Category Archives: Salad

Light Waldorf Salad

July 7, 2020Salad, Tasty TuesdayLife of Joy

Several years ago I found Waldorf salad and really enjoyed it. However now I cannot even recall what was in it. A couple of years ago I tried the waldorf salad in the THM cookbook. Prior to THM (Trim Healthy Mama) I would never have even given it a second thought because two of its main ingredients are cottage cheese and celery, neither of which are items I like.

Early in my THM journey, I was astounded to find that I could actually tolerate, and even like cottage cheese . . . well, when it is blended. I also found that if I dice up the celery small enough, it isn’t horrible if it isn’t being eaten alone. So when I saw this waldorf salad, I decided to give it a try. Now it is a favorite light lunch of mine.

Start by dicing an apple. To do so, I start by cutting it in half, pole to pole. Then I use a metal melon baller and remove the core from the center.

Cut out the stem and blossom end.

Cut each half into about 8 slices.

Then chop.

Put that in a bowl along with two stalks of finely diced celery and 1 cup of lowfat cottage cheese.

Finally chop up a couple of walnuts and add it to the bowl, with a bit of salt and a tablespoon or so of sweetener. I like things sweet so I use about 1-2 tablespoons of gentle sweet.

Stir it all up and enjoy!

Light Waldorf Salad

Ingredients

1 apple, diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
salt to taste
sweetener to taste (I use about 1-2 tablespoons gentle sweet)

Instructions

Combine all in a bowl and enjoy. 🙂

https://lifeofjoy.me/light-waldorf-salad/

The original recipe used spicy nuts, black pepper, and chili pepper flakes too but I don’t prefer spicy, so I leave out the spiciness.

I hope you enjoy this light lunch.

Until next time, God bless,
Michele ºÜº

Taco Mac Salad (THM E- low fat version)

March 31, 2020Chicken, Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Pasta, Salad, Tasty TuesdayLife of Joy

Taco Mac Salad is one of our favorite salads, if not meals. I have remade this as a healthy fats meal before using dreamfields pasta. But since this is a favorite meal, I looked for a way to make this without using that pasta.

The next solution I had was to use brown rice pasta or brown rice & quinoa pasta. You could use any alternative pasta like lentil, black bean, chickpea, or other such pasta. This night we used brown rice pasta from WinCo.

I took about a pounds worth of thawed boneless skinless chicken bread and put it in the food processor. I then ground it up, cooked it in a fry pan, and seasoned it with taco seasoning.

Meanwhile, I boiled the pasta and chopped up some vegetables. It’s important to measure the pasta so as not to overdo the carbs.

It is probably best to only 40g weight instead of 52-68g worth of pasta to give some space for some beans.

Tear the lettuce and chop the green pepper. I serve the diced tomatoes separately because the kids don’t like them. Drain, rinse, and heat up a can of black beans (it can be added to the meat).

Combine the drained, cooked pasta, beans, salad, and a cheese stick or two (sliced) in a salad bowl.

Serve with low fat/low carb dressing, low fat/fat free sour cream or yogurt and any other veggies you desire. I do choose to use some fat free cheddar cheese as well.

If you used a low enough carb pasta, you can probably add a tostada to it.

I added some nutritional yeast.

I hope you like it as much as we do.

Taco Mac Salad (THM E- low fat version)

Ingredients

brown rice pasta (or other alternative pasta, such as brown rice & quinoa, black bean, chickpea, lentil, etc)
boneless skinless chicken breast
lettuce
green pepper
tomato
low fat mozzarella cheese stick
fat free yogurt or fat free/low fat sour cream
taco seasoning (chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper)
black beans, drained and rinsed
tostada (corn, lime treated) optional

Instructions

process chicken breast into ground chicken in a food processor
cook chicken and add taco seasoning
boil pasta
chop veggies
add beans to meat
add meat, beans, and drained pasta to the chopped veggies
serve with toppings desired

https://lifeofjoy.me/taco-mac-salad-thm-e-low-fat-version/

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Pasta Salad Healthy Carb, Low Fat

July 2, 2019Chicken, Main Dishes, Pasta, Salad, Tasty TuesdayLife of Joy

I made this pasta salad last week and we devoured it. I like to make salads when it is blooming hot outside so that it doesn’t get quite so hot inside.

