Friday, May 25, 2012

Wedge Salads & Spicy Avocado Lime Dressing

More green! I do love green stuff a whole lot. It worked out well for me when I started Weight Watchers, the loving veggies and fruits thing. I quickly discovered how to make a big salad filled with 0 point things and selectively pick my point worthy toppings of choice. 

I'm always looking for ways to spice up a salad, make it main dish worthy, or tweak the flavors to make it a perfect side for any meal. One of my favorite ways to do that is to make my own salad dressing. I can eat a salad without dressing if it has the right toppings, but mostly, I have to have some dressing on my salad. Store bought creamy dressings are always high in points and so they are my favorites to make at home. Skinny Taste is the best source for healthy made at home creamy salad dressings.

Spicy Avocado Lime Dressing

(adapted from Skinny Taste's recipe)


Ingredients: 

  • 3 tablespoons powdered butter milk + 3/4 cup water (or 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk)
  • 1 jalapeno
  • 1/2 cup cilantro
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 green onion, sliced
  • juice of two limes
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar

Green. Green. Green. 


Directions: 

Add cultured buttermilk powder and water in a food processor first to combine. If you're using normal buttermilk, just toss it all together. Add in all the other ingredients. Most of them don't need to be pre-chopped. Deseed the avocado and remove the meat from the shell and just toss it in whole. Slice the jalapeno in half lengthwise and then again and toss in. Roughly chop the green onions. Add cilantro, sugar, garlic, lime juice, salt, cumin and pepper. Pulse until blended well. 

Note - If you don't add the jalapeno seeds, decrease the amount of sugar, it would probably be a little too sweet. 

Warning - this is SPICY! Like serious kick here folks. I liked it, but it's even spicier than the salsa I made earlier in the week. 

Last step. Don't misspell spicy when you go to take a picture of your yummy dressing for you blog. Oops. 


Yields 1 1/2 cups and 12 servings. Each 2 tablespoons serving is only 1 point! Add to your favorite salad or make one of these lovely wedge salads I made!

Wedge Salad



Ingredients: 

  • 1 head of iceberg lettuce
  • handful of chopped red grape tomatoes
  • handful of chopped yellow cherry tomatoes
  • julienned cucumbers
  • chopped green onions
  • turkey bacon bits
  • reduced fat blue cheese crumbles
  • balsamic vinegar
  • Spicy Avocado Lime Salad Dressing (or your choice)
  • any other toppings you like



Directions: 

Assemble. Really! It's that easy. Use a big mega knife (I used a watermelon knife) to slice a head of iceberg lettuce in half and then in half again. Cut off the hard end of edge wedge. These made BIG salads. If you want smaller ones you could cut each iceberg half into thirds instead of in half again. Carefully sprinkle on your toppings. Drizzle with your favorite dressing and splash with a little balsamic. 

The Weight Watchers points value of your wedge salad will depend on what you add to it. 2 tablespoons of reduced blue cheese crumbles are only 1 point. 1 tablespoon of turkey bacon bits is 1 point. 2 tablespoons of the dressing is 1 point. The rest is 0! My whole big salad was 3 points, and less probably! I didn't use a whole 2 tablespoons of dressing or blue cheese, but always better to round up a little. 




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