Eating Leaves

Farmers market is open! I can do this diet MUCH more easily when there is good, fresh food available at the farmers market. I love to experiment with new ways to eat my old favorites.
I get my radishes and beets with the leaves still on them, and then use the leaves in a couple of ways:

1. As I cut the stems off of the beets and radishes, I choose the smaller leaves that are not bruised or torn. I wash them gently but thoroughly and drain them on a dishtowel. I add those leaves to a spinach salad, four or five of each kind to a large bowl of spinach. Then, I add a small handful of washed blueberries, a few mandarin orange sections, and a quarter of a red onion, sliced longways into narrow slices. The radish leaves add a nice peppery flavor, and the beet leaves give a sweeter taste and visual interest to the salad. I use a 35 calorie raspberry dressing. I used to add a couple of walnuts, but I don't miss them, especially if I'm eating this salad with an entree.


2. I use the large beet leaves to stuff with tomato, mushroom,  pepper, corn and hamburger. I blanch the leaves very briefly, then roll the stuffing into them, like grape leaves. Four of these fit into the HMR entree tray. I am replacing 1 meal a day of HMR entrees with my own 200 to 280 calorie meals. The trick is to balance small amounts of meat and grains with larger portions of vegetables. I have a couple of stuffing recipes that I will be sharing in the next week or so, after I get photos and calorie counts on them. I'm pretty proud of the stuffed beet leaves, and I think they even look like a professionally prepared meal.

I had the stuffed beet leaves for lunch with a cucumber, mint and onion salad (salt and fat free sour cream included). I had the spinach salad with extras for dinner with a beef stew entree and then made a pear/banana vanilla shake for dessert. I was satisfied with a full tummy and happy taste buds.