Anybody have any good salad recipes?

[Flaxbee]

Filling salads that can double as meals without too many carbs? My husband has insisted that I bring no pasta, rice, bread, etc., into the house, he wants to lose weight. We're also pretty much vegetarian so there's no Atkins silliness here (he eats chicken, I don't so he only has it when we go out to dinner). He's got about 15 lbs to lose; I need some help because my roster of yummy mainly-vegetable meals is pretty meagre (I can eat pasta and rice and bread in moderation so am quite skilled with those foods, but my poor hubby has NO SELF CONTROL when it comes to carbohydrates). Also must be light on cheese. HELP! He can cook quite well but is going through a period of extreeeemeely long hours with work and I want to support his attempt to get rid of that last pesky poundage...

[LisaM]

1. Baby spinach...

with craisins, red onion, walnuts, feta, and raspberry vinaigrette. You can put apples in it, too.

[havocmom]

8. another spinach idea:

Apples (diced and dipped in lemon to prevent browning), red onion, soy bacon chips. Dressing made by mixing bottled fat free Italian of your choice with some orange juice concentrate (undiluted, straight from the freezer), about 2 tablespoons juice concentrate to a cup of dressing.

Seeds or nuts good to add or use in place of soy bacon. Feta on this one is good, as is Kassari (sp?) cheese.

Also, eggplant (roasted or nuked) makes a great dip for raw veggies. Roast or microwave (pierce skin to allow steam to vent) till tender. Scoop out pulp, mash and season with:
tomato paste, bit of olive oil, fresh garlic, whatever herbs you like. Experiment. Can make without the tomato paste too. Good cold or warm with celery, carrot sticks, rolled in tender leaf lettuce.

Eggplant is very good and satisfying. Recommend experimenting with it

[childslibrarian]

2. I have been on a low carb diet and am vegetarian

Actually, read the book "The Glucose Revolution". Pasta is fine. Stay way from wheat and potatoes. Ethnic food is the best--Indian, Chinese,
real Italian. Read the book, has recipes, explains why low carb is good...

[lizerdbits]

3. Recipes- the best thing about the internet!

http://salad.allrecipes.com/
or http://vegetarian.allrecipes.com/

[frogfromthenorth2]

4. YES!

Sure!

[Deja Q]

5. I've got a GREAT one!!

You need:

1 package of rainbow rotini (12oz) - substitute this for 12oz of the soy rotini that's on the market if you want to seriously cut carbs and dramatically increase protein and fiber content, though the noodles do taste different... The rotini is the worst form of carbs mentioned here, though that's how I eat it...

2 cups sliced cauliflower

2 cups sliced broccoli flowerettes

2 cups diced montery jack cheese (all the bricks are appx 2 cups after being diced so buy the one that's lowest in price)

2 medium sized carrots, grated

6 green onions (the long thin kind), sliced

2 cups Robust Italian Dressing (I use the Wish Bone brand and 2 cups = 16 fl oz). The lite version has enough sugar in it to kill a herd of whales and sugar gets turned into fat, so I stick with the regular version. Per serving of salad, the fat content is minimal anyway.

Cook the rotini pasta and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

The next day, mix 'em all in a large container and let the salad sit in the fridge for an hour. Then take it out, toss it or whatever to ensure the Italian dressing covers everything and :9 :9 :9 enjoy!! (I dig it cold, but you could eat it right after mixing, without the need to put it in the fridge for an hour...)

[mike_c]

6. classic Caesar without the croutons....

Pound 1 glove garlic with 1/4 tsp salt to a paste, either in a pestle (best) or with the side of a knife on a cutting-board. Add 1/4 tsp Dijon mustard and 1/4 tsp anchovey paste. Mix well, then transfer to a small mixing bowl. Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco-- just a few drops of each. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon (don't be tempted to add more) and 1 egg yolk. Mix well. Beat in 1/3 cup of good olive oil until emulsified.

Tear one or two hearts of Romaine lettuce into bite sized pieces in a salad bowl. Toss with the dressing, then add a 1/4 cup or so of fresh grated Parmesan cheese (use a good one) and some fresh ground pepper. Toss again.

Serve immediately in heaping salad bowls. For a full-meal version toss with roasted shreaded chicken, fresh crab meat, or julianned cold-cuts.

