Salad Days……

Salad Days… Do you instantly think of lettuce? Tomato? Cucumber? Simply not inspiring, satisfying mentally or physically! So how do you make your salad tick all the boxes? Consider what could be in your salad to give it extra colour, flavour and textures for example;

• Beetroot
• Celery
• Grapes
• Apples
• Nectarines/Strawberries/Melon
• Chopped Coriander
• Fresh Mint/Parsley
• Raw Mushrooms/ Cauliflower
• Avocado
• Pomegranate
• Radish
• Red/White Cabbage
• Carrots
• Sweetcorn
• Oranges/Pear
• Red Onions

And that’s just to get started, now let’s consider what else can be added to our salad;

• Cooked Pasta
• Cooked Rice
• Quinoa
• Couscous
• Baby Potatoes
• Toasted Bread in cubes

And to complete our all round salad;

• Roast Chicken/Turkey
• Ham
• Prawns/Mackerel/Salmon/Tuna/Sardines/Crab ( Any Fish you fancy)
• Thinly sliced (Use a vegetable grater) Parmesan or any other cheese
• Cottage Cheese
• Sausage/Chorizo/Salami
• Smoked/Un-smoked Bacon
• Egg
• Chickpeas/Red Kidney Beans/ Butter Beans
• Lentils
• Haslet/Tongue/Corned Beef
• Toasted Pine Nuts/Walnuts/Peanuts

If you love a dressing…This is where many of the hidden calories can be so be mindful of your measurements, you could invest in an oil sprayer, all the taste at a fraction of the cost! Also to the creamier dressings add fat free plain yoghurt to stretch them.

• Salad Cream
• Mayonnaise
• Caesar
• Balsamic
• French
• Blue Cheese
• Oil
• Vinaigrette
• Honey & Mustard
• Chili & Lime
• Thousand Island
• Ranch Dressing

Virtually all salad dressings are available at reduced calorie in all supermarkets, or why not try experimenting and make your own!

I’m sure you have more ideas, so please share them in the comments.

Food for thought the actual dictionary definition of ‘Salad Days’ is a Shakespearean idiomatic expression that means a youthful time, a period of carefree innocence, idealism and pleasure associated with youth, the modern use refers to a heyday, a period when somebody was at the peak of their abilities.

If you reflect back over your life so far, when would you say your ‘Salad Days’ were? Many of us would say possibly early 20’s, were they happy times? I can honestly say I had more insecurities then than I have now. I was never totally happy with how I looked compared to others and I do believe age has taught me to be thankful and appreciate what I do have now. That’s something I think we would all benefit from. Instead of regret for what we can no longer be/have, maybe we should all be thinking…..

Our ‘Salad Days’ Are they yet to come??

Or could it be Fruit Salad Days………

Fruit, all too often can be boring and unimaginative, Looking at the beautiful colours in the fruit salad below and thinking of the textures and flavours is making my mouth tingle!

We don’t even need to buy each individual fruit, all the supermarkets have a selection of ready prepared fruit, so not having time shouldn’t be an excuse!

The quote below may seem quite harsh, but sadly so true. If we focus more on getting those wonderful flavours, textures and colours in our meals we are packing in loads of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants in short everything we need for a happier, healthier and lighter future.

The food you eat can either be the safest and most powerful medicine or the slowest form of poison

ANN WIGMORE