E2L Spinach Salad

If you read both my blog and Rose’s you know that we have decided to do the 6 week “Eat to Live” (E2L) program together starting today. I find that doing the 6-week program periodically is a great way to refocus my eating on health and it also helps to reduce my cravings for less than healthy foods (sorry pasta I will miss you). I will be posting my recipes and telling you how I am modifying them for my hubby since his weight is perfect (lucky man).

Like most weekends we started late this morning with brunch at 11 am. I had leftover black-eyed peas from yesterday (no brown rice) and the hubby had the same thing with a double serving of rice. Then we had a quick spinach salad for the added nutrition. I included broccoli sprouts since they have been reported to be even healthier than eating full-grown broccoli. The only difference in the salad I had versus Dan was that I included a tablespoon raw sunflower seeds on his salad. Here is what I made this morning.

E2L Spinach Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:

8 cups baby spinach
1 cup broccoli sprouts
¼ English cucumber, cut in half and thinly sliced
½ cup salsa
1 tablespoon of tofu sour cream, drizzled on top

Directions:

Place the spinach on the plate, top with sprouts, cucumber, salsa and finish with a nice drizzle of tofu sour cream.

I was able to make the tofu drizzle by keeping my tofu sour cream in a squeeze bottle in the refrigerator. The squeeze bottle has two purposes. First, it looks nicer drizzled on top of things. Second, I use less, which is an added benefit.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 65.43
Calories From Fat (12%) - 7.78

Total Fat - 0.91g
Saturated Fat - 0.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 497.77mg
Potassium - 921.74mg
Total Carbohydrates - 10.89g
Fiber - 4.88g
Sugar - 3.15g
Protein - 6.07g

Comments:

This salad has a huge amount of flavor from the salsa and tofu sour cream. It has nice textural variation and is packed with nutrition. Each serving of this salad contains approximately 11,500IU of vitamin A, 35mg of vitamin C, 145mg of calcium, 3.7mg of iron, 240mcg of folate, 590mcg of vitamin K, 95mcg of phosphorus, and 110mg of magnesium. Can you believe all that nutrition for less than 70 calories?

Not the most conventional brunch, I know. But it was tasty, filling and ridiculously healthy.

Unrelated note:

I soaked a pound of great northern beans overnight and have them simmering now. I will be modifying a recipe in Deborah Madison’s “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” for tonight. We will be having a modified White Bean and Vegetable Stew in Red Wine Sauce as part of dinner tonight.

For now I am off to get a few things accomplished. I hope you all have a great day.