Dieting in style (Salads)

Member Name: crisella74

Product:	Salads
Date:	23/01/09 (626 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy and fast to make, healthy and a different taste

Disadvantages: No meat :(

Yes, it's that time of the year again. New year, new resolutions and, of course, the lovely resolution of losing weight. Winter is coming to an end, pounds have piled up over the holidays and spring, summer, short skirts and bikinis on the beach are looming over us!
So I have dusted off my diet and decided to start again my quest to a slim me. I have a diet who was made by a nutritionist for me. So, it's balanced and has all the good, healthy stuff one should eat when trying to lose weight. The biggest problem, however, is that my nutritionist doesn't really believe in eating meat. That's something her and I don't really agree on, since I don't feel I have eaten yet if I don't see a little piece of meat on my plate. So, lately most of my dinners consisted in a selection of either soup and salad, cottage cheese and salad, fruit and salad and so on. Now, anyone who was ever on a diet knows that salads are not exactly the tastiest or the most filling meal. So, I have set myself on a quest to find the perfect ingredients which will make my salads a little more eatable. Now, a salad it's a salad. No matter how you look at it, there isn't much you can add to it if you're dieting. The option I had, really, was playing with the condiments, trying to come up with the best combination. After many trials and errors, I have come up with a combination that I truly enjoy and makes eating salad less of a char. It may not satisfy any taste, but it's worth a try.

Ingredients:
½ lettuce
3-4 tomatoes
1 medium cucumber
1 onion (sliced thinly)
1 large carrot (shredded)
1 pinch of oregano (by pinch I mean the quantity you can take between your fingertips)
1 pinch of dry basil
1 pinch of sweet chili powder
1 pinch of dry thyme
2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp of olive oil
Salt and pepper

This makes 2 servings or a salad for two. If you want to make it for more people, multiply accordingly.

Well, making it it's pretty simple and it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes, 10 if you are really slow, as I am lol
Cut lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onion and carrot to you liking and mix well. Add the condiments, mix and let it sit for at least 10 minutes, so the juices can penetrate the vegetables and kick up the flavor. Add salt and pepper to taste.
If you are not on a strict diet, you can could add some feta cheese (either shredded or small cubes) and some olives. Should you do so, double the amount of oregano you put in, as this condiment really enchases the flavor of the feta cheese.

Nutritional information:
Whenever you make your own recipe, it is very hard to know the calories and nutritional information. However, you can use online programs to calculate it. I use www.fitday.com everytime I am curious and information about foods. You simply add the ingredients you are using from their database and you can calculate the total. I don't know how accurate it is, but here it is:
Per serving:
Calories: 215
Fat(g): 14
Carbs(g): 21
Proteins: (g): 7
Main vitamins and minerals: Vitamin A, B6, C, E, Calcium, Copper, Manganese, Potassium, Thiamin, Zinc.

Taste: Well, it's obviously still a salad, but the condiments add a lot of flavor. If I had to describe the taste I would say it's a powerful sweet-sour combination. If you don't like the sour taste, add only a tbsp of balsamic vinegar instead of two.

So there you have it, my attempt in creating a more tasteful salad for dieting in style. I hope that you will try it and enjoy it!

Summary: Worth a try!