Salad is not Stupid

Love is a good salad. No seriously. I remember a time when I thought salad was for rabbits. In fact, I always referred to it as rabbit food. Except when I went to Olive Garden. And there I would consume bowl after bowl as I chased the oil laden leafs with bread sticks. I actually believed the lettuce cancelled out the bread. Geez! Even when I first began to eat healthy I avoided salad unless there was nothing else available. Well, that all changed this week(not including my very favorite cabbage salad which is really more like cole slaw). My husband has been eating salad before dinner each night. I think he does this because he likes to pretend he's eating a fancy restaurant. He insists on croutons, real bacon bits and gobs of ranch dressing. Which is great for him since he burns about 10,000 calories a day installing flooring. I have to be a little more conservative with my additives. So it was last weekend I was short food stuff in the house and swiped some of his lettuces. What I ended up with was nothing short of superb and I've been eating it every day since.

Now aren't you dying of suspense? What makes this salad so great? I mean, it does have green stuff in it and it used to grow on the ground. That doesn't sound very good. Not like fresh hot french fries. Now those really hit the spot! Oh, just stop it. I'm fo shizzle(whatever that means). The best thing about fresh salad is how you feel about an hour after you eat it. If you skip the bread and cheese you will feel squeaky clean and ship shape. And isn't that what we're going for in trying to build a healthy lifestyle?

Alrighty then. Let's get down to brass tacks. I am simply going to list my ingredients below. You can use the amount of your preference the main caveat being you should not use more dressing than lightly coats the leaves/veggies.

Romaine lettuce

Fresh spinach

Sweet bell peppers

sliced onion

tomato

grilled chicken (no more than 1/2 a cup)

balsamic vinegar

olive oil(used sparingly)

fresh ground pepper

a healthy sprinkle of salt

Throw all that stuff in a big bowl, dashing the balsamic/olive oil/salt/pepper on top and toss it all together. Then, eat it. The great thing about this salad is you can eat a great big bowl, completely fill your tummy and not consume too many calories. It's got lots of vitamins and minerals and there's enough fiber to keep your digestive system happy. It's an all around winner! I eat this salad for lunch and then about 3 hours later, when I'm hungry again, I eat a hand full of nuts(pistachios, peanuts, or cashews) and I'm good until dinner. That makes for a very happy Margaret!

In conclusion, I'm just throwing this out there... I no longer hate salad. My very favorite thing about this salad(aside from the intense flavor) is that I can eat until I feel like my stomach will burst and not break the calorie bank. So get busy and try to make your own. Then, experiment until you find your favorite combination of veggies to lettuce. You could even get wacky with it and use *gasp* red leaf lettuce instead of romaine. Although I prefer the latter because of the crunch. Now hoppy eating my little rabbit friends!