Salad 101

Creating a vegan style salad is super easy!  Here are my go-to ingredients to a new and exciting salad each night. (Please feel free to add your rave fave salads in the comments! If you are a food blogger please, please, please add a link so we can all have some groovy green love.)

Greens: (in order of my own personal preference)

• spinach
• baby kale
• lacinato kale or dinosaur kale (for my video on kale click here.)
• romaine
• swiss chard
• beet greens (did you know you can grow your own?  micro, micro farm!  –> click here.)
• Zen Blend 

Veggies: 

• cucumbers
• tomatoes
• carrots slice 500 different ways
• peppers–red, yellow, green, hot peppers!, roasted peppers (the ones out of a jar)
• my kids like corn on their Taco Salads

Fruit:

• strawberries
• olives
• kiwi
• apple
• pineapple

Nuts and Seeds:

• WALNUTS (my biggest most favorite!)
• almonds
• peanuts (especially on my Asian salads)
• black beans (on my Taco Salad)
• garbanzo beans
• pumpkin seeds (roasted–I eat them raw on my oatmeal but not salad.  I know–weird.)

Why? 

Because I’m all about just eating a ding dang salad–it’s just not that hard.  It’s good for you.  Your heart will thank you and so will your kids . . . or your Mom!  or whoever loves you more than anything in the whole world.   

Heart Health Salad Kit Review! Last week I reviewed the Digestive Health Salad Kit and the Antioxidant Kit–real and honest reviews of what I did AND didn't like. Because–I'm picky. 1 bag is 180 calories and supposed to be 2.5 servings! But really this is a very small salad–I added strawberries and cucumbers. It still wasn't enough! (ok so maybe I was super hungry . . . but still.) Baby #spinach arugula, broccoli, #kale beet tops, carrots, dried cranberries, walnuts, with a super #yumilicious basil balsamic vinaigrette 3 grams of fiber 3 grams of protien Vitamin A 90% Calcium 8% Vitamin E 10% Folate 20% Manganese 25% Vitamin C 60% Iron 8% Vitamin K 250% Magnesium 10%

A photo posted by Renee's Kitchen

[Tweet “Beautiful food, intentional cooking, opening to the blessings of a sacred meal. #salad”]

 

 

I picked these up at Target. These are really nice for reluctant salad eaters! A great way to introduce a variety of greens without minimal time investment. #salad #healthykids #heartsmart

A photo posted by Renee's Kitchen

 

 

Don’t recreate the wheel (or salad)

This was the salad kit I used as a base, then added strawberries.  No, it isn’t organic.  No, it’s not local.  I went for easy, fast, a different flavor blend to try out on my kids.  

Salad kits are a great way to:

• introduce new combinations
• try a new green blend 
• try a new salad dressing without make the commitment to a jar–I have a graveyard of salad dressings in my fridge!  Bums me out.
• perfect size for lunch–put the lettuce in your own container and then add the dressing and toppings at lunch!  Brilliant idea.

Go get your salad on!

Be blessed as you honor your body with healthy greens! 

PS.  if you need a salad dressing –> click here for my amaze walnut fig dressing, or here for my lemon dressing!