My New Favorite Summer Salads

One of my all time favorite "meals" in the summer is a nice fresh salad and I have really branched out to try lots of new varieties this year.  I thought I'd share a few of my favorites today.



Most of the salads start with either a traditional tossed salad base with lots of fresh vegetables or a bowl of these baby crispy green leaf lettuce; they are so crunchy and add a great texture to my salads.



I've also started using Skinny Girl Poppyseed dressing on just about everything since on Weight Watchers it's zero points per serving and it's a nice light summary taste that I just love but you could substitute just about any vinaigrette or Italian dressing too and I'm sure they'd still be delicious.



You'll notice each salad pairs fresh greens with fruit, a lean protein, and either croutons or nuts for a little added crunch.  So far I have not hit upon a bad combination!

Pineapple Shrimp salad:

For this salad I quickly topped a bowl of crispy greens with diced pineapple, grilled shrimp, and my poppyseed dressing for a nice, light summary salad.  It's the first times I've ever tried shrimp on my salad and I really liked it!  The entire salad was zero points too and so filling!


In case your wondering that's Peach Mango Green Tea by Crystal Light for only 1 point in my cup

Almond chicken 

We often have leftover chicken tenderloins so I diced up some chicken  and an apple on top of my crispy greens and added 2 Tablespoons of almonds and 2 Tablespoons of fat free croutons with my fat free dressing the entire bowl was only 4 points.  


Peach Feta salad

I found some fat free feta cheese at the grocery store and knew I wanted to try it on my salad.  One ounce is zero points and it packs a nice flavor kick.  I paired the feta cheese with fresh peaches and pecans for a low 3 point meal that was quite tasty!



Orange Chicken

We had some leftover homemade breaded chicken tenders that I managed to make for just 2 points a serving.  I chopped it up over a green salad with some fresh sliced oranges.  I added croutons for another 2 points and since I ran out of pecans so with only 2 on my salad I didn't count them at all.  Another 4 point filling salad.


Strawberry chicken

This salad was made based on Panera Bread's Strawberry chicken poppyseed salad.  I just love it and could eat it every day.  If I had blueberries and pineapple on hand I would have added those too!  I took a traditional tossed salad and topped it with fresh sliced strawberries, leftover baked chicken breast and my poppyseed dressing for a nice zero point meal.



Grape Tuna

I always topped my salads with tuna but had stopped since joining Weight Watchers until I found light Hellman's dressing at the store.  All the other mayo brands we tried were awfully high in points but at just 2 points per 2 Tablespoons I can mix up an entire can and even with my 2 Tablespoons of croutons this salad was only 2 points (since I just use half a can).  I added some fresh grapes for that burst of sweetness and a bit of poppyseed dressing.



Very Berry Chicken

For this salad I paired our traditional tossed salad with leftover grilled chicken, strawberries, blueberries, and a few almonds.  This salad was only 3 points.



Do you have a favorite salad combination I should try?  I'd love to hear it!!

Linking Up With:



Comments

  1. Amy JohnsonJuly 20, 2019 at 10:55 AM

    Oh my gosh, all of these look so good! I'll have to check out that dressing! I usually just use the Aldi light vinaigrette.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amy at Ms. Toody Goo ShoesJuly 20, 2019 at 4:15 PM

    They all look delicious. I always love fruit, nuts and a little cheese in my salad, and I also love to add is avocado. It's a tasty, healthy, mono-unsaturated fat. I also like to add black beans, chicken, shrimp, salmon or rare tuna. Yum! I've got to try that dressing. I love Skinnygirl Popcorn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3July 22, 2019 at 6:08 AM

      I've been wanting to get some salmon to put on my salad; I LOVE salmon!

      Delete
  3. MicaJuly 21, 2019 at 2:27 AM

    Yum, these all look so good! I love a salad, but haven't tried any fruit other than mangoes in mine! Thanks for sharing!

    Hope that you are having a great weekend :)


    Away From Blue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3July 22, 2019 at 6:09 AM

      I'm pretty sue if you like mangoes on your salad you'll enjoy many of the other fruits too. So far I have not found a fruit that doesn't work well on salad.

      Delete
  4. Dara @ Not In JerseyJuly 22, 2019 at 9:41 AM

    I love salads. I like the skinny girl raspberry dressing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3July 22, 2019 at 1:37 PM

      That one is good too; so far I've like just about all of their dressings I've tried. The honey mustard had too much of a kick for me but my husband uses it... while cracking jokes about being a skinny girl.

      Delete
  5. Dee | Grammy's GridJuly 23, 2019 at 3:48 PM

    Thanks so much for linking up at the #UnlimitedMonthlyLinkParty 2! Shared ♥

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kippi O'HernJuly 24, 2019 at 9:20 AM

    I am hungry from looking at these beautiful salads. Pinned!
    Have a great summer,
    Kippi
    Ps. Pls share this post over at the YTS blog hop
    Kippiathome.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3July 24, 2019 at 4:37 PM

      Thanks so much for pinning! I'll hop over to the blog hop now.

      Delete
  7. Sylvia Graceforagypsy.comJuly 25, 2019 at 1:00 AM

    These salads look so good! Pinning them!

    ReplyDelete
  8. thepaintedapron.comJuly 25, 2019 at 8:22 AM

    They all look so good! I loved Queen Bee and thinking about reading Summer of '69, is it good?
    Jenna

    ReplyDelete
  9. Julie's Creative LifestyleJuly 26, 2019 at 3:09 PM

    All of these salads sound so good and perfect for a summer lunch or meal.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Miz HelenAugust 3, 2019 at 3:20 PM

    Congratulations, your awesome post is featured on our Top Ten Features this week at Full Plate Thursday! Thanks so much for sharing with us and hope you will come back soon!
    Miz Helen

    ReplyDelete

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