Add Life to your salads for the best of health.
Salads, specifically vegetable salads are one of the most avoided foods for people who do not like to eat vegetables; however for the vegetarian, salads are important to their diet. Salad like the other foods can also get quite boring if the way it is prepared and the recipe is recurring and no twists being added.
Carrots are a tasty and inexpensive staple that can be used in many ways. Raw carrots cut into strips of convenient sizes are great snacks and popular with many kids, but can also be baked in popular dishes like carrot cakes, tossed into salads, or blanched and glazed with honey.
Putting a salad on the table is not a bad thing to do. Salads are a great way to eat a tasty variety of vegetables with dinner. Salads are colorful and nutritious. With the endless combination’s of vegetables you can make, I hope that you arenít bored with salads. You may however be bored with putting the same old dressing on the table with the salad every night. It doesnít matter how creative you are with vegetable combination’s. If you dress your salads with the same old dressings time and time again, they will all taste the same. When itís time to get some variety into your salad routine, itís time to break out of the salad dressing mold. Here are some fun things to do to dress up your vegetables.
Really, Dress Them Up
Save the stems of herbs like cilantro, parsley, or dill! Do not discard them! The stems have just as much flavor as the leaves. You can chop or snip them into soups, salads, sauces and other dishes – just as you would use their leaves. This leaves less unnecessary waste and lets you get more bang for your buck, if you purchased the herbs!
Believe it or not, you are not limited to the salad dressings available on the shelf at the store. You also do not have to eat the contents of an entire bottle of dressing before moving on to another kind. Making your own salad dressing is a fun way to keep your salads interesting. Green salads and composed vegetable salads both go well with more than one style of dressing. To make vinegar based dressings, get some flavored vinegars. Try plum, maple, balsamic and red wine vinegars to start. Take equal parts oil and vinegar and then add flavorings. Mustard and honey are both good emulsifiers. Which one you use will depend on whether your dressing is sweet or savory. Try flavoring your dressings with fresh or roasted garlic, scallions, spices, fruits and nuts. You may also wish to try a creamy dressing. These dressings are very easy to make. All it takes is some combination of buttermilk, sour cream and mayonnaise. You can pick the ratios based on your own preferences for the flavor and consistency in your dressing. Fantastic additions for creamy dressings include roasted garlic, crumbled cheeses and all kinds of peppercorns. When you make your own dressings you get to compliment your meal with flavors. You can also make as much or as little as you want to use before moving on to another dressing.
Meatless Toppers
If you are wondering what to do with leftover vegetables, consider using the vegetables in a salad. Simply cut the vegetables into strips and toss with greens and add salad dressing. To make a chef’s salad, just add your leftover meat and add cheese. These salads are easy to make, and you can enjoy them within minutes.
Dressings are not the only way to give your salad pizzazz. Add all kinds of toppings in addition to your mixed vegetables. If you are in the habit of making salads into meals and you donít want to eat meat, there are still plenty of options for you. When topping your salads, keep in mind texture and flavor combination’s. If you add nuts, you probably donít need croutons. If you add fruit, you probably will want to add a flavorful cheese. Dried fruits are fantastic for adding to your salads. They burst with flavor and add great nutrition and a fun chew. Eggs are a good source of protein as an addition to your salad, but use them carefully. They are best when combined with tomatoes and other bright vegetables rather than cheeses and nuts.
Salads are perfectly great whether prepared as a dinner starter or as a meal. If you want your salad to have different taste than usual, you can play and test on the ingredients. Try dressing them up a little. Have fun experimenting and mixing all kinds of new salads.
Make homemade vinaigrette dressings instead of purchasing them from the store. Your homemade dressing not only tastes better, but it uses fewer ingredients and is often healthier. You can easily whip these up by just dumping all the ingredients into a sealed contained and shaking it up vigorously, and voila! You have delicious tasting dressing for marinades and salads.
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- Make Your Own Salad Dressing (abeautifulmess.typepad.com)
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