I’ve been on a salad kick lately. Salads are underrated. Salads make for delicious snacks or meals packed with nutritional punch. But there is a “right” and a “wrong” way to make a salad. To get the most bang for your caloric buck, you need to make sure you’re making the best nutritional decisions possible. This means swapping iceberg lettuce for kale or spinach, and adding in treats such as orange slices, raisins, sunflower seeds, or a sprinkling of chia seeds.
I’m excited to be linking up with Fit Foodie Mama and Powered by BLING for another #MeatlessMonday recipe. Hopefully you’re finding lots of awesome recipes.
I dedicate today’s post to all things salad!
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Exciting Salad! |
Eat This Exciting Salad!
Ingredients
- 1 C packed kale, chopped or torn into bite size pieces
- 1/4 C kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 strawberries, quartered
- 1/3 heirloom tomato, cut into bite size chunks
- 1/4 Barlett pear, cubed into bite size pieces
- carrot peels
- 1 Tbsp oil/vinegar based dressing (I use Garlic Expressions)
Directions
Prepare all ingredients, combine, dress, eat, enjoy!
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Of course there are a million variations on a good, dense salad. Here’s another one I recently created. It was so simple. I would say this one is more for the time-saver or less adventurous eater.
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Easy Salad |
Easy Salad
Ingredients
- 1 C mixed kale pieces (from bag or prepacked tub)
- 8-10 cherry or grape tomatoes
- 1/2 avocado, sliced
- dressing of your choice
Directions
Place all ingredients in a bowl. Eat. Yum!
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I liked a good fruit salad every now and again, too. I grew up eating fruit salad as dessert (thanks, mom!) but now we eat it any time we buy big melons and need something to do with all of it. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of recent fruit salads, but I do have a simple recipe to share.
Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cantaloupe, cubed
- 1 honeydew melon, cubed
- 1 pineapple, cubed
- grapes (halved if you have little people in your household like I do!)
- 1 – 2 bananas, sliced
Directions
Prepare the melons by scooping out the insides and cubing. Prepare the pineapple by coring and peeling, and cubing as well. Combine all ingredients and enjoy. If you are not eating right away, wait to slice and add the bananas. They still taste delicious but once they are added to the rest of the fruit they turn a weird brownish color.
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I hope you give a salad a whirl. They’re so good and satisfying. Even if you don’t use one of my recipes, I challenge you to incorporate one salad into your diet this week. Feel free to adjust and add ingredients whenever you feel the urge. If you’re in need of a protein boost, you can add a hard boiled egg. Or perhaps some shredded cheese or crumbled feta for some additional texture or even calcium.
And if you’re anti-salad… try it, you may like it!
Have a great day!
8 Comments
salads are my go-to weeknight dinner, they are so quick, fresh and easy. these look yummy!
I love salads any time of day 🙂
I am a big fan of salads! I am NOT a huge fan of lettuce so I do love kale in my salad. And I have been adding almost ripe nectarines to my salad for a punched up flavor profile!
Oooh, that sounds good. I might have to try that!
All of those salads look amazing and refreshing! I just ate lunch but now I am hungry one of these mouthwatering salads!
Lol, I had a salad for lunch again 😉
The Eat This Exciting Salad looks awesome! 😛 Made me realize that I haven't had a pear in ages!
Pears are so yummy! You should definitely stock up on pears next time you're at the grocery. 🙂