Green Leafy Side Salad

For Wednesday, I tried a departure from the salad-only meal, combining a McDonald's side salad with a Quarter Pounder. I was hungry at lunch for more than a salad, and we had a family cookout planned for dinner; the side salad was my best option.

I was actualy quite impressed with the simple side salad from McDonald's. It had a variety of greens in the mix, more than I've seen in any other salad thus far. They provided a tasty mix of flavors and textures. I had to pass on the tomatoes. I plan to try some other varieties, but I was not ready during this meal. Also, I tried some ranch dressing on this salad. As I expected, I'm not crazy about it; the taste was okay when it got well-mixed with the other tastes, but I was rather unhappy to find dollops of ranch here and there!

Perhaps the most important lesson of this meal was the fact that my tummy can be satisfied by a burger and small salad. I do not need the fries to be full. I often tire of fries due to the frequency with which we eat fast food. The salad substitution gives me a good alternative and may even become my regular side. I know - still not incredibly healthy when eaten with a quarter pound of beef. But certainly a dietary improvement!

McDonald's Side Salad w/ Ranch Dressing: A surprising A-

Green Leafy Salad w/ Fruit & Nuts

I'm learning that the hardest part of this deal is not eating the salads - I may actually be on my way to enjoying the green! - but making time to post the pictures and reviews in a timely fashion. I am intent on catching up by the end of the week.

The salad reviewed here was eaten for lunch on Tuesday during a meeting of the Tifton Alzheimer's Memory Walk. My paternal grandmother has been stricken with the disease and is currently in the moderate-to-late stages. My parents are her primary caregivers and are very devoted, visiting her at least once almost every day at her home in a local assisted living facility. I am proud to serve on this fundraising committee seeking to end this horrible affliction.

For lunch during the meeting, I tried Wendy's new Apple Pecan Chicken Salad, suggested by friend Melissa Simms. I found a lot of good flavors in the salad but had trouble getting a sense of the whole because the apple and pecan pieces were so big they pretty much had to be eaten individually. Still, the pecans were very tasty - fresher than I expected - and added a cruncht texture. The appples were good. I did not enjoy the small purple-red berries in the salad (Sorry! I don't know what they are). I am also not crazy about the bleu cheese crumbles because of their bitter taste. I am not a fan of bitter.

Overall, I enjoyed the salad and may try it again. Still, it is not one of my favorites due to a dislike of some ingredients and the fac that some of the pieces are too big to enjoy as part of the salad.

Wendy's Apple Pecan Chicken Salad - Grade: B

Green Leafy Salad - Day 2

Today's salad is also of the fast food variety - the Grilled Chicken Ceasar Zalad from Zaxby's. I'm looking forward to taking in the Downtown Tifton Farmer's Market on Saturday to get fresh veggies and begin making salads. Until then, looks like fast food will do.

The Zaxby's Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad is a good basic salad with grilled chicken. It consists of lettuce, grilled chicken, bacon, melted cheese (Swiss, I think), croutons and a tangy Ceasar dressing.

The chicken is flavorful - kind of a mesquite grilled flavor. The bacon was actually a surprise. It was hiding under the chicken and lettuce at first. At first, I didn't know that I would like bacon with lettuce. I know - bacon bits are standard and have always been a part of my greenless salad. Still, I was surprised that crispy fried bacon provided a nice flavor in a forkful of green, leafy salad.

The melted cheese adds a nice softer texture to a crisp, mostly crunchy salad. The croutongs are actually small cubes of the usual Zaxby's Texas toast, cooked to a greater degree of dryness than the buttered toast that comes with most of their meals. It worked out pretty well.

The Ceasar dressing from Zaxby's was slighty tangy and added another nice layer of flavor to the salad.

At least 363 salad days to go. I would sure love to have some more fresh salad recipes coming into my inbox at CasaGregGoesGreen@bellsouth.net. Should be a fun day at the Tifton Farmer's Market on Saturday!

See you tomorrow with another salad review!

Green Leafy Salad - Day 1

Our Coastal Plain CASA supporters answered the challenge, and I'm now eating a salad a day for some time to come. We do have a small problem - the Chase Community Giving application got overrun with voters in the final hours, and the board that showed number of friends who voted - well, it crashed. I know it was close to 365 and probably went a bit over, so we have some time to work with. We'll just have to find an equitable solution before a full year is up. :)

In the meantime, today was Day 1. It was a busy court date, with staff and volunteers in attendance to advocate for fifteen foster children, so I had to grab a quick fast food salad for lunch. Today was the new Spicy Chicken Ceasar from Wendy's, pictured with this post. I found the chicken, of course, to be quite good. ;)

In all seriousness, the greens were fresh and they made for a nice blend of flavors with the spicy chicken - rather spicy, actually - and the cheese. I was less than impressed with the sliced cheese used in the salad, but it had a decent flavor. It's going to take me a while to like tomatoes - if I ever do. My wife tells me that fast food tomatoes are usually not great, so maybe when I can get to the farmer's market for fresh produce ...

Well, that's about it. I'm still hoping to get some salad recipes at my email address - CasaGregGoesGreen@bellsouth.net. Just one so far. I'm looking forward to trying a great variety of salads and need you to send some my way! I promise to try every one for as long as the challenge lasts - how ever many days that turns out to be!