Summer is suddenly here, and our taste buds naturally start seeking out cooler, fresher foods. Here’s a great opportunity for you to get more raw food in your diet, particularly in the form of salad. Its easy to prepare a different salad every day when you know the basics.
Raw vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet, full of water soluble vitamins which can be destroyed by cooking. Naturopaths know that fresh raw food has more ‘life force’, which means better nutrition and more energy for you.
Of course the same salad ingredients every day can get boring, so here’s the magic formula for making endless variations, depending on what’s in season, what’s in your fridge and what’s in your garden. You’ll be limited only by your imagination.
1. First the base – leafy greens. You can buy interesting mixes of salad greens at the supermarket or vegie market. Use the more strongly flavoured greens like rocket if you’re going to use strongly flavoured toppings, and softer greens if you don’t want to overwhelm the subtler toppings.
2. Next, choose a protein, such as tuna, salmon, chicken, beef, egg, legumes or tofu. For a ‘warm’ salad, just use the meat or egg when its still warm from cooking.
3. Add something crunchy – like capsicum, zucchini, cucumber, green beans, bean sprouts, or cherry tomatoes. Along with the greens, the crunchy ingredients should create the bulk of your salad, so be generous.
4. Add something creamy – like avocado, or leftover roast pumpkin, or a soft cheese – or your dressing could be of the ‘creamy’ variety.
5. Something tangy – like olives or feta cheese.
6. Something special – like a sprinkle of nuts, or freshly snipped herbs from the garden
7. Finally, add a dressing. It can be as simple as a splash of balsamic vinegar, or a squeeze of lemon juice; or something creamy, like yoghourt. My personal preference is to use oily accompaniments like olives or nuts rather than an oil-based dressing, but whatever you choose, a delicious dressing is an important finishing touch.
Here are some possible flavour combinations to get you started:
Tuna, white beans, olives
Chicken, asparagus, lemon juice, avocado
Marinated beef strips (cooked), capsicum, bean sprouts, rocket
Tofu, green beans, cashews, tamari-based dressing
If you’re eating away from home, an easy way to include a salad in your diet every day is to choose a salad sandwich. Just make sure it includes some protein, for sustained energy levels.
Buy organic foods currently in season if you can – they’re better tasting and better for you. If you’ve got space for a garden or herb patch, picking your salad vegies from your own garden is heavenly. Or its easy to grow some herbs or sprouts on your kitchen windowsill.
Happy salad days!
Comments
Post has no comments.