salad inspiration

Sometimes I take leftover meat and chop it up and put in my salad with some tasty cheese, Italian dressing. It is so good that way and I enjoy last nights meat again.
Also, I make Philly Steak with leftover steak, grilled onions and cheese and put it on top of my salad mix. This way I have a sandwich filling without the bread. I have done this with several sandwich fillings.

[elke1007]

Re: salad inspiration

Wow , I'm such a culinary idiot , the first cookbook I'll buy will be cooking for dummies

You guys really have awesome ideas , that are easy and quick. I had not even thought about putting cheese on my salad! It will surely be much easier to stay on plan when I can vary my meals more.


Thank you so much for the much needed advice and inspiration!

[Heidi3]

Re: salad inspiration

Wow , I'm such a culinary idiot , the first cookbook I'll buy will be cooking for dummies

You guys really have awesome ideas , that are easy and quick. I had not even thought about putting cheese on my salad! It will surely be much easier to stay on plan when I can vary my meals more.


Thank you so much for the much needed advice and inspiration!

OMG honey you are not an idiot we are just ethusiastic with what we figured out ..we all started somewhere near where you are I promise!!! and we get very excited about sharing ideas that helped us .thank you for starting this thread

[2big4mysize]

Re: salad inspiration

you can make cole slaw too and just leave the sugar out of the dressing recipe on the bag of shredded cabbage oruse your family's best. Even the German hot slaw type can be low carbed leaving out the sugar.