Do you love green salads as much as I do? The fresh veggies and beautiful colors just make my day. Many people don’t want to tackle fresh salads at home because they think they are just too difficult and time-consuming so they settle for the bagged salads or wait until they go to a restaurant, but if you keep your supplies organized and wash your vegetables when you bring them home from the store, so you don’t have to do it every time you take some out of the fridge, it just takes a few minutes to put together something fabulous…and read all the way to the end to find out something new that I’ve discovered about salads! Who knew?
2 cups of your favorite lettuce (iceberg, Romaine, or butter lettuce for example)
1 tomato
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
1⁄2 cucumber
1. Rinse the lettuce under running water and tear into bite sized pieces by hand. Tearing by hand instead of cutting with a knife keeps the lettuce from bruising and will help the salad stay fresh longer. Put into a large salad bowl. 2. Rinse the tomato under running water. Dice into bite sized pieces and add to bowl.
3. Peel and rinse carrot. Slice thinly and add to bowl.
4. Cut the tough bottom end off of the celery stalk and any discolored area from the top of it. Rinse and slice into small pieces.
5. Rinse and slice the cucumber into thin slices and add to bowl. It’s your choice whether you peel it first or not. Remember the darker the color of the peel the more bitter it will taste.
6. Add your favorite dressing.
** This is only a very basic listing of the possibilities for your salad, only to spur your imagination. The list of things that you can add is practically endless. Just remember to rinse all fresh fruits and vegetables before adding them. Also remember that any leaf vegetables will last longer if they are torn by hand and not sliced with a knife. Here are a few more ideas. Enjoy!
sliced avocado
blueberries
dried cranberries
mandarin oranges
raisins
sliced strawberries
other lettuces
fresh spinach
cauliflower
broccoli
kale
Swiss chard
bacon—cooked crisp and crumbled
cheese (grated) pick your favorite kind
croutons
peeled and chopped hard-boiled eggs
You can also add grilled chicken or steak to make it a full meal.
And here’s the NEW think that I just found out…Do you love salad, but sometimes it “doesn’t love you”, you know what I mean; it leaves you feeling bloated, full and sluggish….and seems like it takes forever to digest? Well, I’ve read recently that both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine suggest that we choose warm foods over cold ones for easy digestion. It makes sense if you think about it. Cold food makes more work for your body, because not only does your system need to digest it, it needs to warm it up too, so I said: Why not? I miss my salads so much. So, I warmed up all the ingredients in my small ceramic fry pan for just about a minute–just enough to take the chill off adding the lettuce as the last ingredient for the last 30 seconds and TA-DA! No sluggish digestion and the veggies still had a pleasing crunch, so it was a win all the way around. Try it! it works! I hope you enjoy this find as much as I have.
Suzie
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