by Wardeh Harmon
When we first married, my husband told me how much he loved salads and how he would love to eat salad every day. I’m sorry to admit that I didn’t take him at his word until about five years into our marriage. After repeated encouragements from him and a desire growing in me to provide healthier foods for our family, I started serving salads at every lunch and dinner. Now it has been another five years that we have eaten salad daily. There are perhaps a dozen days a year when we do not have salad. Those days we don’t have it, we miss it.
Our son, Mikah, is looking forward to his 6th birthday. When I asked him what he wanted to eat on his birthday, he said — pancakes for breakfast, grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, and cabbage salad for dinner. He frequently eats more than one helping of salad. But he is not the only one in our family who loves salad; we all do.
Mikah’s favorite salad is cabbage salad; he’s already requested it for his 6th birthday dinner.
What’s So Good About Vegetables, Anyway?
The fresh vegetables (and possibly, fruits) that comprise a healthy salad provide many health benefits. Fresh vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals, which are great for keeping our bodies healthy and preventing against disease. Fresh vegetables provide dietary fiber, keeping the body regular. These foods are low-calorie and low-fat, so filling up on them helps keep calorie and fat intake low — a great aid in keeping weight down or losing weight. My family likes to eat salad last in the meal. We serve conservative portions of the main dish and then fill up on salad.
And in addition to all the health benefits, salads taste great and feel good. The textures — cool, crisp and/or crunchy — are pleasing. The tastes — fresh, fruity, spicy, or mild — delight the palate. I can’t think of anyone I’ve met who doesn’t like at least a couple different vegetables. There are picky individuals, I know, and there are definitely picky children. If you have any children like this in your home, I would encourage you to take heart. I read once (I wish I knew where it was) that it takes about a dozen tries of a new food before a child will accept it.
The Healthy Salad Habit
Some dietary habits people start and keep for awhile, but then find difficult to keep up. They may get bored. They may find the preparation time consuming and wearing. They may not be able to find the necessary ingredients year round. For the salad habit, each season provides a bountiful variety of ingredients. This makes it hard to be bored and allows families access to varied ingredients. Salads are also easy to prepare — just wash, chop, mix and add a dressing.
The Salad Technique
Ready for an easy recipe that is always adaptable to what you have on hand? You’ll need: greens, additional vegetables, toppings and dressing. Then you take what you have and wash, chop, and toss.
First, the base is usually some type of green. For the best nutritional value, the darker the greens are, the better. Excellent greens are red & green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, arugula (a little spicy, so this is good to mix in with other greens), frisee greens, butter lettuce, and cabbage (red or purple). Herbs also make tasty salad greens. I love eating a salad where some of the greens are fresh basil, dill, parsley and cilantro. In light of the recent bagged lettuce e.coli scare, it is best to purchase locally grown heads or bunches of greens.
To properly wash greens, soak in a deep basin of cold water. Completely immerse the greens and let them sit for about 5 minutes. Agitate gently and let sit for another 5 minutes. Remove from the water, shake the excess water off gently, and then spin dry in a salad spinner (or wrap in towels).
Greens keep better if they are torn by hand into bite-size chunks, rather than cut or chopped with a knife. This is a great job for young ones. My children love to dry the greens with the salad spinner and then tear the lettuces into the salad bowl.
Next, you’ll need additional vegetables. I cannot possibly list all the potential vegetables you could add to a salad, but here are a few:
- bell peppers — diced or sliced thinly
- green onions — sliced thinly
- broccoli florets
- cauliflower florets
- carrots — diced or shredded
- celery — diced
- peas
- green beans
- kohlrabi
- squash or zucchini — sliced thinly
- cucumbers — sliced thinly
- radishes — thinly sliced or shredded
- tomatoes — diced, quartered or sliced
A great way to mix up the variety of salads is to vary the presentation of these additional vegetables. For instance, dice the peppers one night and thinly slice them the next.
Third, adding toppings really brightens up a salad. Toppings are ingredients you sprinkle on the top or mix into the salad in smaller amounts, such as:
- raisins or other dried fruits
- nuts — raw or toasted
- seeds — toasted sesame seeds or sunflower seeds
- homemade croutons — leftover bread heels chopped up, drizzled with oil, sprinkled with a seasoning salt, and toasted under the broiler
- sprouts
- fresh herbs — chopped
- dried herbs
- cheese — shredded or cubed
- olives — whole, diced or sliced
- beans — cooked and cold
The remaining component is the dressing. Use your favorite healthy dressing or search the internet for some new ideas. Our favorite dressing is one I make myself in less than five minutes. I take my glass salad dressing container with a plastic removable pour spout (or a pint size jar with lid). In it, I put a little sweetener (raw honey or raw agave syrup), about 1/2 teaspoon each of sea salt and onion powder, along with 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. I also add dried herbs, but more liberally, about 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons of each. Usually I pick dill because that is my favorite herb flavor for salad dressing. Over all this, I fill the container 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up with raw apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar (or some of each). I put the lid on and shake it all up. I remove the lid and fill the rest of the container up with extra virgin olive oil and a dash of toasted sesame seed oil. Replace lid and shake well before each serving. Dressings should always be used conservatively.
Putting it all Together
So you have your greens, additional vegetables, toppings and dressings. How do you arrange it? One option is to toss it all together. Whether or not you toss the salad in the dressing is up to you. In general though, only add the dressing if you’re planning to consume all the salad right away, for it won’t keep long. The exception to this is cabbage salad, which will keep longer mixed with dressing.
A layered salad is truly appealing. Put the greens on the bottom. Spread the additional vegetables out over the greens and finally, sprinkle the entire salad with the toppings.
I have a friend who recently served us a salad using a lovely presentation. She tossed the greens only with the dressing. Then on a beautiful platter, she arranged separate piles of all the toppings and additional vegetables. Not only did it look gorgeous, but we all got to make a salad according to our own tastes.
My friend’s beautiful platter full of salad toppings.
However you decide to fix your salad, I would encourage you to use a pretty bowl. God created such beauty in His vegetables, so it is nice to serve the salad in a special way. This doesn’t mean your salad bowl has to be expensive, just special. I have a couple salad bowls from thrift stores and they’re some of my favorites.
Turn Your Salad Into a Meal
If you add a protein source to your salad — such as cooked wild salmon, cooked and cubed chicken, shredded roast beef, or hard boiled eggs — you now have a healthy, one dish meal.
When my mother-in-love visited us, she showed me how to make Chinese Chicken Salad. It was a delicious meal all to its own.
Some Salad Recipes
For recipes or more information please visit:
I always welcome your comments, questions or suggestions. Please write to me at wardeh@t2chk.org or comment below.
© Copyright 2006 by Wardeh Harmon. Used with permission from the author.
