Summer is the perfect time to eat a variety of hearty salads.
I look forward to my daily salad, because I rarely eat the same combination of ingredients and flavors twice.
Sometimes, I add sliced strawberries, shredded carrots, and defrosted edamame beans to mixed greens or shredded kale (I remove the stems before shredding); other times I add blueberries, diced green apples, chopped red peppers, and kidney beans to riced cauliflower or finely chopped broccoli. . .I eat riced cauliflower with a spoon, of course!
I always include a variety of beans; some cooked mushrooms and/or leftover steamed veggies; finely diced onions; a source of plant based fat such as chopped walnuts, almonds, or avocados (these healthy fats increase the absorption of the nutrients by ten times!); and I dress the salad with an acid flavor such as a balsamic vinegar or the juice of a lemon or lime. At times, I like the savory flavor of nutritional yeast—and other times I like to add salsa for some heat.
I’m an artist—a painter—I love the vibrant palette of colors! Plus, I like to present my salads in a beautiful bowl (my oldest son is a skilled potter) and garnish them with cherry tomatoes and a few pumpkin or sunflower seeds. Yum!
The key is simplicity and variety.
How about you?
What are your favorite combinations?
Emily Boller, artist, mother, and author of Starved to Obesity, lost 100 pounds more than twelve years ago by eating an abundance of high-nutrient, plant-rich food. Today, she’s certified in whole plant food nutrition from the Nutritarian Education Institute. She’s on a mission to combine practical, no-nonsense and cost effective tips—with easy to understand science—in order to help anyone escape the addictive grip of the Standard American Diet.