Salad #2: Hodge Podge d'Jen

Oh. Ma. Gawd. I just discovered two things that will forever help me with salads:

1) Cut everything up really small
2) Use only a small amount of greens

And of course, the ingredients are a very big deal, and I seem to have found a pretty good combination. I really didn't know what proportions to use when I started so I made a general rule of 2/3 cup of each item. Some items I added a little more, some I used a little less. Here's the rundown:

Baby arugula (1 cup)
Cherry tomatoes, halved (2/3 cup)
Red seedless grapes, halved (2/3 cup)
Hard boiled egg, chopped (1)
Avocado, chopped (1)
Cucumber, chopped (2/3 cup)
Carrot, shredded (2/3 cup)
Red onion, diced (1/3 cup)
Red bell pepper, diced (1/3 cup)
Maple Grove Farms All Natural Strawberry Balsamic dressing (4 tbsp)

This dressing is amazing: it's 25 calories per 2 tablespoons. I had planned to make my own, but since I have this entire bottle (purchased for a New Year's Eve event and never opened) I think it'll be my dressing darling for a while.

This whole mixture comes in at about 625 calories. More than half of that is from the avocado, and of course, the egg is a big part as well. So if I go back for the rest of it right now (which is a certainty), that'll be a 625 calorie lunch for me, which is more calories than I'm used to. Next time I'll use less avocado (I almost used only half an avocado, but the other half looked soooo good) and get all these good veggies without loading up on the calories.

So, next time: less avocado, more grapes, possibly more red bell pepper. (I can't taste it at all, but I used only 1/3 cup because I'm not its biggest fan. I love roasted red peppers on a sandwich, but raw peppers aren't usually for me.)

YUM! This one is a winner. Salad #1, the Russian Beet Salad was OK too, but this one easily took the lead for me.