Eat Your Greens
For those of you like me who like to eat healthfully but find that it is sometimes hard to find the time to make up salads, here's what works well for us:
When we go to the store, we usually buy three large bunches of different types of salad greens. Upon arriving home, I wash all of the lettuce off, tear it, and put it in a big airtight bowl. Drain the leaves and seal the lid on tight. Then, I can put together a simple salad every night in a matter of a couple minutes. I'll just add some tomatoes or cucumbers, croutons, cheese, and some dressing. Or, if I'm really pressed for time, we can just have plain mixed greens.
I also have been packing salads for my husband to take in his lunch. I usually wouldn't have the time to put together a nice big salad for him, but when it's almost finished and waiting in the refrigerator, it's very easy to do! He loves it, and I'm glad to make him a nutritious lunch.
Does anyone want to share their quick tips for eating nutritiously? I always need all the ideas and inspiration I can get!
posted by Crystal Paine at 3:36 PM
25 Comments:
Crystal-
I buy 1# of organic mixed greens at Sams for $4.18. This feeds our family for 2 wks plus guests a couple times. I agree that having it ready is the key. I have almost stopped buying dressing as well. It is so much easier to toss together one that is *just right* for the salad.
I grind my own wheat and make my own bread, so that helps us eat healthy. When I make bread, I bake 6 loaves and freeze three of dough. That way I can make pizza, rolls, bierocks quickly without messing with the grinder and mixer.
You can also make a huge batch of cookie dough and freeze it in balls. Then you are ready for drop in company anytime, or ready when your husband mentions at 10pm he would like a warm cookie and a icy glass of milk.
I heard a speaker at MOPS one time say you should have a staple company meal always prepped and frozen. You never know how the Lord will lead, but if I have it ready I find that we use it every week. Sometimes by asking someone over for dinner after church, or when you find out your friend was up all night with sick kids, whatever, the need will present itself.
Food is a real way to minister to your family and others. I really think it is a lost art. By some simple for thought, and planning, blessing others can become second nature. Now that I have taken this on a complete bunny trail, I'll stop. It is just a topic dear to my heart. Bet you couldn't guess! :)
Here's a really yummy way to eat raw spinach!
Fruited Spinach Salad
1 can mandarin oranges
¼ cup olive oil
3 T apricot fruit spread (100% fruit)
1 T red wine vinegar
1 pkg fresh torn spinach
1 red apple, chopped
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Drain oranges, reserving ½ cup juice. In a jar with tight fittig lid, combine oil, jam, vinegar, and juice. Shake well. In a large bowl toss oranges, spinach, apples, and pecans. Serve with dressing.
We don't usually use the mandarin oranges; instead, we use various combinations of pears, apples, fresh pineapple, peaches, strawberries, and blueberries - just about anything works. It is super yummy and very easy!
I prep salads similar to how you do, Crystal - it IS great to have salads ready to eat! One tip I learned from my MIL is to rinse your greens, place them in a mesh laundry bag, and then put them in the washer to run on just the spin cycle. I don't have room for a salad spinner, but I don't think I'll ever want one because that works so well.
Thanks for your thoughts, Crystal! I've been using your idea of preparing the lettuce each week and having it ready in the fridge for several meals, and it has really worked well for us.
We love salads too, but we usually like to mix in some protein such as sunflower seeds and nuts. My husband likes dried cranberries on his. These things just add a different texture that is nice!
Balsamic vinegar alone or mixed with olive oil makes a GREAT salad dressing. There is a bit of a bite to it though, so not everyone may like it.
I'm looking forward to reading what others have to say about eating healthfully, as I am currently really trying to work on menu planning--planning healthy meals, but also working out the logistics of when and how all the preparations will take place.
I always keep tofu in the fridge, it makes a good nibble or snack.
I keep veggies in airtight containers with organic dips or hummus.
fresh fruit always available.
For work lunches, my mom bought me these cool salad shakers. The salad goes in the lower portion with all the mixins'. When I'm ready to eat it, the dressing which is stored in the hatch above the salad is opened and you just shake and eat. Then your salad doesn't get soggy.
http://www.fit-fresh.com/products.htm
We've enjoyed different additions to green salads:
...oranges (regular, canned mandarin, or fresh mandarin)
...nuts (almonds or walnuts sauted in a little oil with salt, garlic and a few herbs--Dad loves that touch!)
...green onions
...fresh mushrooms
...diced jicama
...parmesan cheese (for that Italian touch!)
We eat alot of salads also, I do not prewash the greens, but that is a good idea! I vary the vegetables I put into my salad as to what is on sale. I love cucumbers and tomatoes, but also put cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, and other vegetables in my salads. I sometimes will dry my own bread cubes, toss with a little olive oil and spices for homemade croutons. I do this if we get bread really really cheap or almost free.
I never buy dressing but make my own. We like Ranch and Italian here so it is pretty easy. I make a quick buttermilk ranch or Oil and vinegar italian.
Sometimes I make salads like the Russians do with just salt and little oil and maybe dried dill or herbs. Homemade coleslaw that is not nearly as sweet as many is a favorite here also.
I like to kep frozen broccoli mixture in the freezer when we are out of fresh ones for a stir fry or soup, it is a nice way to add vegetables in easily!
Another salad we like is field greens, olives, a bit of feta cheese a sprinkle of parmasan and balsamic vinegar dressing!
What a ton of great ideas everyone has! I am going to have to write these down. I will certainly do the lettuce thing, I would love an easier way to do salads. My Hubby needs more green in his lunch!
Related to the making of salads...does anyone know a good cleaner to use on lettuce and other vegetables? I just use water, but I'm wondering if something more might be advisable?