This salad is a THM E(nergetic) salad because I used pasta made from quinoa and brown rice that I get at Aldi. A serving is only 1/4 cup of the dry pasta so I added some lettuce to it as well. I had intended to make a different salad but this one turned out good.

So, here’s what I did:

Bring water to a boil and then add the pasta and cook as directed, drain, and rinse with cold water.

I steamed one bunch of broccoli, just so it wasn’t raw and rinsed it in cool water too.

I added 5 cups of chopped red leaf lettuce, 1 carrot shredded, about 1/4 cup diced green pepper, and a garnish amount of shredded parmesan cheese.

Then I took a piece of chicken breast, cut it thinly, seasoned it with salt and pepper and cooked it in a skillet sprayed with coconut oil.

I also added about 1/3-1/2 cup of the fuel pull 1000 Island dressing because it is very low fat (because I used even less that the recipe calls for so I don’t have to think about how much I’m using) and it needs some kind of flavoring. You could use any low fat healthy dressing but even my daughter liked it and she doesn’t care for dressings.

I added some grape tomatoes and some fat free cheddar cheese to my serving. (I view the fat free cheese as a personal choice item and try not to eat too much of it but I love cheese so this is helpful to me.)

Pasta Salad Low Carb

Ingredients

8 ounces dry penne quinoa and brown rice pasta, cooked, drained, and rinsed with cold water
1 bunch of broccoli, steamed, and rinsed in cold water
1 carrot, shredded
5 cups of chopped red leaf lettuce or leafy greens of choice
about 1/4 cup diced green pepper
garnish amount of shredded Parmesan cheese
1# chicken breast
1/3-1/2 cup low fat dressing (fuel pull creamy 1000 island)

Instructions

Cook pasta as directed on package
Steam broccoli
Season chicken breast with salt and pepper, cook, and slice (I slice the meat first, season and then cook when I'm in a hurry and don't have some already cooked.)
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and serve.
Serves 4

https://lifeofjoy.me/pasta-salad-healthy-carb-low-fat/

I hope you enjoy this pasta salad.

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Pasta Salad ‘E’

May 28, 2019Pasta, Salad, Side Dishes, Tasty Tuesday, VeggiesLife of Joy

I love pasta salad. I feared that following keto and now Trim Healthy Mama that I would never be able to really enjoy it again. My favorite pasta salads use Miracle Whip and that is not on either plan. I don’t like regular mayonnaise and I really don’t want to add another thing to make from scratch. See my dilemma?

Well, I found that I love the THM trimmy thousand island dressing . . . seriously, love it! I had some brown rice and quinoa pasta one day and decided to add a little of it to that pasta. Game Changer!!!!

So today I bring you one of my quick and easy variations on this pasta salad. It’s simple . . . boil the pasta. While it boils, prepare your veggies. Today I used one radish sliced thinly, some diced green pepper, and some cherry tomatoes, with a tiny bit of finely diced onion.

Drain and rinse the pasta with cool water and add to the bowl. Add a couple heaping spoonfuls of the dressing, salt, and pepper.

Combine.

Yum!!!

I also added a few slices of turkey pepperoni.

I’ll be sharing other variations as I make them. This is truly a favorite for me and am glad to have such a delicious E meal.

Pasta Salad ‘E’ Version

Ingredients

Quinoa and Brown Rice pasta, cooked and drained
radish, sliced thinly
couple tablespoons of diced green pepper
3-4 cherry tomatoes, cut
about tablespoon finely diced onion
2 heaping soup spoonfuls of trimmy thousand island dressing
salt and pepper to taste
about 8 turkey pepperoni slices, quartered (optional)

Instructions

Combine all and enjoy.

https://lifeofjoy.me/pasta-salad-e/

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Easy Salad 2

May 21, 2019Salad, Tasty TuesdayLife of Joy

Today I thought I’d share another quick salad we like to have for lunches. I use cooked chicken, either leftover from dinner or that I’ve cooked up in the crock pot and shredded.

