Great Summer Salads

I love eating salad in the summer, when everything is so fresh. Doesn’t this look so good?

Salads are not just a quick weight loss tool– they are SO nutritious because they incorporate so many varieties of raw foods. Cooked food has enzymes in it, which your body sees as toxic. Your body must work hard to digest the cooked food, and break it down into suitable nutrition. And don’t even ASK about the processed food garbage and what it does to the body!

I’ve been eating a lot less meat and much more salad meals. I usually do in the summer, but I’ve been making a concerted effort to do so. I have found that I eat more salads when there is a lot of vegetable “stuff” hanging out in the fridge. Here are some ideas for making salads– and the possibilities are truly endless–

Collard greens
Swiss chard
Red cabbage, shredded
Kale
Tomatoes (Roma are nice because they slice well and aren’t pulpy)
Red pepper
Raw garlic cloves marinated in olive oil
Snow pea pods
Black olives

Here’s a tip: when you are looking for greens to add to the salad, skip the iceberg lettuce. It has virtually no nutrition. Grab the greens like kale and spinach– much better for you.

Also, if you must add meat or cheese to the salad, try some pre-cooked shrimp or leftover chicken. The shrimp is SO EASY to add- run the frozen bag under cool water, and toss the thawed shrimp on the salad. For cheese, try feta, which is SO yummy with the garlic cloves and olives.

Mmmmmmm.

Salads are BIG Right Now

I thought I was just going on a salad binge. But it seems like I’m not alone. My Hubs works at a grocery store sometimes, and he says he’s noticed more folks getting wackier greens, like kale. Yum, I love kale. But my receipt printer doesn’t like it so much; it’s WILDLY expensive. I;m growing uit in the garden this year, my first time with it. I’m trying a lot of new stuff, mostly from the cabbage family: cabbage, collards, chard, kale. We like lettuce, but the leafy greens like kale and chard just seem meatier.

I’m really looking forward to making (and eating) more salads this summer. The stuff in the stores is so expensive.. almost criminal! I can’t wait to have things fresh.

Here are some of the things we like in our salads right now. The star next to the vegetable is something we are growing in the garden this year.
Raw garlic cloves*
Leeks*
Cucumbers*
Kale*
Iceberg lettuce
Red peppers
Black olives
Red cabbage*
Green cabbage*
Carrots
Romaine lettuce*
Mixed lettuce*
Spinach*
Tomatoes*

So you can see that I’m going to grow my salads this year. I wish I could grow olives, YUMMM. I love them. I also add feta cheese or bits of salmon, if I have it. Fresh food is SOOO good for you! I’m starting to really dislike cooked food, more and more.

Now THIS Is a Meal

We wanted to treat the kids to a very nice meal this week, as they’d been working hard and needed some special TLC. But one of them was sick, and no one wanted to go to a restaurant. So I made a trip to the grocery store and we splurged on the yummiest food on planet earth: Mediterranean food. YUMMMM.

There’s everything in that salad, can you see?? Well, maybe not loose diamonds or anything! But those marinated garlic cloves and the Calamari olives come pretty close to it! Wow, this was such a great meal. And I served King Crab Legs, too. They were “OK,” a little too salty. I really liked the salad. This is the bets meal, EVER!

What’s your favorite meal?

Simple Summer Meal Ideas

Now that it’s officially summer, we are all scratching our heads again this season, wondering what we’ve got for simple summer meals. Summer is a busy time of the year for me, and I have a few ideas up my sleeve. I thought I’d share.

1. Think salads!
Salads are great for the summer. We have a garden full of greens– lettuces and spinach of all kinds. It’s a breeze to pluck the leaves and toss into a salad bowl. I usually have just the leaves in a big bowl with shredded carrot. Any other veggies, i serve on individual plates at the table, for everyone to pick and choose to add to their salad: cucumbers; tomatoes; red onions; olives; cubanelle, red bell, and green peppers; chickpeas; crumbled feta cheese or other shredded cheese; raw snow peapods; shredded red cabbage; and more.

2. Grill those veggies!
I do a lot of grilling in the summer, but I don’t do meat as much as I grill the vegetables: white onion slices; eggplant slices; zucchini and yellow squash sliced lengthwise; leftover boiled potatoes, sliced; and more. I sometimes marinade my veggies in a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar before throing on the grill. Yum!

3. Eat Greek style!
I love Greek food, and it’s perfect for summer dining. Serve plates full of lettuce greens, feta cheese, sliced grilled meat (like chicken or lamb) and olives. These combines with flat bread and some table fruits like grapes and watermelon make for a fancy, easy meal.

4. Stir Fry!
Stir fry meals are so easy. I slice the chicken or beef and saute in a large wok with a little olive oil and soy sauce. Once cooked, I throw in every veggie I can find– mushrooms, garlic, sliced carrots, fresh broccoli and cauliflower, and onions. I saute very quickly for about 10 minutes. Serve with hot rice (from the rice cooker) and it’s ready. This meal adapts well to frozen vegetables, too. I often dump a bag of frozen broccoli into the wok instead of chopping up the fresh broccoli. It’s still so yummy!

5. Make ahead meals!
I often make extra of a recipe and freeze it. This makes meals so easy– all I have to do is pull the meal out of the freezer or fridge, thaw it, and cook. I often do this with my Hybrid Lasagna (I’ve never frozen the meal, only refrigerated it), and my Wow Chow meatballs (which freeze very well). The meatballs are great– all you have to do is cook the meatballs in sauce, and boil water for pasta. Easy!

Summertime is when I get more creative with my meals, because fresh vegetables are plentiful. They are so versatile, and there are so many of them (and all so yummy!) that the possibilities are endless! Enjoi.