Hi Everyone,

I had a delicious bread salad for dinner tonight. It's a perfect meal for a hot summer day. I love to watch cooking shows and I've always intrigued by bread salads. But never tried one because I knew they wouldn't work in the Zone. Now that there's Zone bread, that changes everything. I've made a couple of different bread salads. Tonight's bread salad contained 2 slices of Zone multigrain bread that I toasted and then cut into bite-sized cubes, chopped English (seedless) cucumber, 1/2 of a tomato chopped, a couple of big handfuls of fresh basil leaves torn into pieces, a handful of chopped Romaine lettuce, and a couple olives sliced into quarters lengthwise. I tossed all of this with dried parsley, dried Italian seasonings, fresh ground black pepper, pink Himalayan salt, and a simple dressing of a little Zone olive oil whisked with some golden balsamic vinegar. Then I place it in the fridge for about an hour to let all the flavors blend. We loved it!

That sounds great Sue! You are an inspiration with all your interesting meals! Speaking of salads, I've been adding 1/2 cup grapes and 6 kalamata olives to mine lately. The 2 tastes coming together make it a nice change from the ordinary. The grapes add good moisture as well and cut the bulk a bit. I've also taken to using about an 1/8 cup of hummus and some ricotta cheese in there and if I cut back the olives I use guacamole. Yesterday the girls at work went out to lunch and honestly I knew the salad I brought with me was going to be better than the ones at the restaurant where they were going so i chose to just stay in and eat!

Thanks Claire. I'm thinking about submitting that salad to the recipe section of this site.

Grapes and olives, interesting. Sounds good, and I've never tried that. Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately grapes are one of the favorable fruits that take me out of the Zone, but I'll bet my husband would love it (I'm super sensitive to carbohydrate).

One of my little tricks that sometimes comes in handy when eating lunch out is that I always keep one or two Zone 1-2-3 foods in my bag. Sometimes I'll eat a Zone food item on the way to lunch and choose a soup and salad lunch special (they’re usually a smaller salad with a cup or smaller bowl of soup). It works great! This works with a 1/2 sandwich and soup or salad too (discard the bread from the sandwich of course).

hi sue,

i see you are a consultant zone labs. what does that mean???

Hi Belinda,

It means I'm working for Zone Labs. I love it! Since many have asked me, no, participating in these forums is not a part of the job. I've posted here for many years because I love to stay in touch with other Zoners, and I enjoy helping people out when I can.

Have a great weekend!

I just ordered a custom week of Zone food along with extra bagels but have no idea how to use these foods. It seems from reading the facts, that I should be adding one protein and one carb to make it a zone meal for a woman. I'm confused! I have looked at the recipes listed on the site but what do I do with all those bagels!

Hi Vie,

You can add to it or eat is by itself. Here's a look at a typical ZoneFast day: http://www.zonediet.com/TypicalZone...fault.aspx

You don't need to count blocks when following the ZoneFast 1-2-3 program. The Grocery Additions page provides an excellent guide. If you follow it, you'll meet you daily needs within the Zone. You can find it here: http://www.zonediet.com/GroceryAddi...fault.aspx

To see how I've been doing it, you can read my ZoneFast Journal. I eat closer to the typical means amounts to support my increased protein needs. You can find it here: http://www.zonediet.com/Community/F...fault.aspx

Have fun with it!