A Week in Salads - The Tuna Medley

  

My last salad and it is a stunner! This came about as a “oh dear what have I got in the fridge that needs eating”.  Turns out I had quite a lot actually. Initially I had something very different planned but as I was looking through my veggie crisper on Thursday night I was inspired. I am sticking to my need for protein as I have started running and I don’t want to give myself the excuse or option to stop. I won’t lie I was a little uncertain about what I was putting together at first but it turned out to be super delicious and very refreshing. What you need for the tuna medley is:

Ingredients

1 can of dolphin safe tuna in brine - not oil

½ gemme lettuce

½ avocado

Two tomatoes or a handful of cherry ones

⅓ of a cucumber

150gm asparagus blanched  

150 cooked broccoli

1 teaspoon mayo

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 hard boiled egg, optional

Method

You may have  gathered from the previous posts that making the salads is essentially a toss all in a bowl and mix. I miss the mayo and tuna together and add it on top along with the egg once i had mixed and seasoned all the veggies. It makes it look very pretty. Really it is up to you how you will arrange your salad.

Try not to deny your cravings. Cravings is the undoing of all healthy food plans, they make your efforts unpleasant and eventually you crack. We have already talked about cheat days, and this is essentially what the cheat day is for.  If you want to have a piece of chocolate or a cake then then do. If you can make it be a healthier version of your original craving and feel satisfied then you are a genious and a better person than me. BE CAREFUL though! Do not eat a whole cheesecake (in one day…) or a box of 12 Krispy Kremes like I did. If you are having a low sugar diet having your cheat day be filled with sugary treats will just set you back to the beginning. Try and think things through and find healthy alternatives to the foods you crave such as: 

• Avocado chocolate mousse
• Dark chocolate instead of milk or chocolate covered nuts
• Raisins and dried fruit instead of sweets
• Roast your own nuts with spices instead of crisps   

I know that all of this seems “easy to say hard to do” but I am only sharing what I have already experienced myself. It is not easy that is true but it is not easy to begin with when you are figuring out the balance of it all, what works and what doesn’t what you like and what you don’t. Let us all be honest and  admit that it is a part of life, you do it with every other aspect of existence, we spend days trying to figure out the best mobile phone to get and research smartwatches for weeks before we buy one. Why not be as careful with our food, we are what we eat at the end and I for one want to be a lovely seasonal salad!

Bon Appetit!

A week in Salads - Beetroot, Sweetcorn and Feta

Day two of my Salad adventure sees is paying homage to the humble beetroot. When I was planning this week I wanted to make sure that the salads weren’t just low calories, that is easily done. I wanted them to be highly nutritional using ingredients that gave your body the minerals and vitamins it needs to function healthily. Beetroot is an amazing little root vegetable, it can be eaten raw or cooked and really shouldn’t be treated any different to carrots. A 100gm of beetroot has only 43 calories and contains 11% of your RDA of fiber, 4% iron; it also have vitamin C, B-6 and Magnesium.

This beetroot salad does need a little bit of preparation the night before mainly for the onions. The rest can be put together in 5 minutes at work. I actually have two different versions and will give you both recipes as one is with sweetcorn and the other with lentils and mushrooms.

Ingredients for Beetroot & Sweetcorn 2 medium beetroots - cooked & cubed ½ can of sweetcorn - try and get the one without salt 100gm fresh garden peas or ½ can - the fresh ones are sweeter and nicer 1 small red onion 50gm Feta Cheese 1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar ½ tsp olive oil Salt to taste Cooked Broccoli - Optional Balsamic glaze/dressing - optional

Method 1: Slice the onion in half and then into very fine half crescents. Put in a container with the balsamic vinegar.This macerates the onions taking away the raw bite of them and leaving behind their sweetness. Add the beetroot to the container after 20 minutes and leave overnight in the fridge Pre-cook your broccoli leave it to cool and leave to the side, do not add it to the beets and onion mix until you want to put the salad together Put the salad together by mixing all the vegetables in a bowl, dress with the olive oil and salt to taste. Crumble the feta on top If you like me love a bit of balsamic glaze/dressing drizzle it over. DOnt forget that adds to the calories as does any dressing

Ingredients - Beetroot and Lentils 2 medium beetroots - cooked and cubed ½ can green lentils - drained and washed 100 gm cooked mushrooms 1 small red onion 50gm Feta cheese 1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar ½ tsp olive oil Salt to taste Cooked Broccoli - Optional

Method 2: Slice the onion in half and then into very fine half crescents. Put in a container with the balsamic vinegar.This macerates the onions taking away the raw bite of them and leaving behind their sweetness. Add the beetroot to the container after 20 minutes. Pre-cook your mushrooms and add them to the beets. Leave in the fridge overnight to marry the flavours. Pre-cook your broccoli leave it to cool and leave to the side, do not add it to the beets and onion mix until you want to put the salad together Put the salad together by mixing all the vegetables in a bowl, dress with the olive oil and salt to taste. Crumble the feta on top If you like me love a bit of balsamic glaze/dressing drizzle it over. DOnt forget that adds to the calories as does any dressing

This salad may need a bit of prep before hand but it is truly delicious, it has lovely sweetness from the sweetcorn and broccoli, or a deep rich earthy flavour if you got for the mushroom and lentil option. 

Tips and Ideas: I have already had a few people worry that a salad is not enough for lunch that they will be hungry, and want to snack all the way through, it will make them grumpy. Over the next two days I hope to share with you how I overcome this.

Make sure that you have breakfast.Breakfast is key to any healthy diet. Having a good breakfast will mean that you won’t be hungry at 11, you will have energy to carry you through to lunch and you won’t have as many cravings. It also helps with maintaining a healthy and faster metabolism. Skipping meals actually slows your metabolism down as your body goes into hunger mode and starts to store all food as fat.   

A good breakfast can be a couple of eggs, they are full of protein, vitamin D and calcium and actually make you full despite their small size, you can add some healthy fat with half an avocado. Alternatively an avocado on rye bread with some cottage cheese is delicious. Porridge is also good but do be careful what you flavour it with, you can easily slip here and go over the top on the sugar by adding too much honey or jam or other such things. Beware the pre-prepared flavoured porridge packets, some or full of sugar and additives.   

Bon Apettite!