In an attempt to eat more fruits and vegetables, I experimented by eating salad every day for one meal for one week. Here is a list of the top ten things I learned:
1. I really, really, really, really hate raw broccoli. But I will continue to eat it because it is good for me. Steaming the broccoli helps.
2. Kraft Light Raspberry Vinaigrette with Extra Virgin Olive Oil reduced fat dressing is excellent dressing. Blue Cheese dressing is absolutely delicious as well, but it isn't extremely healthy. Also- I'm not a huge fan of those spray dressings- you know, the kind that sprays a miniscule amount of dressing flavor onto your salad? Not enough, my friends. Not enough. Vegetables are not that good by themselves; they need a little help.
3. Include 1/2 - 3/4 cup of brown rice in your salad. Make sure you warm it up, though. Warm the rice, broccoli, and meat- it makes the salad more palatable. Everything else can be at a cooler temperature. Including rice is an easy way to include your whole grains with your salad meal. It adds more texture and flavor to your salad as well. Plus, it makes your salad more Cafe Rio salad-ish. And who can say no to a Cafe Rio salad?
4. Change up the protein factor- this helps to diversify the flavor a little bit- I used marinated steak, pork chops, turkey burger, chicken (marinated one time, and the other time rolled in flour and spices and cooked), even black beans (4 oz is a portion for me). Then you add different vegetables each time to fit the flavor of the protein.
5. It takes me a long time to eat a homemade salad. It takes approximately 30 minutes from start to finish; usually longer if I'm at work, because I multi-task while I'm eating.
6. Put fruit in your salad- it makes it sweeter, which is always a plus. My favorite fruit for salads is the wonderful and amazing pomegranate. I'm so sad they are out of season now. Is anyone still selling them? Clementines are good, too. I've also used apples, pears, strawberries, and grapes.
7. Don't use crappy recycle-able forks (that my workplace provides) to eat your salad. The prongs bend and break off when you stick the fork into a piece of meat or broccoli. Lame.
8. A little bit of cheese (shredded parmesan, cheddar, mozzarella, feta, etc.) makes all the difference. Especially when broccoli is involved.
9. Eating healthier makes me feel better- physically, emotionally, etc. I may not be so strong and renewed that I'm benchpressing railroad cars (sorry- watched The Incredibles last night with my niece and nephew), but I do feel better. If you are looking for a way to get more salad into your diet, buy one of those big containers of salad at Costco, and eat some everyday (see if you can finish it before it goes bad- it's like a game!).
10. I am very particular about the tomatoes in my salad. The tomatoes have to be ripe, but NOT mushy. They HAVE to have a certain firmness, or I can't eat them without feeling sick.
What do you do to make your salads taste good?
7 comments:
mix up your greens, too! spinach, arugula, radicchio, frisse, endive, cabbage, swiss chard, kale ...(some of these are good cooked as well).
I like all of the things that you've learned! I love eating salad for lunch because I don't feel so tired after eating and then for the rest of my day. I love eating my salads with spicy black bean garden burgers. The little added spice makes it very yummy!
I agree with everything you said. I actually just had a deelish salad today for lunch. My staple is sunflower seeds, I love a salad with sunflower seeds.
salad does not have to = greens of any kind. try this:
black beans
brown rice
bell peppers chopped small
cilantro
corn
green onions
carrots chopped small
celery chopped small
dressing: red wine vinegar, olive oil, tabasco sauce, cumin
walla deliciousoso.
no lettuce. (im not really a lettuce fan, or a raw spinach fan)
You are such a great cook and a healthy eater. I don't know how you do it! When I would pass your office and head to lunch for some fast food I would always feel guilty after seeing you eat so healthy!
Oh that comment about the forks made me laugh so hard! Good for you for being so healthy! And I'm with you on the brocoli.
Nice post - I might try this salad-once-a-day challenge. I love broccoli, but you're right - raw just doesn't quite cut it. You can blanch your cut broccoli pieces for about a minute and they'll turn out a really nice consistency for a salad once they're cool.
Also, my recent favorite addition to most any salad is the toasted almond. Oh....toasted almond....I love you. I toast sliced almonds in a skillet with salt and garlic powder and then add them to salads and they make it extra delish. They are also the closest flavor I can approximate to bacon in a salad now that my kiddo has eschewed meat.
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