How To Build A Great Salad!
This is a great time to focus on your personal nutrition and wellness. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Personalizing your plate can be a journey, especially for those with a selective palate or texture sensitivities. For some people, making a salad is a fun and easy experience. Throw it all in a bowl and there you go! For others, there is special attention paid to the sizes of individual food pieces, texture, temperature, and flavor combinations when sitting down for a meal. Here are some things to consider when personalizing your salad bowl to make eating vegetables a pleasure, not a chore.
Build a Base with Greens
Lettuce has many textures and flavors. Iceberg and Romaine are mild and generally crunchy. You can chop them down to a very fine salad. Mixed greens are a great way to introduce deeper colors, while still keeping a mild flavor and softer texture. Dark green leafy vegetables hold many nutritional benefits, including fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Spinach and kale are budget friendly, and extras can be frozen and used in smoothies.
Chopped salads include items of similar sizes and help make the salad building process less intimidating! Start with any vegetables you do like and slowly add more each week to boost the nutritional value of your meal. There are many ways to add more color to your plate. For example, the lycopene in red tomatoes helps clear free radicals in the body that can harm our cells. For people who do eat fruit, but not as many vegetables, consider adding fruit to the salad to increase acceptance from your taste buds. Diced apples and fresh pear provide the perfect crunch with a sweet finish.
Protein Options
Whether its plant based, meat, poultry or seafood, protein can help keep you satisfied. Animal protein, such as tuna, grilled or baked chicken, lean steak – all of these can be added either cold or hot, and can be diced, sliced or shredded. Beans and legumes, such as edamame or black beans, can add extra protein and fiber to your salad. Nuts and seeds, such as sunflower seeds, pepitas, or chopped walnuts can add sources of magnesium, zinc, selenium and copper. As you start to experiment with taste and textures, think outside the box. If you enjoy the taste of eggs but are unsure of putting a whole hardboiled egg on your salad, dice it up finely to start.
Dress Your Salad
Dressings may add too strong of a flavor for beginners who typically eat salads dry. Consider combining olive oil with herbs and/or spices first. Then expand on that flavor with the addition of vinegar or fruit to make a vinaigrette, such as the lemony dressing in this green salad recipe. Continue to expand the flavor profile by adding items, like lemon, limes, ginger, garlic, turmeric and more. With practice, creating different salads will become more fun and less challenging. You might even make your mornings more colorful with a rainbow breakfast salad.
Fresh Green Salad with Lemony Dressing
Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 0 minutes | Total: 10 minutes Yield: 4 servings | Serving Size: 1¼ cups of the salad with 2 tablespoons of the dressing
Ingredients
6 cups salad greens, chopped if needed
½ cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
½ cup sliced cucumber
¼ cup shredded carrots
Dressing
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon Dijon or brown mustard
2 teaspoons honey
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Dash of salt (optional)
Directions
1. Wash and dry the salad greens and place them in a large bowl.
2. Add the tomatoes, cucumber, and carrots.
3. In a mason jar, add the dressing ingredients.
4. Microwave the jar of dressing ingredients for 10 seconds to soften the honey and allow it to mix into the dressing.
5. Put the lid on the mason jar and shake until well blended, about 15-30 seconds.
6. If serving all of the salad right away, toss all of the vegetables with the dressing. Otherwise, add the dressing to each serving right before eating, shaking to recombine if needed.
Recipe Notes • If you do not have a mason jar with a lid, dressing can be mixed in a small bowl with a fork or whisk.
Nutrition Facts Per Serving: Calories: 100 | Total Fat: 7 g | Saturated Fat: 1 g Sodium: 90 mg | Total Carbohydrate: 8 g | Dietary Fiber: 1.5 g | Protein: 1.5 g