Weekday Lunch Salads

I love to eat out as much as the next person.  Eating out for me = splurging on foods I typically don't eat at home.  With all of the easy and fast foods everywhere, it can be way too simple to run out and grab lunch.  Who has time to make a decent lunch when there are 10 places ready to make it for me right down the road?

I've learned -- and so has my waistband -- that the best way to combat my lazy lunch attitude is to eliminate excuses.  So, TA-DA!  I came up with the idea of making weekday lunch salads.  Once a week I spend about 15 minutes prepping healthy lunches for the entire week.  Now, making lunch is as easy as grabbing it out of the fridge.

Ziplock makes some great containers that are perfect for a filling lunch sized salad.  I can't handle whimpy salads.  These containers can handle everything I like to cram in them -- and then some! 

 



The containers that I use are the 4 cup size.  They stack great and fit in my fridge compactly.

My bottom layer generally consists of greens... I grab handfuls of romaine lettuce and some nice crisp spinach and toss it in the bottom as a base.  I must add that it is very important for all of your produce to be nice and dry.  After rinsing your ingredients, its best to pat it dry with a kitchen towel or paper towel.  This will help your salads last longer without wilting or getting mushy.  Mushy salads are NOT yummy.

Big, juicy greenhouse tomatoes or heirloom tomatoes are essential for me.  They add color and a perfect sweetness.  De-seeding tomatoes reduces their liquid content and helps them last longer.  Its super easy to do -- run your sliced tomato under running water and run your finger across the seeds while pushing them or grabbing them off the meat of the tomato.  Voila!  Pat the tomato dry and its ready for the salad!

The rest is up to you!  What are your favorite salad toppings?  I love hard boiled eggs and will blog about how to prepare the perfect hard boiled egg pretty soon here.  The best ingredients are things that are local, in season, and most of all, things you like.  If you put things in your salad that you don't like, then you are less likely to eat it.  Tuna, cheese, cucumbers, carrots, celery, radishes, chicken breast, edemame, black beans, corn, arugula, and roasted red peppers are some of my favorite toppings. 

Now for the dressing... You use a lot less dressing when you toss your salad with the dressing as opposed to just pouring it over the top.  I despise low-calorie dressings.  They have a weird flavor that I just can't get over and a lot of times, I find odd ingredients that I can't pronounce.  So, I stick with either homemade dressing, vinegar and oil, or even salsa!  When I do reach for store bought dressings, I am a label reader.  I try to find a variety that contains the least amount of ingredients and the highest percentage things I can pronounce.  Add your dressing right before serving.

Weekday lunch salads have helped turning this prior fast food frequenter into a more whole eater.

Enjoy!