We add this to a bowl of torn lettuce. My favorite lettuce is either a nice crisp green leaf or tender butter leaf but enjoy a quick romaine heart as well. Point is that we just either chop it quickly or tear it or dump it out of a bag.

I really like to make this an ‘E’ salad by adding a piece of toasted sprouted bread, tearing it into pieces and adding it as croutons.

To this I add my fuel pull trimmy thousand island dressing from the THM Cookbook. If I’m out of my dressing, then I massage 1/2 teaspoon of oil (generally MCT oil here) into my lettuce before adding anything else.

I like to serve some fruit with this to round out the meal. On this day, I had a half an orange. If I had been out of my dressing I probably would have squeezed one slice of my orange over the salad as well.

It’s a quick, easy lunch that is tasty.

I hope this helps you with your lunch ideas.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Taco Mac Salad Low Carb Version

April 16, 2019Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Pasta, Salad, Tasty Tuesdaylow carb, THM, THM-SLife of Joy

We have really missed this meal since going keto, low carb, and THM but last night I Trim Healthy Mama-fied it. I made it as an “s” meal, which is a healthy fats, low carb meal, because I wanted me some cheese. If you are not on a low carb or low fat diet, you can find the original recipe here.

Here are the changes I made:

used Dreamfields pasta
eliminated the tortilla chips but did have pork rinds on the table for any that wanted them
added some finely chopped mushrooms to the meat to boost the health benefits
Michael and I used the FP 1000 Island dressing instead of catalina or ranch

Start by boiling water for your pasta.

Chop up your lettuce and place it in the bowl.

Shred or cube the cheese. Unfortunately we used our cheddar cheese because I forgot and used it earlier in the week, so we had to use mozzarella.

Tiff added some diced red pepper. It wasn’t enough but it was what we had.

Brown the ground meat; we used ground turkey.

Quickly chop mushrooms in a food processor.

When most of the liquid is evaporated, season it however you like your taco meat seasoned. I used these with salt and pepper.

Very light on the cumin, oregano, and garlic powder. Heavier on the paprika, onion powder, salt, and pepper. And a bit heavier with the chili powder, unless you don’t prefer it.

When the pasta is done, drain and rinse with cool water. Then combine with the lettuce and meat.

Sometimes we keep the cheese cubes out for each to include themselves as sometimes they sink to the bottom of the bowl and they are not evenly distributed through the salad. The kids don’t prefer the tomatoes either.

Then I add my dressing.

YUM!!!

Taco Mac Salad Low Carb Version

Ingredients

1 box Dreamfields rotini, cooked, drained, and rinsed
1/2-1 cup diced green pepper
head of lettuce, broken into bite-size pieces
8 oz. cheese, shredded (We've used cheddar, colby-jack, and pepper jack cheeses.)
1 pound ground meat
8 ounces of chopped mushrooms (for added health benefits)
1 packet taco seasoning (or onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, oregano, and chili powder)
other items as desired: tomato, onion or green pepper, avocado, et cetera
dressing of your choosing

Instructions

Brown the ground meat.
Add chopped mushrooms.
Add seasonings of choice.
Combine all ingredients and serve with dressing of choice.

https://lifeofjoy.me/taco-mac-salad-low-carb-version/

Hope you like it as much as we did last night.

Michele ºÜº

Salad with Shrimp

April 2, 2019Salad, Tasty TuesdayLife of Joy

I’m going to share some salads that I’ve been having lately and ENJOYING. That is a vital point. It also helps that they have very few ingredients and are super simple to make.

I started by heating the frozen shrimp, seasoning them with a bit of onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. If I were smart and on top of things, I’d marinade the shrimp in some soy sauce or coconut aminos before cooking them but I’m not so I add it when cooking.

While that is cooking, I take a half piece of sprouted bread and put it into the toaster and proceed to rip several pieces of lettuce up into bite-sized pieces and putting them into the serving bowl.

Shrimp and bread are done. So add the shrimp and either cut or rip the toast for “croutons.”

It’s amazing how much that little half piece of toast adds to this salad.

To this I add a bit of the low fat low carb thousand island dressing and Enjoy! It really is quite good and very low calorie.

