A Salad A Day - Bleu Buffalo

We've all heard the phrase "an apple a day keeps the doctor away", but there should be another one for salads keeping waistlines away. According to livestrong.com, replacing just one meal with a salad can decrease your overall calorie intake and increase your consumption of vitamins and minerals.

Eating one salad in place of a regular entrée everyday seems like it would be an easy enough task. However, when I went around asking people what they thought of salads, all of them said that they wouldn't mind eating salads, but they either had one or more of the following excuses:

Salads are time-consuming to make.
The salads at the store look good, but they are too expensive.
I never have stuff to make the salads at home.
The salads I make at home are boring.
I like the salads at <insert name of fast food restaurant here> but when I saw how high in calories they were, I stopped eating them.

Okay so, that seems like quite a few reasons that salads aren't worth it, but luckily, there is a simple way around all of these problems.

First, you have to be committed to eating a salad a day, and that means making some adjustments to your grocery list. I try to have on hand at all times: lettuce or spinach leaves (don't go for the iceberg lettuce, it's all water and no nutrients), tomatoes, bell peppers, onions (I like to have a variety on hand), and several kinds of salad dressings. These are the minimum things I like to have just because I use these ingredients the most often in my salads, you can change the list to whatever suits your tastes. As a bonus, these ingredients are usually rather inexpensive, and can last through several salad meals.

Next, when you get home with your groceries, chop or slice the onions and bell peppers and store them in a plastic bag in the freezer. This will make them easily accessible when you need them.

Last, think back to the salads that you thought looked appetizing, but were too expensive or high in calories. Then, make your own version. A favorite of mine is the Buffalo-Bleu Cheese Salad at a local grocery, but since I don't feel like paying $6.99 a salad, I make my own.

Buffalo-Bleu Cheese Salad

lettuce or spinach
1/2 tomato, chopped
green bell pepper slivers
red onion slivers
3 chicken nuggets (I buy the super big bag and store it in the freezer for these occasions)
1 Tbsp bleu cheese dressing
1 Tbsp buffalo wing sauce

I heat the chicken nuggets up in the microwave to make it fast. While they cook, I toss everything else onto a salad plate. Once the nuggets are done, I slice them up and put them on the salad and then toss it all together so that the dressing and wing sauce coats it all. Quick, affordable, low-calorie and delicious!