Spring is almost here. Farmer’s markets are teaming with produce that is like a middle step-child.

“Notice me! Please!”

There are heirloom cherry tomatoes. Some canary-yellow, coffee-brown, or burgundy, with their Hunchback of Notre Dame shapes that deserve every bit of attention they cry for. When you pop one into your mouth and taste the silky vine still on it, you should cry that they are ignored.

Perhaps you know of the Kalamata olive’s cousin, the Sicilian olive? They are packed in jars in the beginning of December, before they are fully ripe. They are set to soak and hibernate for the winter. They are not the same old drab purple or black that you are used to. You can even see some reddish spots dispersed through the olive green, and they punch your mouth with their salinity and tartness that add a new dimension to a boring old spring salad.

Yes, the arrival of fresh produce demands that you leave the clunky salad dressings like a wallflower at a high school dance. The king and queen of this prom are the heady, fruity extra-virgin olive oil, (only the best kind,) and the voluptuous white wine vinegar. Put anything else on this salad, and you might as well choke her with the prom dress.

Who said you have to eat a lot of carbohydrates to eat Italian? Use the great produce that we have available for us at this time of year. Don’t skimp on the tomatoes or the olives. They are what make this dish extra special.

Baby Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken, Sicilian Olives, Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, and Bocconcini

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• 40 grams baby spinach
• 10 Sicilian olives
• 3 Heirloom cherry tomatoes, split into half
• 1 ball Bocconcini cheese, torn
• 100 grams chicken breast, grilled
• 50 grams cucumber, julienned
• To taste kosher salt
• To taste 5 pepper blend, freshly ground
• 30 mL good extra-virgin olive oil
• 15 mL good white wine vinegar

Method:

1. Arrange baby spinach, olives, heirloom cherry tomatoes, Bocconcini, chicken breast, and cucumber in an attractive fashion in a large salad bowl.
2. Season the salad with the salt and the pepper.
3. Dress with the olive oil and white wine vinegar.

Net Carbs: 9.42 grams

1. Toss and serve/eat immediately.

Look Ma! Barely Any Carbs!

How does one eat well, and avoid all those empty carbohydrates?

I used to think that a salad was what women ordered when they went out for lunch. Where was my hamburger and poutine? Well, I admit it, I was so wrong.

Salads are a great vehicle for lunch. Infinitely customizable, you can add or subtract to your liking, anything goes.

This salad was made with what was near at hand; spiced walnuts, some cherry tomatoes, a log of goat cheese, and chicken fresh off the grill. The olive oil and the red wine vinegar tie everything together while cutting through the richness of the goat cheese.

For those of you out there who have adjusted your eating lifestyle, this salad will put the zip back into lunch, and make you wonder how you subsisted on just burgers and poutine.

Baby Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken, Goat Cheese, and Spiced Walnuts

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

For the Chicken:

• 200 grams (7 oz) chicken breast
• 5 g (1 tablespoon) Montreal Steak Spice

For the Salad:

• 50 g (2 cups) baby spinach
• 100 g (4 oz) chicken breast, grilled (see below)
• 50 g (about 2 oz) spiced walnuts (toasted is fine)
• 50 g (about 2 oz) goat cheese, crumbled
• 2 cherry tomatoes
• 15 mL (3 teaspoons) extra-virgin olive oil
• 10 mL (2 tablespoons) red wine vinegar

Method:

For the Chicken:

1. Preheat grill to high; clean and oil.
2. Rub chicken with steak seasoning, then place presentation side down.
3. Cook for 2 minutes, then turn chicken over.
4. Cook another 2 minutes, then turn chicken 90° and flip. (The rungs of your grill will form a hatch mark this way.)
5. Cook another 2 minutes, then flip.
6. Continue cooking the chicken breast until the inside is no longer pink. This may take from 2 to 4 minutes. The inside should be cooked, not dry, but not pink either.
7. Allow chicken to rest for 10 minutes; slice on bias.

For the salad:

1. Place baby spinach in a large bowl.
2. Top with grilled chicken, walnuts, goat cheese, cucumber, cherry tomatoes.
3. Combine olive oil and red wine vinegar, pour into salad.
4. Toss to combine and eat.

Special thanks to Cathy for letting me know I had put the wrong weight for the chicken in the recipe. Oops!

Nothing says awesome like this adaptation of the sandwich

I have cut the grains out of my diet for now, and that leaves me longing for a sandwich here and there. Wait! I can still have the sandwich, just not the bread.

Why should one deny themselves the love? After all, the inside of the sandwich is just as important as the vehicle.

A popular sandwich down south is cured ham, avocado and sweet butter. This salad is a re-creation of that sandwich. Instead of bread being the vehicle, I used baby spinach. What a tasty difference.

Baby Spinach with Prosciutto and Avocado

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 50 grams baby spinach
• 100 grams proscuitto (thinly cut if you please…)
• 1/2 avocado, peeled, stone removed, sliced
• 20 grams carrots, julienned
• 40 grams cucumber, julienned
• 45 mL ranch dressing
• to taste salt and cracked black pepper

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients and enjoy!

Total carbs: 18.09

Find the FDX file (Living Cookbook) here.

No picture, sorry! It ended up in my belly!

Since my diagnosis, I have been getting more and more vegetables and fruits in my diet. In fact, I have pretty much made half of my meal a veggie of some sort.

I pray I don’t get tired of this, but I think the best way is to switch it up a little. You want a nice salad? Throw everything but the kitchen sink into it. You won’t be sorry!

Mesclun Salad Mix with Avacado, Shrimp, Crab and Green Beans

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 50 g Mesclun salad mix (this is enough to fit a large bowl)
• 2 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• 40 g broccoli florets
• 10 green beans, blanched
• 1/4 cucumber, julienned
• 4 shrimp, jumbo (peeled, deveined, cooked in butter)
• 30 g Alaskan crab meat, cooked
• 1/2 avocado, peeled, sliced
• 30 mL caesar dressing (make sure it is a good brand, with no sugar – or make your own!)
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar

Method:

1. Place all ingredients in a large bowl big enough to mix dressing and vinegar.
2. Stir; eat. Enjoy!

Total carbs on this meal: 22g (9.5 is fiber) (According to Living Cookbook) For those of you who have Living Cookbook, right-click and save this Link to Salad.

Now, I realize that this meal is a little on the light side. It is lunch after all! Okay, what is the deal with all the measurements? Well, I am in the middle of testing a cool scale for you all. Follow me? Well, you’ll see.

Enjoy your lunch folks, I did.

What do you like to put into your salad?