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7/15/10

Salad for lunch

I had this delicious creamy salad for lunch today and thought I would share. Nothing special just threw a bunch of leftover veggies from the fridge and tossed together for a good lunch.

I eat a lot of salads for lunch because they are easy and I always have the ingredients on hand. Most of the time I let the kids pick their lunch so they don't always choose a salad or leftovers. Today they had Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Trader Joe's Cheese puffs, Cucumbers and Tomatoes. 

In this salad:
  • two handfuls of green leaf lettuce
  • 1/4 of a cucumber
  • one handful of chopped mushrooms
  • 4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1/4 cup garbanzo beans
  • 1/4 cup cold brown rice
Dressing:
  • 1 tbsp plain hummus
  • 1 tbsp Trader Joe's greek feta dressing
In a mixing bowl I combine all the ingredients including the hummus and dressing, toss until well combined. The hummus helps make it a really creamy dressed salad. But better for you than ranch or blue cheese dressing.

Even if you eat a lot of salad or healthy foods, still be aware of your portion sizes. Healthy foods contain calories too. If you are trying to eat healthier and lose weight, don't be tricked into thinking that  just because it's healthy you can eat as much as you like. 

I know that I personally fell into this trap when I first started eating healthier but I was still eating skewed portion sizes. It wasn't until I really started to pay attention to "how much" I was eating that I started to see a big change in my weight. If you are just starting your journey to better health and/or maybe you have some weight loss goals I encourage you to check out: Sparkpeople.com. This is a free website and it is great! I used it for a full year and still go back to it for information and advice. You can track calories, get a weight training program, use their fitness videos, join fitness groups and soo much more.