I've always just used the prepacked greens and then got the extras when I want something.
But here is a difficult one(for me anyway)...What ideas for healthy vegi and fruit tempters for picky kids? I have one daughter that just wont try anything and another who will some, but not others. This is a huge problem for me. Any ideas?
to clean your veggies, use Veggie Wash...that's what it's called. You can get it at any health food store. It's all natural, and recommended by all major health publications.
comes in a spray bottle.
Sommer,
My mother used cookie cutters to certain veggies and fruits into fun shapes, that made us want to eat them more. Adding fun dips also helped. Peanut butter, hummus, and healthy ranch and mexi dips always helped too.
Wow! I loved these ideas. Keep them coming! So inspiring!
All 4 of my kids seem to not get enough greens, my 18 mo old won't even taste any thing green! So I had to start sneeking them in. I puree fresh or frozen spinach and layer it between the crust and sauce in our homemade pizza. They eat it up every time! I always make double the pizza so we can have it for breakfast and or snacks during the week, so they are eating it at least twice a week that way. I'll also chop some up finely and put in a cheese quiche they really like too. I'd love to hear other's ideas for picky eaters.
Jessica-
Thanks for the tip on Veggie Wash! I'll check my health food store next time I'm there:o)
My family (of just five) consumes about 14 large heads of lettuce (green leaf or romaine usually) a week. We all enjoy salad. We often buy a bag of spinach at Sam's to add to the lettuce. Here are a few things we particularly enjoy on salad:
~ Toasted sesame seeds (it takes about 30 seconds to toast them and is so much better than plain sesame seeds). We discovered these after we were given tons of sesame seeds and needed to find a use for them.
~ Avacodo
~ Feta cheese (this is a rare treat for us, but it only takes a tad bit to really add some flavor)
~ Sauted onions and almonds
~ Tomatoes - when tomatoes were/are particularly expensive, Mama buys diced tomatoes (in the 28 oz. can) and adds a little bit of olive oil and vinegar and italian season. It makes a great tomato dressing.
~ Homemade dressing - I have several great recipes. Recently we had a wonderful salad which was simply the greens with peeled slices of grapefruit and large slices of avacodo laid on top. Over this was drizzled a dressing of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, spices, and a touch of honey. I do NOT like sweet fruits in salad, but the grapefruit was just right. It was delicious!
Monticello Dressing
1 clove garlic
1 t. salt
1/2 t. white pepper
2/3 c. olive oil (or 1/3 c. olive oil and 1/3 c. sesame oil
1/3 c. red wine vinegar or tarragon vinegar
Blend ingredients well.
French Dressing
1 small can of tomato sauce
Olive oil
Apple cider vinegar
Minced onion
Garlic powder
Mustard powder
Paprika
Celery seed
Salt
Pepper
Sweeter (optional)
Shake all ingredients well.
Garlic and Herb Marinade or Dressing
1/2 c. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil or oregano leaves
2 T. finely chopped garlic
1/4 t. salt
Mix together all ingredients.
Dressing for Spinach Salad
1 c. olive oil
1/2 c. lemon juice
1 or 2 t. sugar or substitute
1 t. salt
1/2 t. dry mustard
6 cloves peeled garlic
Mix all ingredients in a pint jar and allow to sit three to four hours. Remove garlic cloves before serving.
Ruth S.
My boys love dip! Cucumbers and dip and carrots and dip are favorite vegetables for them to eat, then they like salad too, except my 3 year old. He will eat cucumbers though!
For My ranch dip I just make my ranch dressing with sour cream and mayonaise instead of buttermilk. It makes it thicker then. Sometimes I use just sour cream
This is making me hungry for salad. Thankfully, that's on the menu for tonight. :)
My family likes to put chopped up boiled eggs and tuna on their salads - I just like purple onions and green peppers.
One way we like to eat cucumbers is to slice them pretty thin and sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning salt. That is so yummy!
We always buy baby carrots as they're more of a 'snack' that way. Everyone likes them especially with ranch dip.
thanks for the dip recipes!
Jes
I really like the Saving Dinner cookbook, put together by a nutritionist. It has whole meals, not just main dishes, and usually recommends salads as well. It has menus for each week complete with GROCERY LISTS! That's the best part. Really healthy and really EASY. We've eaten so much better since I got this.
Carey, two of my little brothers used to be that way about green food. :-)
We found that vegetables, especially broccoli, mixed with a generous amount of cheese sauce, interested our non-veggy eaters. Making salads fun and unusual helped too... there are a lot of great ideas on that above.
As far as quick goes, we tend to have a pot of leftover soup in the fridge, so for lunch we'll add frozen vegetables, either milk or spaghetti sauce if it needs more liquid and whatever else seems appropriate. We usually serve with a loaf (or two) of fresh baked whole wheat bread.
I've found that if you don't want to spend the $ for "Veggie Wash", plain old baking soda will do.
Just fill your sink with enough water to cover the greens, sprinkle generously with baking soda, and swirl. Let sit for 5 minutes, swirl and rinse. Let dry or spin away!
This method also works well with grapes or any kind of berry, particularly strawberry, which are often loaded with pesticide residue.
Thanks ladies for the ideas to get my picky kids to eat vegis. I am sure I will try some of these to encourage them to eat.
I love the ideas! I must admit I'm not good at making food "fun", but I do offer dips to go with veggies. The thing that has helped my boys learn to like veggies is to simply make them taste them every time they are served. After they taste them a few times, they *usually* learn to at least tolerate them and often like them!
Wow! What incredible thoughts here -- this is why I'm sometimes hesitant to post any "tips" -- because all of you have so much better ideas than me. I'm so glad that I can sit at your feet and learn from your wisdom!
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