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Monday, October 12, 2009

The Skinny on Restaurant Salads

Beware! Ordering a salad in a restaurant is NOT the healthy way to go!

Many dieters see the word salad on the menu and assume they're making the healthy food choice. However, restaurant salads are loaded with fatty cheese, nuts, meats and heavy dressings that sabotage any attempt you're making at weight loss. I used to order a salad at a popular lunch chain -- it boasted "only 6 net carbs." Thinking this lunch-sized salad must be "healthy," I ate it regularly. Then I came across the nutrition information for this salad and realized that, while it was "low in carbs," it had over 1,200 calories! That's almost an entire day's worth of calories for the average dieter.

The problem is, I happen to LOVE salads. Dieting aside, I like the fresh produce that reminds me of summer and plethora of unique ingredients you can add to make any salad gourmet. We have a side salad every evening with dinner -- it's packed with flavorful ingredients, yet under 100 calories. AND, it's requested time and time again at my dinner parties.

The Svelte Gourmet Signature Salad (for 1 serving):
1 handful spinach or baby spinach
1/2 cucumber, sliced
1/2 tomato, sliced
1 tbsp green olives, sliced
1/8 cup blue cheese or Gorgonzola crumbles
1 tsp pine nuts
Several shakes of Heinz Salad Vinegar

Combine all ingredients, toss, let rest for 5 minutes.

Enjoy! You can make this salad your own by adding other fresh produce with very little caloric impact. Please feel free to share your favorite salad recipes, too!

1 comment:

The Svelte Gourmet said...

Hello! I've had some questions about the vinegar I use as dressing, and to clarify, it's Heinz Gourmet Salad Vinegar. Any grocery store should have this. I also sometimes use a teaspoon of the juice from the olive jar, as well, or the same from a jar of banana peppers. Just toss and serve. I PROMISE you will not miss the regular oily/fatty dressings. Try it! Also, if you don't like blue cheese crumbles, try feta or goat cheese. Yum!