5 Ways to Make Salad
1. Spread it out thin and spritz it
For this Berry Spritzer Salad we spread the lettuce out on a big platter and spritzed with Italian dressing. Then we topped with berries and toasted nuts.
2. Heat and toss
Veggie Stir Fry Salad – We made a veggie stir fry and tossed with fresh spinach – it is served warm and was a staff favorite – even by teenagers!
3. Toss and top
Spinach Honey Mustard Yogurt Salad – We made dressing with yogurt, honey, mustard and vinegar, tossed it with spinach and then topped it with goodies that include: apples, oranges, red onion and toasted nuts.
4. Toss it all
Spring or Summer Tossed Salad – Here is a spring or summer salad – made with a variety of fresh ingredients and then tossed with a tiny drizzle of olive oil, lemon and fresh parsley.
5. Make it a dinner
Lentil Rice Garden Salad – This is one of my favorite recipes of all times – it has lentils and rice, fresh lettuce, olive oil, lemon, parsley, grated carrots and a string of balsamic glaze over the top.
You can buy the balsamic glaze ready made or it is easy to make it yourself: Take 2 cups of balsamic vinegar and simmer lightly for 20 minutes on the top of the stove until you have about 1/2-3/4 of a cup – less than half the amount left. The vinegar will be thick so it can lightly cover the back of a spoon. Cool and store covered at room temperature until ready to use. It is great on salads or in marinades.
Those are 5 of the ways we just finished making 25 salads in 2 days! And wow – when you want to be creative you can go miles beyond.
What is our secret?
MIS EN PLACE – everything it its place – when you prepare all ingredients ahead of time, the salad, or meal you are preparing, goes together quickly and easily. Cleanup is a snap.
And what are 3 Easy Ways to Keep Salad Healthy? Hint: think IN, OUT, OUT!
1. Put lots of healthy ingredients IN – vegetables, dark leafy greens, herbs, flavored vinegars,
2. Keep high-fat items OUT – these include high-fat dressings, cheese, croutons, deli meat and mayonnaise salads
3. Keep sodium OUT – high sodium items include dressing, cheese, croutons, deli meat and mayonnaise salads
BONUS: keep them interesting and varied so you eat more every day!
Which of these is your favorite? Vote in our poll below.
Which one do you like to make? Tell us in our comments section and win – the top 5 comments win a free Salad Poster from the NutritionEducationStore.com
Check out our new eCookbook on Salads – not only will you get great recipes but you will improve your culinary skills.
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I am technologically challenged! how do I access the recipes?
HI Christine,
Click on “Healthy Recipes” at the top of our site and you will see 250 of them. Our premium members of http://communicatingfoodforhealth.com have access to over 800. The pictures will follow soon.
Really like the lentils and rice. I often have smaller amounts of these left over and it would be a great use. My husband would like it too! Makes me want to run out to my garden and harvest! (but I’d be stuck with only lettuce at this point!)Thanks for the fun tips!
They all look great! In addition to the almonds, will add some walnuts. A little raspberry vinaigrette sounds good.
Thanks,
Sharol
Thanks Sharol. Walnuts are yummy, too!
Hey…. can you show the nutritional anaylsis? I know if varies depending on who is putting the salad together but just a average ball park figure would help me out,
Thanks!
Yes Karen – we will work on that!
I like the one serving salad ideas or the make on a plate salad since I live alone and often don’t make a salad because I don’t want to eat the same thing for days and salads tend to have a short life. Keep up the good work!!
It’s 9 in the morning and I’m wishing for the berry salad. It looks wonderful.
Thanks Denise – we had a lot of fun with those – I think I ate 5 or 6 salads all day yesterday!
Suggestion for the Lentil and Rice salad…substitute brown rice for the white rice. You’ll have a more nutrient dense salad.
Florenzia – we did make it with brown rice – I will have to clarify that in our entry – thank you for mentioning it – you are right – brown is always better than white!