Food Spotlight: Salad Lover

As I'm sure you can tell, I love eating pasta and pizza. I will NEVER go on a low-carb diet as I would definitely be perma-grumpy! I love to overload on carbolicious foods, but I also eat a ton of vegetables. My favorite way to get my veggies is to have a side salad with every dinner and an entree salad for lunch a couple times a week.

To make a delicious salad I suggest three elements...
1. Crunch (nuts or crunchy veggies such as carrots or peppers)
2. Sweet (fruit such as apples, pears or dried cranberries, or a fruity vinaigrette)
3. Creaminess (Avocado or cheese- feta, goat and blue are my favorites)
Optional 4. Protein (meat or beans make it a meal)

Here are some of my yummiest salads from this week!

Shrimp and Feta Salad
Shrimp (protein)
Feta cheese (creamy tang)
Kalamata olives (salty bite)
Tomatoes (freshness)
Garbanzo beans (more protein)
Slivered almonds (crunch)

Cobb Salad
Hard boiled eggs (protein)
Avocado (creamy)
Tomato (freshness)
Red or green onions (flavor and crunch)
Blue cheese (salty and creamy)
Garbanzo beans (more protein)

I love to serve garlic bread with cobb salads and then dig out the yummiest ingredients to pile on top- tomatoes, avocado, cheese and onions- for mini-bruschetta!

Pear and Blue Cheese Salad
Pears (sweet)
Blue cheese (salty and creamy)
Pistachios (crunchy)













Do you have a favorite salad? Please comment with your favorite combination of flavors! YUM!