Italian style tomato and avocado salad

I made this Italian style salad yesterday and it turned out rather well. This is reminiscent of the classic Italian tomato and mozzarella salad just without the cheese. When I get my cashew cheese done I'll do this salad again and see how it is with nut cheese.

Ingredients:

• 1 large beefsteak tomato
• 1 half avocado - peeled and sliced
• 10 fresh basil leaves - cut into a chiffonade (stack the leaves, roll them up lengthwise and cut into thin slices)
  
• 1 TBS sunflower seeds
• Cold pressed organic olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• fresh cracked pepper, sea salt and dried Italian herbs to taste

Cut out the core of the tomato and cut it into slices horizontally. Arrange on a plate so that the slices overlap. Put an avocado slice on each piece of tomato. Salt, pepper and sprinkle with Italian herbs. Drizzle Balsamic vinegar and olive oil over the tomato's and arrange the basil chiffonade on top. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds.

Enjoy!

Greek Artichoke and Zucchini salad

I'm very fond of Greek and Italian foods but heavy pasta's and carbo's make me crazy. This salad is light and yummy and can be customized in many ways. I'm giving you the recipe for the vegetarian version, but I love it with grilled tuna too.

Ingredients:

• 1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
• 1 can black or green olives, sliced
• 5-7 pepperoncini peppers, sliced
• 2 small zucchini's, quartered lengthwise and sliced thinly
• 1 small onion, peeled, quartered and sliced thinly
• Farmer Boy Restaurant Greek dressing, to taste (2 TBS. = 3 grams carbohydrate)

Throw all the ingredients (but the dressing) into a bowl and mix well. Add a bit of the dressing and mix, then taste. Add a bit more if you need it. You can vastly improve this salad by grilling sushi grade tuna or organic chicken and adding it to the mix. Grilled shrimp would also be yummy.

Serve with toasted pita wedges as an appetizer or as a sandwich stuffing or wrap. It also goes well into endive leaves if you don't want the bread.

This salad keeps for a couple days in the fridge. Expect the zucchini to give up a bit of liquid overnight, so you might want to drain it a bit and add more dressing the next day (if it lasts that long).