Salad Night!

Hi there, Losers! Here are just a couple of nice salad recipes I thought you all might enjoy. I ran across them in researching salads for our upcoming Loser meeting at Tawsha's house on the 27th. I like the grapefruit, as the Ruby reds will be in season in short order. The pasta salad is a nice, lighter version that is still packed with crunchy, colorful veggies and includes a great dressing recipe that could be used elsewhere. You could easily sub in chopped roast chicken and other crunchy vegetables like snap peas, carrots, jicama to switch it up!


Spinach and Pink Grapefruit Salad

(Tuesday I'll give you a recipe for fruit vinaigrette dressing that will be perfect on this salad!)

Ingredients:

• 6 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1 small pink grapefruit, peeled, pith removed, segmented, and sliced
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
• 2 tbsp walnut pieces, chopped

Per Serving (without dressing): Calories 98, Calories from Fat 25, Total Fat 2.8g (Sat 0.2g), Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 40mg, Carbohydrate 15g, Fiber 3.5g, Protein 3g

Preparation:

Rinse, drain and dry baby spinach leaves; arrange on 4 salad plates. Arrange grapefruit pieces on top, followed by onion slivers and mushroom slices. Scatter raspberries and walnut pieces on top.

Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of your favorite low fat or fat free citrus or raspberry vinaigrette. Or make your own dressing using 1 part good-quality olive oil to three parts orange, lemon or grapefruit juice. Place in a small screw-top jar and shake vigorously.

Serves 4 as an appetizer- add garbanzo beans or chicken to make this a meal.

Tuna and Shell Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces medium shell whole wheat pasta
• 7-ounce pouch chunk light tuna
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 6-ounce can or jar artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed and chopped
• 1/2 dry pint cherry tomatoes, halved

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• Black pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano

Preparation:

Cook pasta according to instructions on package. Drain and cool. Combine tuna, celery, onion, pepper, artichoke hearts and tomatoes in a large bowl with cooled pasta. Whisk dressing ingredients together and drizzle over tuna and pasta. Toss well, and chill until ready to serve.

Serves 4-6.

Per Serving: Calories 320, Calories from fat 25, Total Fat 2.8g (sat 0.4g), cholesterol 15mg, Sodium 248mg, Carbohydrate 51.9g, Fiber 5.3g, Protein 21.8g