Healthy Salad Recipes

As soon as I see the word salad, three words instantly spring to mind - diet food, boring and tasteless. However, as these recipes from Salad Light show, that's not always the case. Some salads can actually be high calorie, usually because of the dressing. Sometimes because of the ingredients though - our local Italian restaurant does a "pizza salad" which is basically a plate full of lettuce topped with three huge slices of pizza ! I like the sound of these recipes, which are far from boring and tasteless, and I will also be testing Salad Light 1-calorie-per-spray salad dressing shortly.

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Salads can be deceptively high in calories when drenched in oil-laden dressings. But, by substituting traditional and even light salad dressings with a few sprays of Salad Light you can dramatically reduce the number of calories in your salad. From the makers of FryLight, Salad Light is another great 1-Cal-per-spray innovation.

In two varieties, Caesar Dressing and Balsamic Dressing, Salad Light is a quick, convenient and tasty answer to even healthier salads. To whet your appetite, here are four super main meal salad recipes - Mediterranean Bean Salad, Spinach & Chickpea Salad, Chicken & Grape Salad plus Waldorf Salad.

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Mediterranean Bean Salad - Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 3 minutes

115g fine green beans, trimmed

400g can borlotti beans, drained

400g can cannellini beans, drained

Salad Light Balsamic Dressing

100g 50% reduced fat feat cheese, crumbled

1 small red onion, finely sliced

Bring a pan of water to the boil, drop in the green beans and cook for 2 -3 minutes, drain and refresh under cold water. Cut into 3 cms lengths. Put into a bowl and add the drained borlotti and cannellini beans.

Spray the salad with Salad Light about 10 times and toss together

Scatter over the feta cheese and red onions, spray again about four times and serve.

Per serving

215 kcals

3.5g fat, of which 1.5g saturated fat

12g protein

31g carbohydrate

7g sugar

10.5g fibre

1.5g salt

Low GI

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Spinach & Chickpea Salad - Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

400g can chickpeas, drained

1 red onion, fine chopped or thinly sliced

150g cooked baby beetroot, quartered

Salad Light Balsamic Dressing

4 good handfuls baby spinach, approx. 100g.

Put the chickpeas, red onion, baby beetroot into a bowl and spray about 10 times with Salad Light.

Add the spinach leaves, toss together and divide between four plates, spray each about 3 times and serve.

Per serving

131 kcals
3g fat, of which 0.5g saturated fat

7.5g protein

19g carbohydrate

5g sugar

5g fibre

0.6g salt

Low GI

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Chicken & Grape Salad - Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

300g chicken breasts, skins removed

FryLight Sunflower or Olive Oil spray

1 tsp dried Italian herbs

Salad Light Caesar Dressing

Mixed salad leaves or rocket

200g red or green grapes

Cut chicken into thin strips, put into a bowl and spray about 10 times with FryLight. Add the herbs and toss together.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan, toss in the chicken and stir-fry for about 6 - 8 minutes until golden and cooked. Turn the chicken into a large bowl to cool a little.

Meanwhile add a good handful of salad leaves or rocket to each serving dish and spray each with Salad Light three times.

Halve the grapes and scatter over the salads, then add the chicken and spray each again four times.

Per serving

123 kcals

1.5g fat, of which 0.5g saturated fat

18.5 protein

7.7g sugar

0.5g fibre

0.1g salt

Low GI

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Waldorf Salad - Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

3 crisp medium eating apples, red or green skin varieties

Juice of half a lemon

4 sticks celery

50g walnuts or pecan nuts

Salad Light Caesar Dressing

2 Little Gem lettuce

Quarter, core and cut the apples into smallish chunks. Toss them in the lemon juice as you go, to prevent discolouring. Wash and slice the celery slight on the diagonal.

Put the walnuts or pecan nuts in a frying pan and dry fry for 5 - 10 minutes until lightly browned. This will make them crunchier and more digestible.

Put the drained apple and celery into a bowl, spray 10 times with Salad Light and toss together.

Divide between individual bowls or plates. Quarter the lettuce and arrange at the side of the salad. Spray each salad 3 more times then scatter over the nuts.

Per serving

131 kcals

9.5g fat, of which 1g saturated fat

2.5g protein

10g carbohydrate

9g sugar

2g fibre

Trace salt

Low GI

Salad Light is available from most larger branches of Sainsburys and Tesco.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Cookery book review : Great British Food Revival

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Wild & Wonderful Alaska Seafood recipes

Parma Chameleon ! - recipes using Parma ham