There are many things I love about a chopped salad, like the variety of ingredients you can add and that it’s easy to eat since everything is conveniently chopped up.
What I don’t love about a traditional chopped salad is that all of the good vegetable stuff in it gets overshadowed by the bacon, cheese, turkey, chicken, hard-boiled egg and Thousand Island dressing. I understand the desire to get some protein with your salad (which, by the way, vegetables already contain), but there are ways to achieve that goal sans the cholesterol and fat while still having a flavorful and satisfying meal.
To up the protein content of this salad, I added pea sprouts (11 g protein per cup), garbanzo beans (3 g protein per ¼ cup), black beans (3 g protein per ¼ cup), edamame (4 g protein per ¼ cup), walnuts (2 g per ½ ounce) and sunflower seeds (2 g protein per ½ ounce). That’s 25 grams of protein which is about half of the recommended daily requirement.
Instead of Thousand Island dressing, there are a number of options. I originally planned to make the avocado lime and cilantro dressing mentioned in this post but realized my avocado was overripe and wouldn’t do. If you are on the weight loss portion of Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat To Live plan, use freshly squeezed lemon juice or apple cider vinegar for the dressing. If you are on the Life Plan portion of his diet, you could mix fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar with either Vegenaise or coconut milk for a creamy dressing. Or soak raw cashews in water for an hour, blend them until creamy and add lemon juice. The possibilities are endless, so find something that makes you happy!
Although this can be made as a single serving (and quite a hefty one at that), I highly recommend that you make a huge bowl of this and eat it over the next few days. If you are going to do all of chopping, it might as well be worth your while!
Ingredients (serves one)
1 cup chopped leafy green lettuce or mix of your choice
1 cup chopped pea sprouts
¼ cup garbanzo beans
¼ cup black beans
¼ cup edamame
2 tbsp. (1 ounce) chopped raw walnuts
2 tbsp. (1 ounce) raw sunflower seeds
¼ cup chopped tomatoes
¼ cup chopped red pepper
¼ cup chopped green pepper
¼ cup sliced kalamata olives
¼ cup sliced green onion
¼ cup artichoke hearts (packed in water) cut into quarters (about 3-4 artichoke hearts)
¼ cup heart of palm (packed in water) sliced
Directions
1. Chop all ingredients and arrange in serving bowl.
2. Prepare dressing of your choice and mix well with salad. Keep dressing separate if planning to store leftover salad in fridge, then dress immediately before serving.
3. Serve chilled.
cheri says
Hi Amy, love everything about this salad, beautiful presentation as always. Thanks!
cheri recently posted…Slow-Cooked Salmon with Rutabagas and Swiss Chard
Amy says
Thanks, Cheri!
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
yum! looks delicious.. love the recipe. definitely will be adding it to my meals to make this week. thanks for the inspiration!
Thalia @ butter and brioche recently posted…Chocolate and Banana French Toast with Salted Caramel
Amy says
Thanks for stopping by Thalia!