Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Salads For A Full Meal: How I've Resisted Them & Now I'm Learning To Make Them! RECIPES!!:-)

My own pasta salad with vinegar,
sundried tomatoes, carrots, scallions &
rice pasta
So I haven't eaten salads consistently in years.  If I ate them at all I ate them out.  I rarely if ever made them at home!  I think because when I was dieting all those years (and failing again and again), salads were a staple.  Eating them reminds me of those unhappy days and so I avoided doing that often since entering recovery!

But then I became a vegan!  And by force of my dietary limitations (gluten-free, soy-free, sugar-free) I'm starting to slowly warm to them.  All of a sudden I'm discovering that you can actually eat salads for complete, nutrient dense meals!  And eating them makes you feel well nourished and energetic!  

The only thing is, I was kind of at a loss on how to create a diverse enough salad to keep me satiated AND provide me with a wide variety of nutrients.  

Enter the amazing vegan low-fat blog world.  


I am so grateful to all my favorite bloggers for teaching me how to do this!  I've been easing into this slowly but the more I read Wendy's (Healthy Girl's Kitchen) posts on how she and her husband eat a salad for dinner nightly, the more I'm becoming jazzed up to actually give this whole salad thing a try!  At first I didn't think it was practical--how was I going to find the time to prep all the raw veggies, etc, during the week!  And what was I going to put on it for dressing??  But then Wendy once again came to the rescue--just recently she posted that she makes all their salad dressings for the week once on the weekend and she also shared the helpful information that without the dressing, a prepped salad can last for several days!

So I'm going to start trying it!  For my food plan next week salad is going to factor in prominently!  My life is becoming more complicated with each passing day and I'm set to travel nearly all of March so I'm going to need some simpler foods to prepare while I'm on the road.  I'm thinking HELLLLOOOOOO Soups and Salads!  

Some great resources in the blogosphere that I have found to guide this new food category for me include:

Tons of AWESOME resources in Wendy's blog "Healthy Girl's Kitchen:"
HGK's No Oil
Caesar Salad Dressing
Fantastic posts on Susan Voisin's blog "Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen:"
Other Amazing Salad RECIPES I like:
A BIG thank you to all you bloggers out there who give us SUCH great salad recipes and "how-tos!"

Do you all eat many salads?  If so what are your favorite combos and do you have any favorite healthy dressings to recommend?  Would love to learn more from y'all!!
The medical information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.  Please consult your health care provider before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition. The Happy Rehab Doc expressly disclaims responsibility, and shall have no liability, for any damages, loss, injury, or liability whatsoever suffered as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this site.  By visiting this site you agree to the foregoing terms and conditions. 

4 comments:

  1. Glad to see you are coming over to the light side. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. I prep veggies when I have a few minutes in the kitchen, for instance when something is cooking unattended. I keep an assortment of both cooked (roasted or steamed) and raw veggies ready to go in the refrigerator. I also cook legumes by the pound, keeping some in the fridge and some in the freezer so I can mix them up. Instant salad! If there's no time to make dressing, try: 1/2 avocado, mashed with a little lemon or lime juice or soy/almond milk; lemon or lime juice only; soy sauce sprayed on the salad (a tiny bit adds a lot of flavor); leftover roasted sweet potatoes, mashed with a little soy/almond milk.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Salads have been part of our diet for many years - I love them & there are endless ideas! Since switching to a combination of Dr Essy's & a macrobiotic diet they have become even more of a feature. We tend to have a dish of salad leaves with whatever we have in (leftover cooked veg or grated raw) with houmous & sprouted seeds or legumes. We eat this for lunch or as a starter with either a simple vinaigrette or just a squeeze of lemon juice & sprinkle of black pepper!

    Kay :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. This post with all it's references to other blogs is such a blessing. I too have a hard time getting in my raw salads each day. I look forward to following you on this "Salad Journey" HRD!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...