Once more along the vein of use what you have to feed yourself, last night I gobbled up a huge and hugely satisfying salad that is totally worth sharing with you fine people. Let me assure you that it tasted way better than it may look in this photo.
After Easter dinner, is your refrigerator bursting at the seams with spiral sliced ham? It’s a fine problem to have, of course. But ham can be a bit monotonous after a while. Last night we were not in the mood for quiche, which is my go-to mechanism for food reinvention. This salad makes good use of at least some of your bounty without heating up the oven or loading your belly with more butter and crust.
Start with chopped up romaine lettuce and torn raw spinach, two cups of each, which is pretty much the base for all my salads. Add to that some spiral sliced ham, about a cup of drained canned pineapple (certainly fresh would be better, but we’re using what we have, right?) and a small scoop of cottage cheese. I think I used half a cup. Add some black pepper.
The cold, wet pineapple and cottage cheese meant I did not need a single bit of dressing or oil, so it stayed pretty “clean” as messy salads go. It’s really high protein thanks to the meat and cheese. The ham itself was flavorful enough without adding any of my coveted sea salt. And the fresh greens were so crunchy, satisfying. The whole glorious situation was under 450 calories, and I wasn’t even able to finish this bowl, which is super unusual for me. Like, normally Handsome is giving me the sideways eye after catching me licking my plate or bowl clean.
That’s it! I’m having such fun in the kitchen lately, using what we have instead of seeking out elaborate recipes every day. What have you drummed up recently?
I’m signing off now to run four quick miles, do some yoga, and get the farm going for the day. It’s going to be gorgeous outside and I have lots of gardening on my mind. Wishing you and yours the best Tuesday you’ve had in a long time!
“Discipline is remembering what you want.”
~David Campbell
XOXOXOXO
I love sweet and salty…not so sure about the wet part. lol My Mom used to serve a ‘salad’ of 1/2 a canned pear with cottage cheese mixed with Miracle Whip and I loved it! I might need to make a stop at the store on the way home. 🙂
Oh I have never added anything like Miracle Whip! Sounds very mid-century-hip. Have you ever been to Roman Nose State Park? One of my earliest memories of cottage cheese with fruit was from there. I ordered a “salad” which was a shallow bed of lettuce plus cottage cheese plus canned chunks of pineapple, I was in love forever and ever.
(This “salad” isn’t terribly wet, just enough to not need dressing. LOL) xoxo