Healthy Cobb Salad

I love the idea of a Cobb salad.

The reality is a little sad – not only is it loaded with fat, but it feels heavy to eat.

However, I know that the salad has the makings of something really healthy – healthy fats from the avocado, great protein from the hardboiled egg…so I started thinking about how I could healthify it into something someone could eat every day without any fear of consequences on their health (hey, if Jennifer Aniston can do it, why not us?).

The first place to start was the dressing. Typically a Ranch-based or blue cheese-based dressing, this is usually HEAVY and loaded with calories and fat.

I used Greek yogurt (added protein!) with Dijon mustard and some lowfat feta to add flavour and creaminess.

The rest was easy – being vegetarian I don’t include chicken or bacon anyway, so no worries there.

The result? A delicious salad, under 250 calories, that will fill you up for hours (it’s got more than 10g of protein!). Oh, and it looks pretty too (so it would be great to make in bulk and take to a party!).

Enjoy!

Anna’s Healthy Cobb Salad

INGREDIENTS (serves 2 meal-sized salads):

3 cups mixed greens (try a mix of Boston lettuce, Romaine and spinach leaves for a great combo)
8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved
2/3 avocado, cut into slices
2 hardboiled eggs, peeled and sliced
Salt to taste

For the dressing:

2 tbsp nonfat/lowfat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
Squirt agave nectar (optional, but it helps cut the vinegar slightly. It’s so little that I wasn’t sure on measurement, so ‘squirt’ is the best description I could come up with!)
1/2 – 1 oz of lowfat feta, crumbled (about 1 – 1 1/2 tbsp)
1-2 tbsp water

1. For the dressing, put all ingredients except water in a blender and blend till relatively smooth (some feta bits will still be in there; that’s okay). Put in a small bowl and mix in water teaspoon by teaspoon, until you have the consistency you prefer (some people like it thinner, some like it thicker).

2. Put your salad greens in a mixing bowl and toss with your dressing. Divide between two plates.

3. Slice a third of an avocado into three slices and arrange on one third of each of the salad greens. Sprinkle some salt over the avocado to taste, if you like.

4. Line the halved cherry tomatoes down the centre of each salad.

5. Layer the slices of hardboiled egg over the right third of each salad plate, sprinkling with salt if you like.

6. Serve and enjoy!

Nutritional information per serving if serves 2:

PS I’ve linked this post up at Healthy Diva Eats‘ Marvelous in my Monday link party!