Tag Archives: Salad

A Greens Perspective on Nutrition

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Have you ever noticed that a great many different cuisines incorporate dishes that pair some type of green leafy ingredient with some type of fat-rich ingredient? In the Mediterrean it might be simply green leafy lettuce and olive oil, parsley salad with tahini dressing, or sauteed greens + pignola (pine) nuts, not to mention pesto itself (basil + pignolas, traditionally). In Northern or Eastern Europe you might find cabbage and mayonnaise (cole slaw), or spinach with bacon dressing. In the far East it might be deep-sea fatty fish and seaweed (sushi). If you take the time to look, you will find green leaves combined with fats over and over again in cuisines the world over. 

This cannot be a coincidence. I am going to predict that someday we will discover that eating greens with fat increases the availability, perhaps by gut absorption, of certain nutrients in the greens. Or maybe the fats. Or maybe both. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Two Israeli Fennel Salads

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By the time you read this I’ll be in Israel visiting my son and daughter-in-law, and celebrating the first birthday of my beautiful grandson. The next few weeks will be inspired by the delicious meals and celebrations for which Israelis are famous! First up are a couple of salads using the vegetable fennel.  

Fennel is a very special bulb of a vegetable, with the faintest sweet taste of…what?…licorice(!)…but very faint, so don’t be put off. To me it tastes more like the bergamot that gives Earl Grey tea its characteristic flavor and aroma. If you’ve never eaten fennel before, these recipes are a perfect introduction. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Greens-and-Grains Winter Salad

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I love eating food in season, and many of the ingredients for this recipe have winter written all over them. Leftover nuts and dried fruit from the holidays. Quinoa, a staple in the cabinet. Some fall apples and a few leftover stalks of celery in the fridge. And a sweet memory of the large box of oranges sent every year to my parents by friends who used to spend their winters in Florida. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Luscious Lentil Salad To Go

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Here’s a wonderful recipe for you to try! Especially after weekends of the kinds of food extravaganzas that the coming weeks are sure to bring, this salad will be a great choice for helping your digestive system to get back on track. Lentils are a very special food. Not only are they a fantastic source of protein, but they are also rich in fiber. There are only a few categories of foods that can make that claim. Not just that, but they are delicious, especially as prepared in this recipe. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Buddha Bowl

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Here’s a really delicious, really simple, really elegant way to be kind to yourself when you’ve had a long day and there are little bits of this and that in the fridge. Seems like there are a lot of days like this lately — which makes it extra important to find easy ways to nourish yourself. The important things to remember here are, first, that you can make this a hundred times and you will never get tired of it because it will never be the same twice, and, second, that steps 5 and 6 are as important as the earlier steps for satisfying both your brain and your appetite. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Quinoa-Pistachio Salad

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Thank goodness for quinoa and pistachios. If your mint isn’t coming up yet, feel free to substitute lemon balm, which grows wild and crazy around my house. This is a very forgiving recipe, and if you have other things you’d like to add or use up, like shredded carrots or chopped red pepper or a little lemon juice, then go right ahead. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Salad Meets Pad Thai

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This is the very best salad for a warm weather meal, and, besides that, there is a strong possibility that you could live on it. It is that good. Plus, it fills your belly and sticks to your ribs, so you won’t be hungry for a good long while. Notice one trick: cutting the vegetables very thinly increases the amount of surface area for the dressing to stick to, and that makes it so much tastier! So take your time, and don’t hurry through the prep. The right kind of cutting and chopping are the secret to this delicious salad. Continue reading →

A Call to Our Chefs — Could We Call a Salad Something Else?

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When my friend’s husband said that he was sick and tired of eating “salad,” she was kind of surprised, because she had thought that, if anything, their dinners had recently had more variety than usual. That was true of the ingredients, she realized, but not of the dishes. Caesar salad, Waldorf salad, Chef Salad, Salad Nicoise, Cobb salad, and Caprese salad (fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil) had all been on the menu in the prior two weeks. It seemed to her that it wasn’t that he was actually tired of the food, but more that he was tired of the word “salad.” Continue reading →

Most Manufactured Salad Dressing Isn’t Food

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I recently decided that it was time to look at the ingredient lists of salad dressings, whatever that means, so I picked four popular brands to examine. You will be very interested to learn what I discovered. The first ingredient in the first product I picked up, Wishbone Italian dressing, was water. Frankly, that seems like a very expensive way to buy water. And surprising, too, given that Italian dressing consists primarily (and traditionally) of olive oil and vinegar. Not Wishbone Italian dressing, though. Continue reading →

Reply to Kirsten

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Comment: I am reading that you eat potato salad in the morning. I was surprised…not much protein in that ? But my question is…in the Calgary Herald there was an article about breakfast, which mentioned you and oats. How do you prepare steel cut oats ? Soak overnight w how much apple cider vinegar ? And do you rinse it off in the morning or eat the vinegar? Thanks! Kirsten

Hi Kirsten

I’m not sure which potato salad you’re referring to because there are a few. Can you give me the posting date? Perhaps you’re referring to the Simplest Salad that I posted just a few weeks ago on April 30th? If so, the ingredients include a potato, cucumbers, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, olive oil, salt, and fresh herbs. Although it’s certainly not what I would characterize as a high-protein meal, it is a highly nourishing one, with tons of phytonutrients, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and nourishing fats of more than one kind, along with enough protein to get me through til lunch. So give that a try, and don’t measure its value by protein content alone.

With regard to the oatmeal, I was not aware that Calgary Herald had quoted me, but they left out an important bit of information. The recipe is 1/2 cup steel-cut oats, 1 cup water, and 1/4 tsp. vinegar (cider or white). Mix and leave on the counter at room temperature all night. No rinsing required. In the morning the oats will be cooked (by the acid), and a short heat-up in the microwave will be all that stands between you and breakfast. You will not taste the vinegar at all. Feel free to add raisins, milk, butter, honey, or anything else you would add to your oatmeal if you had cooked it on the stove for 30 minutes.

Thanks for reading YHIOYP.