Ah, summer. The season when it becomes no longer appropriate to eat piles upon piles of fried chicken and jacket potatoes, the time where we have to actually put an effort into coming up with fun and interesting salads to eat.
Despite my derision I actually quite like a good salad. I don’t get hungry when it’s hot – I don’t even drink TEA when it’s hot – so salads are a bit of a lifesaver.
But salads are also boring and I really struggle to sex up my lettuce and tomatoes: there’s only so many times you can serve yourself cos lettuce with bacon and a blue cheese dressing without wanting to take a big snooze, as delicious as that combination is.
Luckily my new man friend has a completely different palate to me and he’s introduced me to a whole new world of healthy foods. He’s a total fish fiend so we’ve been eating out at lots of fish restaurants and enjoying things I wouldn’t normally order, and the one big change he’s made to my diet is that of the CRAB.
Crab has never been a natural thing for me to eat: I live in one of the most landlocked places in the world, for goodness sake. Here it’s all about local chicken, pork and beef. But here’s the thing… it’s not a scary and intimidating food as I once thought, but instead is absolutely delicious and insanely healthy, coming in even more saintly than my previous favourite healthy lunch food, the mighty prawn. Plus it’s mega convenient, being available in supermarkets in little pots that are perfect lunch portions. 
I add extra health points to my crab salad by substituting mayonnaise for low-fat Greek yoghurt (you won’t taste the difference, I promise) and I’ve recently been sent Hellmann’s ketchup with honey – a new way to sweeten this iconic sauce. Hellmann’s have cleverly created this product with a healthier diet in mind, with it containing 30% less sugar vs. the market leader standard, and 36% more tomatoes. There’s no compromise on taste, though: we’ve been eating it for an entire week and the children haven’t noticed any difference in their ketchup (and they’re pretty much condiment connoisseurs).
I add a splash of this lovely ketchup along with a dash of tabasco if I’m feeling spicy… it’s the perfect Marie Rose sauce without the hefty calorie count – this dish totals only 280 calories.
Give it a go: I promise you’ll be rubbing your belly with delight after this one.
Crab Avocado Salad (serves 1)
100g white crab meat
1 tbsp low-fat Greek yoghurt
Squeeze of Hellmann’s Tomato Ketchup with honey
Dash of Tabasco (if you like it spicy)
Half an avocado
Handful of cherry tomatoes
Handful of Cos lettuce
1. Mix the yoghurt, ketchup and tabasco if using in a bowl. Add the crab meat and stir well.
2. Arrange your lettuce, tomato and avocado on a plate or in a bowl.
3. Top with the Crab and Marie Rose sauce, and enjoy the easiest salad you’ve ever made!
Huge thanks to Hellmann’s for working with MTT on this!