Salad with Shrimp

Ingredients

3-4 ounces of shrimp
3-4 large leaves of lettuce, torn
1/2 piece of sprouted bread, toasted, cubed

Instructions

Season shrimp as desired. I used onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and a bit of coconut aminos.
Combine all and enjoy.

https://lifeofjoy.me/salad-with-shrimp/

Well this is a quick and easy. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Michele ºÜº

Salads!

January 15, 2019Salad, Tasty Tuesday, VeggiesTHM-ELife of Joy

Tiffany and I are embracing the Thyroid Type Body Type Diet, since we both tested out as that body type. I’m very thankful for finding out that information because I’m able to tailor my Trim Healthy Mama food choices into this body type recommendations. In this case it means that we need to eat more Energizing meals which are healthy carb meals.

It is also highly suggested that we have salads with lots of raw veggies: peppers, cucumber, radish, green onion, tomato, and of course, lettuce and such. During the Stubborn Loser’s Menu from Trim Healthy Mama, Tiffany and I learned that this eating style will most definitely help us lose weight. So we are 100% in!

I shared last week, I think, how we prepped a bunch of chicken. It was six pounds that we did and we froze most of it. It’s a good thing too because we are only supposed to have 4 ounces of lean meat with our salad and a total of 1/2 teaspoon of fats with the meal, which falls right in line with THM-E meals. It continues to follow the same idea with only having 1/2 cup of a whole grain carb, which is the low end of THM suggestions.

So in the first salad pictured above we have some of the balsamic seasoned chicken with some fat free cheese. Yeah, I know, neither diet suggests this but I’m just gonna be real with you, we love cheese!!! And totally miss it, so we added 1/4 cup to this salad and are calling it our “personal choice” item.

In the same salad above we toasted a piece of Silver Hills, The Big 16 Sprouted Power Bread, and cut it up into croutons. That was our carb source. We take a little squirt (we put our MCT oil in a squirt bottle) of MCT oil and rub it onto the leaves of the salad. You’d be amazed at how far the little 1/2 teaspoon (or less) can go when rubbed or as Pearl would say, messaged onto the leaves.

In this next salad we used a half cup of brown rice as our carb source and some more of the chicken for our protein. We again used the message method for getting some moisture onto our salad.

Salad with squash and chicken ~ Lifeofjoy.me

We’ve really gone outside the box and used baked sweet potato for our carb source. We’ve even used quinoa. This week we used tilapia for our protein source because both diets recommend having fish a couple of times each week.

I’m so thankful for the “e” meals in THM because without them I would be so bored with this diet. For those familiar with THM and their recipes, we’ve had Cowboy Grub and will have Quinoa Goes Cajun too. As of last Tuesday, I’d lost a little over six pounds in just a week . . . of course those were pounds that I put on over the holidays, as I did not pay attention to even the 3-hour rule of eating, and thus overindulged a bit, as well as was a bit abusive to calories, meaning I ate too rich food.

If you are on THM and struggling with finding your balance of fuels, I suggest taking the body type diet questionnaire to determine which diet you should follow to lose weight and then incorporate more of those THM meals into your diet. (The one we did was from our chiropractor and I have seen that many chiropractors use the same or very similar thing.)

I hope this gives you some ideas to brighten up your carb source salads.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Broccoli Salad

September 11, 2018Main Dishes, Salad, Side Dishes, Tasty TuesdayLife of Joy

This is a salad with a twist. The flavors meld together nicely and this is a family favorite here. I am met with cheers when it is announced as a side dish for dinner.

One day I was looking for a bit of a different salad to have with dinner. I was tired of regular lettuce salad and was looking for a broccoli salad similar to the one I’ve had before–broccoli, red onion, and cheese with a mayonnaise dressing–when I came across this gem.

I had to change some things up a bit because of my picky family members and because I don’t keep pesto on hand most of the time. So, because of these tweaks, I can share it with you rather than just sharing a link and procedural pictures. But do go over to LivingChirpy and see her version of the recipe.

So, star by cooking 2 cups of broccoli. Steaming this is the best option. I have heard that you should never eat broccoli raw as it can slow the thyroid; also, cruciferous veggies can cause an inflammatory response, so don’t eat them daily.

