Making Salad Simple
Making Salad Simple
Eating one huge salad a day can literally change your life and make a huge difference in your overall health. Eating raw veggies does great things for your body, like helping out the digestive system, by providing tons of fiber, while nourishing your body with great antioxidants and help strengthen your immune system, fight cancer and just generally work to keep us in shape.
The Basics:
1. Choose a dark, leafy green lettuce and then select two cruciferous vegetables to go with it.
Watercress This slightly peppery-flavored green is a powerhouse, filled with the good stuff that protects your bones and eyes, plus it has the ability to suppress breast cancer cell development.
Arugula Eating arugula raw in salads, rather than cooked, leaves its amazing anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer enzymes fully intact.
Cabbage – This cruciferous veggie, chewed well, has the ability to help the heart and protect against cancer. Choose red cabbage. Not only does it look pretty, but because of its color, it offers some of the same heart and anti-cancer benefits as berries.
2. Add extras to mix it up (these can be prepped and refrigerated in separate containers)
Beans and other legumes Peas (green, snow, snap or sugar peas) Fruit (orange slices are a great choice) Corn Tomato Radishes Cucumber Whole grains such as quinoa Peppers Onion Carrots
To make room in the fridge, shred a few days worth of cabbage and carrots and refrigerate them in zip lock bags. This way the work of shredding is contained to two days each week, and less room is needed for storage.
Use several different types of beans and create your own mix. Some favorite combinations: black beans and corn, or red beans, garbanzo beans and black beans. Store them in glass dishes so they are ready to scoop out each day to toss atop your salad.
3. Use salad dressing to create new flavors
You can change up your salads by letting different types of cuisine inspire you.
Easy Balsamic Almond Dressing:
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons water 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon raw almond butter 1/4 teaspoon onion powder 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano 1/8 teaspoon dried basil
Instructions:
Whisk water, vinegar and almond butter together until mixture is smooth and almond butter is evenly dispersed. Mix in remaining ingredients. NOTE: Feel free to experiment with other raw, salt-free nut butters, spices and vinegar to create salad dressings as unique as your fingerprints!
Tex-Mex Salad with Avocado Dressing:
Salad Ingredients:
6 cups romaine lettuce, chopped 4 cups mixed baby greens 1 cup cooked black beans 1 cup frozen, thawed corn kernels 1 medium tomato, chopped 1/4 cup chopped red onion
Dressing Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado, peeled and pit removed 1/2 lime, juiced 1 small clove garlic 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast Pinch of cayenne pepper, or more to taste
Instructions:
Place dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with desired amount of dressing.