My Favorite Salad

I am not a huge salad eater.  It makes me feel like a rabbit to munch on lettuce.  But cheese is another story.  Man, do I love cheese.  Brie, Gorgonzola, Blue, Mozzarella, you name it.  My favorite cheese is soft goat cheese.  So its no wonder that my favorite salad is topped with lots of hot, toasted goat cheese.  Goat cheese is high in saturated fat and is probably the sole reason for my cholesterol being as high as it is.  However I am a firm believer that "everything in moderation" is the key to a successful diet.

Since I don't like salads much, I find that a little goat cheese goes a long way to get me to eat a huge ole salad, like I did tonight!  It was very filling, and because of the cheese in the salad, I didn't find a need to use much dressing at all.

I always wondered how restaurants warm goat cheese without it melting.  I've learned that part of it is in the massive amount of oil they no doubt fry the goat cheese in.  Of course this had to be substituted so I came up with a better idea - using egg whites and a small amount of breadcrumbs to get a crispy outside but keep the rounds of goat cheese in tact.



Here's how to make my favorite salad:

 

I made sure to chop of LOTS of fresh veggies for this salad tonight.  I also added some leftover chicken breast from last night's whole chicken, and a tablespoon of POM's Almond and Cranberry Salad Accents to add some crunch and sweetness. 

One trick for making sure your salads are as healthy as possible is to ALWAYS have your dressing on the side and dip your fork into the dressing with each bite.  This way you'll have just enough dressing to add flavor and take away from the dryness of the lettuce.  The point is to leave out those empty calories and fats and replace them with things that are more filling and more worth it - like goat cheese!