Atkins supposedly sells low-carb croutons, but I find the salad is great without them, so I don't miss them at all. This is what I'm having for dinner tonight (with fresh crab)!

on edit: this salad is low carb. I'm on Atkins too, but I've found that after a couple-three weeks ALL carb cravings disappeared, and in fact the amount of food I'm eating-- irrespective of calories-- has declined quite a bit. Small meals tend to fill me up fast, suggesting that my body's self regulating mechanisms are beginning to work again. Good luck to your husband!

[solinvictus]

7. Egg

I'd add the caveat of immersing the entire uncooked egg for about 10-15 seconds in boiling water to kill surface bacteria. If you do this prior to the mixing process, you'll be fine. Salmonella is no joke!

[mike_c]

10. I really don't think this is necessary unless you have...

...local salmonella problems. First, a brief dip in boiling water is not all that effective a sterilization technique, especially if the egg has been refrigerated. If you leave it in the boiling water long enough to really insure it's sterile then it's cooked and that's NOT what ou want (the egg yolk is the emulsifier in the dressing, not just a flavoring, so it must be liquid) Second, the separated eqq yolk goes right into an acidic environment (lemon juice) that doesn't foster bacterial growth very well, and finally, even if a small bit of surface contamination occurs, the dressing should be eaten fresh immediately or kept refrigerated for a short time to prevent bacterial reproduction.

I've been making his dressing for years, without problems. Frankly, if you must sterilize the eggs a quick dip in bleach is better, followed by a thorough rinse, of course....

on edit: btw, is your sig a word play on fire ants?

[Lindacooks]

15. Actually, salmonella is a huge problem

in this country - if anyone in your family has immune deficiency problems, is elderly or very young, or has other illnesses, do NOT feed them raw eggs.

Overall, according to the CDC, there were 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths from food-borne disease in the United States every year. And these numbers are under-reported, because most healthy people just think they have the flu when it's actually food poisoning.

If you've ever had salmonella poisoning, you will avoid raw and undercooked eggs like the plague. I had it when I was 13 and literally thought I was going to die.

[solinvictus]

16. Lemon juice

Heck, you could use that to kill salmonella as well, couldn't you? I was always told to at least dip the egg into boiling water, but I didn't know salmonella bacteria was that hardy to resist heat.

[Lindacooks]

18. No,

lemon juice doesn't kill salmonella bacteria. (I have a BS in Food Science and Biology, which is how I know.) Bacteria are very hardy. And even if you kill bacteria in a food, if it's been in 'bad' conditions long enough (i.e. warm environment) and enough bacteria have grown, they actually produce toxins that heat doesn't destroy. And those toxins can make you very sick. That's why it's so important to keep food cold until it's cooked, then keep it hot until it's eaten.

[havocmom]

9. winter salad my sis makes

brocolli (either raw or very lightly nuked then chilled) red onion, bacon bits (or soy bacon bits) frozen peas (they thaw out in no time but stay nice) and miracle whip like dressing; we use generic, non-Kraft and non fat type.
Really good stuff.

[Pobeka]

11. Greek

1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 white onion (try to find a mild one, white is better than yellow)
2 med tomatoes

Cut all those into about 3/4" chunks

about 10 kalimata olives, diced

Toss those in.

Couple of grinds from the pepper mill.

Crumble some feta cheese over the top, we like a lot, but you could put in a little just for some pizazz, maybe even wait till you serve it to put the feta on the top of each serving.

Splash some balsalmic vinegar and extra virgin olive into the mix and stir it all up.

Enjoy

[flama]

12. Have you met Jicama?

It's a really hard root vegetable that has an incredible taste. Pare it down and slice it up julienne and mix it with your favorite greens, some mandarin oranges, and maybe a little ginger dressing. Oh, almost forgot some chopped red onion!

Jicama also makes a good dip snack. It has a great flavor on its own, even better than chips.

Vive salada!

[Pobeka]

14. yeah -- that's good stuff

I had a side of jicama once, which was marinated in white vinegar and fresh cilantro. Delicious!

[beawr]

17. Jicama is great, but buy it carefully

Make sure it is quite firm and has no odor to speak of. I have bought Jicama only to be sorely disappointed.

[markses]

13. Red leaf lettuce, walnuts, caramelized pear slices, gorgonzola

Voila!

(also nice with a very small portion of balsamic vinegrette, just to wet the leaves).