When I was a wee girl, I disliked vegetables. Early on, Mom was able to persuade me to eat corn or green beans or potatoes. Later, she convinced me that lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers would not poison me. Later still I added Lima Beans to my personal menu and they are still, after many decades, my favorite vegetable. (Yes we are all guilty of a few oddities and Lima Beans are one of mine.)
Health professionals and scientists would like all of us to eat more veggies and salads are an easy way to do that. But let us consider restaurant salads. Many eateries offer a starting salad to tide you over until your meal comes. These are usually a small bowl of iceberg lettuce, and if you are lucky, you might get a few bits of shredded carrots, maybe one cucumber slice and a couple of cherry tomatoes. This is BORING!
Many eateries also offer supposed salad meals which far too often are a bigger bowl of the above listed ingredients with a slab of meat on top. Also boring and not worthy of the title : real meal salad.
A real meal salad would have lots of vegetables! Consider the choices at any restaurant salad bar and you begin to get the idea.
I once saw a Dr. Oz TV program about veggies. Dr. Oz loves talking about healthy eating. According to the good doctor you could eat eleven pounds of vegetables per day and not gain weight.
Should you wish to experiment with meal salads, let us consider salad ingredients.
Leafy Stuff (Pick at least two to start your salad.)
Lettuce: Today, there are four basic types of lettuce: butter-head, iceberg, loose leaf, and romaine.
Cabbage: According to Google there are there are over 400 different varieties of cabbage grown throughout the world. We are most likely to find green cabbage, red cabbage, and Bok Choy in our supermarkets.
Kale:
- Curly kale – probably the most common type of kale that can be found in most supermarkets and green grocers. …
- Lacinto kale – another popular type of kale also known as Tuscan kale or Tuscan cabbage (cavolo nero) or Dinosaur kale.
Spinach:
- Savoy has dark green, crinkly and curly leaves. It is the type sold in fresh bunches in most supermarkets. …
- Flat/smooth leaf spinach has broad smooth leaves that are easier to clean than savoy. …
- Semi-savoy is a hybrid variety.
Other vegetables: (Pick at least six to add to your leafy stuff. They can be warm or cold. Meal salads can contain both warm and cold food.)
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Asparagus, Bell Peppers, Zucchini, Beets, Brussels Sprouts, Yellow Squash and/or Butternut Squash, Carrots, Celery, Mushrooms, Onions, Radishes, Potatoes, Turnips, Parsnips, Corn, Pumpkins, Sweet Potatoes or Yams, Green Peas, Snow Peas.
Beans: (Pick at least one to add to your salad.)
Green Beans, Black Beans, Black-eyed Peas, Chickpeas or Garbanzo Beans, Kidney Beans, Pinto Beans, Great Northern Beans or White Beans, Lima Beans.
Grains and Seeds: (Pick at least one to add to your salad. Yes, you might have to look up how to cook some of them, but be brave and learn something new!)
Quinoa, Farro, Spelt, Bulgar, Millet, Brown Rice, White Rice, Red Rice, Wild Rice, Rye Berries, Pearled Barley.
Miscellaneous: (Add as many as you like!) You can add fruits to a vegetable salad. Dried cranberries or raisins are common as are apple chunks. But any fruit that seems to add a bit of pizzazz to your veggie salad are possible. Of course there are many recipes for fruit salads. Add your favorite nuts to a salad, Add pasta to salad. Add your favorite cheese, or tofu, or hard-boiled eggs or any meat or fish that you like.
I will not discuss salad dressings. Personally, I don’t like much dressing because it hides the flavor of the veggies. Yes! Veggies have flavors! Add whatever you like or try dressing-less salad better known as Naked Salad. Gasp! If you need a recipe, your local library will have a variety of salad cookbooks. Give a real meal salad a try!
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