Whether served as a summery main course, a refreshing side dish, an intriguing warm appetizer, an easy to transport picnic dish, or a quick lunch, salads are wonderfully versatile.
With ingredients ranging from meat, poultry, fish, cheese, and eggs to vegetables, beans, fruit, seeds, pasta, and grains can be mixed and matched into endless delicious combinations. Dressings may be an equally diverse squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of oil or a classic herb vinaigrette, creamy mayonnaise or a low-fat yogurt sauce, a combination of subtle Asian herbs and spices or a mind-blowing Caribbean concoction of tropical fruit juice and chilies.
Successful salads depend on using the best-quality ingredients. Limp greens, overripe tomatoes, dried-up cheese, and soggy pasta will not be improved by mixing them together or disguised by smothering them with dressing. Traditional salad ingredients, such as lettuce, cucumber, and celery, must be really fresh. Fruit, whether mangoes and strawberries or those that are considered vegetables, such as tomatoes and bell peppers, should be ripe and bursting with flavor. Keep an eye on the expiration dates of pantry ingredients-nuts, seeds, and oils quickly become rancid and ground spices son lose their flavor. Finally, as a general rule, don't add the dressing to a salad until you are ready to serve it.
We are driven crazy these days with advice to eat more healthily and to include more fruit and vegetables in our diet. Salads make this easy because a mixture of different colored fruit and vegetables a typical salad-is guaranteed to provide a wide range of nutrients and plenty of fiber. Many ingredients are used raw thus conserving their vitamin content. Monounsaturated oils, such as olive and canola, can help protect against high blood cholesterol, while the addition of seeds supplies essential omega-6. Finally, as flavorings for dressings-garlic, herbs, mustard, fruit juice, wine vinegar, nut oils are so tasty, you'll find it easy to cut down your salt intake. Super foods with super flavor on a plate.
Thanks good articel
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