When the broccoli has steamed to your desired level of doneness, about 5 minutes or so, remove it and let it cool off.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon. I’m using turkey bacon because the hubs cannot have pork at this time.

And begin chopping the other ingredients:

Lettuce

Bell Pepper

Cheese: I slice about 1/4″ slab off my block of cheese

Cut it in half

And cut into cubes.

Now it’s time to make the dressing. Here’s where I make some significant tweaks. Since Tiffany doesn’t like mayonnaise, I use heavy whipping cream and whip it a bit so that it is the consistency of mayonnaise.

Now, if you have pesto on hand, then you can simply slightly whip up the heavy cream and add the pre-made pesto to it. I, however, do not have any on hand but I keep pinenuts in the freezer for just such a time as this. OH! I should also admit that I do not have any fresh basil on hand either and use dried in a pinch. So here we go.

Place a few pinenuts and a bit of Parmesan cheese into a mini food processor.

(Upon re-reading the original recipe, I realize that I used a bit too much. ) But we still liked it. Ultimately you only need a tablespoon of pesto. There will not be exact measurements because I just grabbed bits of this and bits of that.

Add a good bit of dried basil.

Then drizzled in some olive oil.

And then about two tablespoons of heavy whipping cream . . . yep, just poured some in.

Now, give it a good whirl, until it is the desired creaminess.

Add all of this creamy loveliness, to the salad with all the rest of the ingredients.

Combine and serve!

I do need to say that I do not include the peas in this salad, that the original recipe called for because of the amount of fats here. On Trim Healthy Mama, we separate our fats from our carbs, except at specific times ( s helper and crossover meals) but if you are at the point in your journey where you can have this type of meal, I’m sure the peas would be a tasty addition.

Broccoli Salad

Ingredients

2 cups broccoli, steamed
6 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped or crumbled
about 1 cup diced bell pepper
about 2/3 cup small cheese cubes
2 cups or so of lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
about 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon basil pesto
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine lettuce, broccoli, bacon, bell pepper, and cheese cubes in a salad bowl.
Whip the heavy whipping cream and add the pesto or combine ingredients for pesto and the heavy whipping cream and whip together. 🙂
Add dressing, salt, and pepper.
Combine and serve.

https://lifeofjoy.me/broccoli-salad/

Here is my recipe to make easy pesto.

I hope you enjoy this salad as much as we do.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Sweet Potato Fries Salad

July 17, 2018Main Dishes, Salad, Tasty Tuesday, VeggiesLife of Joy

I’ve found a love for sweet potatoes since starting Trim Healthy Mama. I never found them very sweet before but now I think they are pretty sweet without anything on them. I used to like them candied with brown sugar and now I’m good with them plain. My family likes to add syrup to theirs though.

One of the ways I like them is made into fries. Tiffany and I have had them with chocolate “shakes” or frappes. So reminiscent of fries and a milk shake–one of my favorite treats long ago.

So, on to how to make it . . .

Cut the the sweet potato into “fries.”

Cut them a bit thinner to get done quicker.

When I finished cutting this one potato it was enough for two people.

I used my air fryer but you could bake them in the oven with just a light spray of oil and a sprinkling of salt. If you are baking in the oven be sure to put them on either a silpat, foil, or parchment paper.

My air fryer is also a toaster oven, so I have a rather large “basket.”

This day Tiffany and I used these in a huge salad.

I added low-fat ham lunch meat for protein and tomatoes for moisture.

It was delicious!

Bake the sweet potato fries for about 15-20 minutes on about 400º, turning as they brown on one side.

I hope you enjoy this “recipe.”

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Life Of Joy

A Place of Encouragement

Category Archives: Salad

Light Waldorf Salad

Taco Mac Salad (THM E- low fat version)

Pasta Salad Healthy Carb, Low Fat

Pasta Salad ‘E’

Easy Salad 2

Taco Mac Salad Low Carb Version

Salad with Shrimp

Salads!

Broccoli Salad

This is a salad with a twist. The flavors meld together nicely and this is a family favorite here. I am met with cheers when it is announced as a side dish for dinner.

Sweet Potato Fries Salad