Fast and Filling Summer Supper
By Alice Osborne
It's smoking hot in Utah right now, which means I'm in no mood to turn on the oven. And gathering from our national weather report, which says it's pretty hot everywhere, I'm guessing you aren't turning your oven on either. So in looking for some healthy ways to deal with supper, I found this delicious recipe (courtesy of Stephanie Romine) on one of my favorite fitness websites, dailyspark.com.
It's a classic restaurant salad filled with plenty of tasty ingredients: hearty romaine lettuce, avocado, chicken, bacon, hard-boiled eggs and more. Unfortunately, many of those ingredients are high in fat and calories. The restaurant version can have more than 500 calories and 25 grams of fat. This recipe, made with whole-wheat tortillas for some fiber and staying power, yields about 350 calories and 15 grams of fat-a better option.
This famous salad comes from the Brown Derby in Los Angeles, and is delicious and easy to make. Even better, it's open to interpretation; you can add or omit ingredients to suit your tastes and depending on what you have on hand. For instance:
- Add extra lettuce and baby spinach and ditch the wraps for a traditional salad.
- Swap out the chicken and turkey bacon for hard-boiled eggs if you don't eat meat.
- Skip the bacon if you're watching your sodium.
- Add shredded carrots, shredded summer squash or zucchini, diced cucumber, sliced fresh mushrooms, and diced bell peppers for extra servings of vegetables.
- Substitute your favorite low-calorie dressing.
- Use turkey in place of chicken.
- Replace tortillas with whole grain flatbread.
- Add 1/4 cup of finely diced fresh herbs (basil or cilantro is ideal).
Cobb Salad Wraps
The perfect meal for a hot summer evening!
Serving size: 4
Calories per serving: 243
8 ounces cooked and shredded
1/2 cup avocado finely diced
4 strips turkey bacon cooked and crumbled
1 rib celery finely diced
2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon style mustard
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 teaspoon dill weed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 leaves Romaine lettuce torn
4 8-inch whole wheat flour tortillas warmed
1 large tomato finely diced
Directions:
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Alice Osborne
Weekly Newsletter Contributer since 2006