Taco Salad

Contributed by Pam Edwards

1/2 cup prepared salsa
1/4 cup reduced–fat sour
cream
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound 93%–lean ground
turkey
2 large plum tomatoes,
diced
1 14–ounce can kidney
beans, rinsed

2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 cup chopped fresh
cilantro
8 cups shredded romaine
lettuce
1/2 cup shredded sharp
Cheddar cheese

Combine salsa and sour cream in a large bowl.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about two minutes. Add turkey and cook, stirring often and crumbling with a wooden spoon, until cooked through, about five minutes. Add tomatoes, beans, cumin and chili powder; cook, stirring, until the tomatoes begin to break down, two to three minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in cilantro and 1/4 cup of the salsa mixture.

Add lettuce to the remaining salsa mixture in the bowl; toss to coat. To serve, divide the lettuce among four plates, top with the turkey mixture and sprinkle with cheese.

361 calories per serving.

Favorite Shrimp Louie Salad

Contributed by Pam Clark

4 servings
1 plate chopped iceberg or
mixed green lettuce for
each serving
1 hard boiled egg, quartered
for each serving
1 tomato quartered for each
serving
1 celery stalk cut in four
pieces for each serving

1 carrot cleaned and cut in four
pieces for each serving
1 small bag of thawed frozen
salad shrimp — divide into
four even servings
2 olives for garnish

Place 1 leaf lettuce on bottom of salad plate for garnish. Place chopped lettuce in center and form like a hill. Place the shrimp bunched together on top. Place the celery, carrots, tomato wedges, and eggs evenly

all around

Dressing: A bottle of 1000 Island dressing + 1 Tbsp. of horseradish mixed thoroughly. Serve on side.

Calorie–Cutting Tactics

Contributed by Reader’s Digest

Eliminating those calories (as well as burning more through exercise) doesn’t have to be painful. Starvation and deprivation diets simply don't work. Instead, the little things are what matter. Here are some ideas to get you started: Eat breakfast

A study published in the February 2002 journal Obesity Research found that eating breakfast was a key behavior among people who averaged a 60–pound weight loss and kept it off an average of six years. Participants told researchers that skipping breakfast made them so hungry that they overate during other meals and snacked on unhealthy, high–calorie foods. Measure that cereal

The average serving of cereal is one cup. Yet most adults pour out at least twice that. Scoop and save

Every now and then someone comes up with such a cool kitchen utensil that you just have to rush right out and buy it. That’s the Lê Scoop. Its function: to scoop out the inside dough from a bagel, leaving you with the outer crust (and, of course, less fat and fewer calories). Fill the inside with nonfat cottage cheese sprinkled with ground flaxseeds for an easy, low–fat, low–calorie breakfast. Buy the smaller size

The larger the portion in front of you, the more you’ll eat. It’s a proven fact. When researchers sent 79 parents home with a video and either one– or 2–pound bags of M&Ms along with either a medium or jumbo size tub of popcorn for each family member, they ate more M&M’s from the two– pound bag than the one–pound bag, and about half a tub of popcorn, regardless of the tub size. Skip the soda

If you drink non–diet soda, you can cut 160 calories (per 16 ounces) out of your day just by switching to diet soda. Better yet, drink green tea or water flavored with a squeeze of lemon or lime. Start with soup

Studies show that people who start a meal with soup — especially broth– based soup — end up eating fewer calories by the end of the day without feeling hungrier.