Sunday, April 25, 2010

Treating myself to healthy eating


True confession time. I'm a horrible dieter. Just saying the word diet makes me gain 15 pounds. So I don't. If I allow myself to turn my focus to food, I become suddenly obsessed with where my next bite is coming from. I am far better off to just let myself focus on other things, and then it's fairly easy to maintain my weight and not worry about it as long as it's not out of control. The key, I've found, is to eat MORE healthy foods.

Lately I've been looking for good stuff to eat. Fortunately Lee can't get enough vegetables, so he is very supportive. And I discovered that if I offer enough ingredients, the kids can find plenty of things to try. Since they came home talking about Earth Day several days in advance, I decided to offer Earth Day Sundaes for dinner. I'll admit right up front that they were immediately looking for ice cream. But they really had fun adding their own toppings, even if they weren't hot fudge and caramel.

These salads are Lee's and mine. Guess which one belonged to whom??? I cracked up when Lee asked if I wasn't going to take a picture. I was sure thinking about it, but didn't want to drive my family crazy at the dinner table. He didn't have to ask twice!


On that particular day we had spinach, cucumbers, olives, bacon, chicken, tomato, black beans, green pepper, craisins, carrots, green onion, avocado and cheese. It was SO tasty. The best part is the leftovers on a wrap with hummus (YUM!!) or as a sandwich. The next day I added some hard boiled eggs. This is going to be a staple this summer, I promise.

So what magic ingredient would you add?

10 comments:

Joy said...

We must have the same thing going on in our heads right now. I'm doing practically the same thing Tracy. I'm trying to eat more whole foods. I just read No Flour No Sugar and What the Bible Says about Healthy Living.
Your salads look soooo good. I was just thinking a sprinkle of sunflower seeds or some cashews or something would be good too. I went to the Farmer's Market Saturday and loaded up on a few things. Also got out my juicer and I've been juicing. So let's keep each other inspired.
I can't decide which salad is yours. I guess the bottom one. Lee seems like he would have everything separated. Maybe I've got it backwards.
♥ Joy

Givinya De Elba said...

Yumm! You have most of my magic ingredients I think. What about pine nuts?

MaryD said...

Your photos are lovely and inspiring!

Our range of ingredients is somewhat more limited here, but I've been enjoying salads too!

My current favorites:
lettuce, tomato, bluecheese, walnuts, craisins (with or without sliced turkey, or grilled chicken)

greek salad: lettuce, tomato, cucumber, black olives, feta cheese.

lettuce, grapefruit sections, avocado slices, sliced almonds...

Janean said...

Feta, shaved parm, fried egg on top, grilled chicken and/or homemade vinaigrette. I have a new recipe for a cream based dressing that uses yogurt and white wine vineagar. I'll let you know if it's any good because it's super healthy. And I agree about some type of nut. Toast the nuts for best flavor and crunch. I like toasted pepitas, almonds, walnuts or pecans.

Tracy P. said...

Nice idea about the nuts! We have a tree nut allergy in our world, but I like the sunflower and pine nut ideas.

And Joy, you are totally right about whose is whose. :-)

StitchinByTheLake said...

It looks wonderful! I'm trying for healthier eating too - of course, I'm on Weight Watchers and that usually happens with their "food plan." Except on the days I eat all sweet stuff, carefully counting the points. :0 blessings, marlene

Betty W said...

I was going to guess which one was yours, but then I read the comments.... :)
But they do look really good! I would love to have one like that. But I really hate chopping all those ingredients! I always have so little time to make lunch/dinner, that´s why I usually don´t have such "extravagant" salads.

Melissa B. said...

I've been moseying along the healthy eating trail, too. Thing is, I feel almost as good recently as this food looks. These are seriously Superior Snaps!

Dea said...

Your pictures make vegetables look even better! Good job for eating healthy! I gotta admit though- i woulda been looking for the ice cream to!

stefanie said...

Goat cheese!!!