Cobb Salad With Blue-Cheese

by Colleen Rush


We lighting a salad superhigh in fat, calories, and sodium.Colleen Sullivan, beauty and fashion editor, loves Cobb salad: mixed salad greens, chicken, tomatoes, avocado, bacon, blue-cheese crumbles, and blue-cheese dressing.Colleen likes the contrasts in a classic Cobb—creamy, crunchy, tangy, and smoky—all in one meal. But it comes at a cost: The salad is superhigh in fat, calories, and sodium. Here’s how we lightened it and still kept the flavor.

Bacon
Order 11?2 tablespoons (that’s two slices, or half the usual amount) and use yor fork to spread it around your salad, so you get more of the savory, smoky flavor.You save: 115 calories, 9 g fat


Avocado
Get 3 tablespoons (half the normal serving) and cut it into smaller chunks, so you get a creamy piece in every bite.You save: 67 calories, 6 g fat

Blue-cheese crumbles
Skip them—you’ll still get great flavor from the dressing. “Most people don’t realize how high in saturated fat cheese is,” Blake says. “If your salad is covered in cheese, you’re not doing yourself any favors.”You save: 150 calories, 12 g fat


Blue-cheese dressing
Use 2 tablespoons, which is half the usual amount of dressing, and you’ll still get the piquant taste of blue cheese throughout the salad.You save: 140 calories, 14 g fat

Mixed salad greens
Ask for extra lettuce to bulk up the salad. You’ll be satisfied on a psychological level if the bowl looks full, Blake says. Plus, because lettuce has fiber and water, it fills you up without filling you out.You add: 8 calories, 0 g fat