Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Talk About "Salad" Days, LOL!!!

Okay, so I talk big. We know that. I talk about all the things I LOVE to eat...

Cake...

Cookies....

Ice Cream.....

CANDY!!!!!

Oh, Yum.

But the truth is MUCH MORE BORING.  Yes, you've heard of Tuesdays With Morrie, right? Well, this is Tuesday with Ruthy and first... No one dies.

Now that right there should make you feel better, right?

But this is a look-see into Ruthy-reality. Because I might talk a good line.. But... Yes.. It's true...

I eat a lot of salad. But not your typical twigs and dark greens and iceberg. Oh, yuck. Here is a Ruthy salad that lives in my refrigerator, step by delicious tummy-filling step. Because the problem with most salads is that you feel like you ATE NOTHING an hour later. That doesn't happen with this baby!


Okay, we start with a thick layer of cole slaw mix. You can use store-bought OR chop up your own cabbage and carrots... In summer I chop my own because the bags of pre-cut ferment too quickly.
I am SO NOT into sauerkraut salad.

Then we add a layer of broccoli slaw:

Broccoli slaw is cole slaw made with broccoli stalks. So crispy, wonderful and marvelous. I love this stuff.

Now I toss in some cukes...

 Celery...

That's the basic mix that I keep on hand. I usually have enough for 3 or 4 days... And then I doll it up when I'm starving and want to eat a small child or a 3 lb bag of M&M's...

So now I make it today's version of lunch...

Blogger ate my interim picture. See??? Even Mr. Blogger gets hungry!  So I layered on shredded sharp cheddar cheese, sliced grilled chicken from Saturday's barbecue with the kids, sunflower seeds and pepper parmesan dressing made by mixing up Hidden Valley Ranch dressing regular recipe with about 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese and a whole bunch of freshly ground pepper...

The rest of the salad base stays in the fridge... For tomorrow. And the next day. If I have it mostly ready, I don't eat the whole bag of M&M's...

Or the small child.

So that's the reality. That's the truth.

Really.

(But I do sneak M&M's now and again. Just because!)

12 comments:

  1. hey that looks pretty good! I like slaw mixes - I hate cleaning and tearing lettuce. and if the kale chips from yesterday don't work out we can always crumble them on top of the dressing huh?! :-) that's what I did with broccolie crowns once- crumbled them into itty bitty flakes and mixed in the salad..couldn't taste them. Of course now broccoli ain't so bad..sometimes..

    Susanna

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  2. I love broccoli slaw. When I was a kid my step-mother would force me to eat her chicken-broccoli casserole--which I gagged on every single, stinkin' time. But she couldn't make enough broccoli slaw! I sucked that stuff down like the Eureka I was nicknamed for (my older sister was "Hoover" we rarely had to be told twice to eat, unless of course, dinner was the dreaded C-B casserole).

    I love cucumbers too. My daughter scarfs them down, and she's the slowest eater ever to grace Planet Earth (I call her Tweety Bird sometimes because she takes such small bites).

    And celery, cut in small pieces so you don't have to chew strings all day, is wonderful too.

    Okay, now I'm just rambling. I'll finish by saying I'm glad it has ranch dressing on it. Love Ranch.

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  3. This stuff rocks the big Diet Kahuna... It literally has about 7 carbs in a huge plateful. Because cole plants (broccoli/cabbage/cauliflower) have no carbs. A few in the little bit of shredded carrot.

    But none in cukes. None in celery. And they all add crunch so I don't feel like I'm just eating water. And cabbage stays in the belly (and no, I don't get gassy... at all.. which is a common but TMI question, LOL!)

    And the dressing has a couple of carbs. So literally, on a low-carb diet this is like NOTHING.... And it's awesome and fills you up for a long time.

    Afternoon snack??? Hands-ful of almonds.

    :)

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  4. Ruthy, you used that dreaded "D" word again - but I'll forgive you because this salad looks absolutely wonderful. I love the idea of having a salad "base" that you can dress up differently each day.

    Can you tell I hate boring salads?

    BTW - if you're doing Weight Watchers, the salad base has 0 points!

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  5. Ruthy, this looks great! And it keeps for several days? I guess without lettuce, it last longer. Which is perfect for eating on through the week!

    Will add the ingredients to my grocery list this week.

    BTW, I DID notice you said hands (plural) full of almonds! LOL I do the same. I'm addicted.

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  6. Love almonds. I think they are on the Mayo Clinic's superfood list. Of course my favorite way to eat them is embedded in a large bar of dark chocolate. But then dark chocolate is full antioxidants, so I should be in good shape =D

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  7. Oooh, Andrea, that is the BEST way to eat my favorite snack.

    In small quantities, of course...

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  8. This looks great, Ruthy. Except for the celery. I always forget about broccoli slaw, but I love it.
    Yep, I'll be trying this one.

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  9. Woo hooo!! Mindy is Mindy today!! I guess that means you're officially "in" now. :)

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  10. Andrea, surely the chocolate doesn't affect the nutritional value of the nuts. ;)

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  11. WHO LET MINDY IN?????

    I THOUGHT THAT BLOCK THING ACTUALLY WAS QUITE EFFECTIVE, MISSY!!!

    Yes, several days. Even up to a week because there's no lettuce. Lettuce leaves wilt. Turn brown. Even the bitter green ones don't hold up well once cut up. They're mostly water. The cabbage and broccoli stay which is just what I need because I don't have time to mess with making it. If I throw some on a plate, add cheese cubes or shredded, meat if I have it but it's fine without....

    Dressing... nuts.... sesame seeds. Wonderful. (This does not mean that I've been behaving myself this month because our apple-growing friend Kim Zarpentine has been making cider donuts, apple pie bites and apple fritters for weeks.

    I cannot resist.

    'Lijah is trying to disconnect me... Destructo-baby....

    Mindy leave off the celery. And hey, we've got a bunch o' youse ready to share back door stuff here in the coming weeks.

    WE'RE SO STINKIN' EXCITED!!! If you'd like a blogging day, e-mail me or Missy or seekers@seekerville.net....

    We'll hook you up!

    Hey. It takes a VILLAGE, right???

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  12. This salad looks AMAZING! I've never tried broccoli slaw, but I do like broccoli. I'll have to try this sometime.

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