Atkins Induction Dinner - Day 12 (Chicken and Sausage Cobb Salad)

Chicken and Sausage Cobb Salad with Balsamic Dressing

We enjoyed another salad last night, just so we can prove to all the haters that Atkins Induction is filled with salads! Salads, salads, salads! (Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!) NOT! You can eat your 12-15g of Net Carbohydrate Foundation Vegetables any way you want them: as salads, as raw veggies, as cooked veggies! Just make sure you eat ‘em each day!

Atkins Induction Day 11 - A Newbie's Guide to Meal Planning!

Well whaddayaknow! We DO eat salads during Atkins Induction!

When you first start out on Atkins Induction, meal planning may feel daunting. How do you count carbs? How do you know you won’t run out too soon? How do you know WHAT to eat!? Oh my! Intimidating! You only have 20g of Net Carbs during Atkins Induction? As I’ve demonstrated on my fasting days (not part of Atkins Induction), it’s easy to eat 20g of net carbs in a single meal! The CHALLENGE is figuring out how to spread those carbs over an entire day – 3 meals and possibly snacks if you need them!

Yes, Virginia, You Do Eat Veggies On a Low Carb Diet

Summertime Tomatoes Shine In This Easy Caprese Appetizer Bites Recipe

Caprese Appetizer Bites make a quick
and delicious low carb appetizer!

I always get a chuckle from some of the assumptions made about low carb living. One of the biggest gross generalities about low carbers is that we don't eat any veggies and that we eat SO much protein. People always want to know whether or not I eat veggies at all…and don’t get me started about the questions that usually begin with, “How can you eat all that fat?”

The irony is that I eat way more veggies on a low carb diet than I ever did eating SAD (Standard American Diet). And summertime with its vegetable bounty is one of my favorite seasons. Honest, this is straight from the mouth of a low carber!

*the crowd makes a collective gasp and swoons*

And tomatoes, a summertime superstar, offer great options for quick and easy recipes! From salads to ingredients in main dishes and veggie side dishes, tomatoes brighten the summertime plate. Every spring, my blood starts pumping as I plan recipes highlighting the new tomato season.

I’m going to focus the next couple of posts on quick and easy vegetable dishes that feature some of the summer’s brightest stars, and why not kick this off with the beloved tomato? I want to illustrate that our low carb lifestyle isn’t all about the meat, although it’s lovely to fearlessly chow down

Salmon Salad Niçoise – IS the Big Salad

Salmon Salad Niçoise embodies summer.

Salmon Niçoise Salad is a graceful and elegant
main course salad.

Ah yes, the “big salad” of Seinfeld fame. I can’t help but think of Elaine every time I build a salad – which is daily.

I have at least one “big salad” per day. I admit it. They take different flavors and I would rival any of my big salads against the ones featured at the Seinfeld diner.

I play favorites, too. My current favorite big salads are a chopped salad, which I make almost every evening as part of our supper, and the more artfully arranged, Queen of Composed Salads – the Niçoise Salad, that’s a meal in and of itself.

I call the Salad Niçoise a “destination salad” because you don’t just “happen” or back into this salad. You plan and take measures to arrive at the Salad Niçoise as your main course. And oh my, the scenery in the making is outstanding. It is a deliberate and proud salad.

Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Feta, Mint and Cucumber

Sometimes an idea is soooo good, it stops the presses.

(click on the image to visit Fluffy Chix Cook's new nest!)

 

Zucchini Ribbon Salad - a light, refreshing
accompaniment to any protein!

Imagine my surprise, tooling along on Day 10 of a 2Week Atkins Re-Induction adventure. Happy, care free. Not a thought in my head. Except supper, or dinner by any other name. And I started hankerin’.

That’s right.

I hanker – especially around the 3 o’clock p.m. Witching Hour. Don’t hate.

I started hankerin’ after a photo I saw on Pinterest for this gorgeous zucchini ribbon salad. Now let’s understand this. I don’t eat raw zucchini. In fact, I have only eaten zucchini, raw, on one occasion in my life. I was 10 years old and Mama decided to “try it out.” She decided to throw a test balloon into the family atmosphere and see how it flew.

We loved it! Everyone, including the family dog, “Cat,” loved it! Understand, back in the 70s when Ranch was new, its popularity blazed like a comet! Why, in Texas,

Tuscan Kale Salad - It's Not Just For Breakfast Anymore

Now…Do I have your FULL attention?

Tuscan Kale Salad with Feta and Pine Nuts and a bit of
crumbled Low Carb Spinach Crackers with Pascal Manale Shrimp 

Look, I could sit here and probably create a cute story of how my mama hand-picked the kale from our back yard on Reed Road, when we were growing up. But the truth is to my knowledge, the only thing Mama and Daddy thought kale was fit for was as a decorative embellishment on a tray of fattening and wholly comforting appetizers, or maybe as a "platter carpet" for a plate of oozing and unctuous barbequed duck!

I was 48 years old before I figured out that I could eat the stuff planted in the border of my front flower bed. I was 49 years old before I decided kale was for kids and not for tricky rabbits!

So let me say that again slowly…in English. Kale is an acquired taste. Yep, I'm tellin' you the honest truth. I am.