Salad Daze

All I've been wanting is salad, salad, smoothies, salad, salad, grapefruit out the wazoo, and more salad. This is one of my favorites. To save time and money, I bake my own tofu and cook the rice ahead of time. I also waited patiently until the salad greens and mixed veggies went down in price. Yesterday I went out and stocked up on fruits, veggies, and tofu. Everything I bought was on sale for very good prices. I was so happy! I plan on eating delicious meal-sized salads for the next month. The weather got cold again, so eating all these fresh greens is a nice way to put a little spring back in my life. This particular salad is simple, tasty, and by far one of my favorites. It's also quite easy to make it into a whole meal for only a few calories (gotta work on that winter pudge).

Simple Asian Salad ("simple" because it doesn't use any fancy dressings)

Baked Asian-style tofu, diced
Leftover rice, quinoa, or other grain of choice
Red onions, thinly sliced
Red pepper, thinly sliced
Sliced almonds
Mandarin oranges, each segment halved
Mixed salad greens (I like to use a mix of frisee, baby romaine, baby spinach, mache, parsley, etc. No iceburg for me).

Feel free to add:
Some thinly sliced carrot
Thinly sliced celery
Snow peas

I like to layer mine up then I sprinkle it with just a little bit of tamari and rice vinegar for flavor.

When made using: 4 oz. baked, marinated tofu; 1/4 c. no-sugar-added mandarin oranges, 1/2 Tb. sliced almonds, 1/2 c. cooked rice, and 1/2 Tb. tamari over about 3-4 c. mixed greens, you're only looking at about 400 calories. This salad makes a great lunch. If I get hungry later on in the day around 3 or so, I usually follow this up with a healthy smoothie. Delicious.