Use it or Lose it Salad

Last Thursday, the day Mark and I left for LA, I didn't have time for any kind of serious workout so I decided to "kill 2 birds with one stone" and take 30 minutes to walk down to the Mexican market and pick up 2 ingredients, Queso Fresco cheese and brown rice, to make a salad of some of the fresh veggies I had in my fridge before I left.

I had forgotten about the 2 bunches of radishes I bought at the farmers market, and radish greens usually don't last for more than a couple of days....and I have a hard time wasting food so I had to use them or lose them!

I pressure cooked the brown rice and when it was done, while steamin' hot I threw the radish greens and the last of the yellow chard in to wilt. I used a splash of olive oil and lime juice, added the rest of the veggies and crumbled some queso fresco cheese on top...voila....I had lunch for the afternoon and plenty that would keep for my return home (in fact thank goodness it was in the fridge, it was the first thing I ate after my Max V02 workout on Monday!)

Salad veggies

radishes and radish greens

yellow chard

tomato (3 small)

roasted corn

green onions

jalapeno

I rarely use cheese, not because I don't like cheese, but because as I do my calorie count per meal I start with my protein, then fat, and then carb, (if I'm using one) those are the calorie dense components. If I have any room for more calories I can add other stuff, but my protein count is 150-250 cal., my fat is almost always 100-150 calories, and the carb 100-170 cal. I count my mountain of veggies as 100 calories, so there you have it 450-650 calories in one meal...no room for cheese! In the case of this salad I didn't add protein, but I could have left out the oil (I found it didn't need it) and added some chicken or any other leftover meat protein.

Spanish for "cheese." Queso fresco has a testure similar to farmer's cheese. It's a crumbly white cheese made from partially skimmed milk, lightly tangy and sold in small round cakes. Queso fresco is used for fillings and crumbled into soups and over sauces. Queso fresco is often called queso blanco.