I once had a hanker to munch
Only carbs and the sweet stuff for lunch
I was finicky - lazy! -
and picky like crazy
But now I'm just craving some crunch!
Well I never liked salads much. Actually I didn't like vegetables, especially anything green, leafy, or particularly good for me. Then I went on a low-carb eating plan and suddenly my tastes have changed. I've no big urge to eat junk, even when it's around me. But I find that by nighttime, what I really want - dream of - is a salad.
A big salad with shredded romaine leaves and a few spinach leaves and some broccoli tips. With tiny cubes of avocado. Little pieces of bell pepper. And daikon radish. And a few broken up pecan halves. And a few thinly sliced mushrooms. And plenty of cracked black pepper with the homemade blue cheese dressing (thanks Karen, I couldn't believe how wonderful that recipe came out! -- I have refused to buy the stuff for years, as the store-stuff has gotten sweeter until it's damn near a dessert, but this is awesome!). Some real crunchy bacon and/or a breast or more of shredded baked chicken mixed in. I add water to the blue cheese so it gets semi-thin enough to stir into the salad well and toss it all together. Then sit down for a truly wonderful meal.
I cannot believe that I actually look forward to salad. My only regret is that I can't put MORE vegetables in it. I think to myself, "How can I get rid of carbs early in the day so I can have more way-cool veggies with my dinner salad?" Which in my case is literally dinner.
I can't believe I can taste the "sweetness" of bell peppers.
I find this almost as amazing as how much better I feel and the sudden and complete vanishing of my serious asthma. I started this WOE midday on Jan 2, and while I'm too heavy to easily measure success with a scale, it is clear I am losing at least something.
One thing I've gotten from reading this message board: Karen, I and many others are forever in your debt. I truly believe that staying on this WOE depends on finding decent foods and recipes and help with them; I truly believe that staying on this WOE is a matter of life and death for many people, and miserable existence vs. truly living for others, and that the seemingly simple thing of a wonderful cook sharing her time and creativity with the public on a BBS is more than that -- really -- I think in your own way, you are saving lives and making a substantial change in your corner of the universe. I really admire that. Thank you.
.... especially for being so kind to the obviously cooking-handicapped like me.
So after all that.... I would like to know, what is that people put in their favorite salads? What kind of salads are people's favorites? I'd really love to see a thread about that. I hope it's not wrong of me to start one -- without having a recipe besides my simple list above!
Regards,
PJ
P.S. Dang. I just realized that I came up with a limerick, not an ode - talk about miles apart! - but I was hoping that a thread on yummy salads would itself function as an ode.