FOOD: Not So Healthy Salads, Made Healthy

The nice weather (which is now gone) has left me CRAVING summer BBQ food -- hot dogs, grilled vegetables, fruit salad, pasta salad, etc. The problem is, these delicious summer BBQ foods aren't so good for you. So, yesterday I decided to search for a "healthy" pasta salad recipe. I couldn't find one I loved on the net so I decided to take bits and pieces of what I found and here's what I came up with:

Healthy Vegetable Pasta Salad

INGREDIENTS

1 package of whole wheat pasta

1/2 lb fresh green beans

1 package cherry tomatoes

1 lb fresh cut broccoli

1 small can black olives

1 small can artichoke hearts

1 cup reduced fat mozzarella cheese

Lite vinaigrette (or Italian) dressing

1. Boil the whole wheat pasta for 10 mins (with a dash of salt) and let cool

2. Chop all vegetables and put in large mixing bowl

3. Add pasta to bowl and add cheese

4. Add dressing while tossing

This was so easy and it is SO DELICIOUS! We ate it last night as a side with turkey meatloaf and they surprisingly went very well together. It's lite, healthy and very tasty.

My other half loves egg salad. He begs me to make it all the time (can you tell he's from the south?). I've made it a few times and have actually grown to like it myself. Problem is, it's extremely bad for you (all the cholesterol in the yolk and the mayo) and he loves to eat it on potato bread (which is basically like eating white Wonderbread - no nutritional value). So, when Scoot asked yesterday morning, I was on a mission to find a healthy recipe and I did: http://blogs.webmd.com/healthy-recipe-doctor/2006/04/egg-salad-week.html. I tweaked this recipe a bit:

Healthy Egg Salad

INGREDIENTS

8 eggs

1 cup low fat mayo

1/4 cup stadium mustard

1 celery stalk

Salt and pepper for taste

1. Boil the eggs and let cool

2. Peel the shell of the eggs and put 6 egg whites and two yolks into large mixing bowl; mash egg whites and yolks

3. Add mustard, mayo and chopped celery

4. Mix and serve

Today, we're having egg salad sandwiches on wheat, with a side of veggie pasta salad. I'm very excited for such a delicious and healthy lunch!