Stop The Junk Food

Whenever you are fixing a salad, there are always a few ingredients that instantly come to mind. There is really no helping it, you will either think of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. You are possibly thinking of cheese and your favorite dressing too, but in any case, all of those ingredients are already too cliché. You can be very creative when it comes to salads too, and we get to explore other salad fixing ideas through this article.

When you go visit your favorite salad bar, I bet the first thing you will see is the lettuce section. As a matter of fact, creativity starts with this basic ingredient among salads. Chances are that the salad bar you frequent will contain other types of lettuce. Instead of choosing the one you like, try mixing them all up. The taste difference can be subtle, but this is where it all starts.

Next, try adding more of those vibrant colored vegetables into your salad. If you think about it, vegetables with different colors not only act as a decoration to your meal but can be very appetizing as well. Carrots and peppers look nice in a salad, or opt in for some “bloom” by adding in broccolis, cauliflowers or mushrooms too.

Most vegetables used in stir-fry are also perfect as salad fixings. Zucchinis and baby ears of corn are perfect examples. Most people don’t even think about adding these ingredients for a salad, but actually they contribute a great deal of flavor if added into the mix.

All in all, a salad can be fixed with just about any vegetable you can think of. There is a reason why salads are considered to be very healthy meals, and are used frequently by those who are in diet or watching their weights. Just think about the nutritional value of each salad serving, especially when you add all the fixings just mentioned above.

It is not only vegetables that add nutritional value to a salad. For a really well-rounded meal, you can also add fruit into the mix. Most salad bars contain apples, pineapples and bananas. Other than these, there are also a couple of berry types you can use. Dried fruits like raisins or prunes add a lot of flavor to the mix. Generally, fruits are sweet and can really satisfy your palate. They add a lot of vitamins and minerals too, which means you’re adding more nutrition to your meal besides those from the vegetables.

Lastly, it’s worth considering also those toppings you see at the end of the salad bar line. Seeds, nuts and meat bits populate this area and instead of just going with the conventional cheese, why not add these ingredients too? You’ll be surprised at how much flavor they can contribute to your salad. The trick is just to experiment, and you’ll soon have your new favorites at the end of the meal.

In summary, when it comes to salad fixings, the sky is really the limit to how much experiment you can do. It’s hard to break a tried and tested recipe, but as you try new things you might have never imagined eating in a salad, you’ll soon find the new ingredients worth the taste too. Give those neglected fixings a chance, it’s really much better and more fun that way.

Put it, rinse it and spin it to dry. Using a salad spinner is that easy. Yes of course I mean using a salad spinner should not only be easy but cleaning it should be more convenient. For those these things are incomprehensible I will explain in details.

A salad spinner is the easiest and quickest way to wash and dry the greens in salad. A salad spinner is a plastic bowl with a removable plastic strainer and special top, which when closed and activated, spins the strainer inside the bowl.

Those who are into making salads can understand how much difficult it gets to wash the greens and trying to pat them dry using paper towels. Try it once and then you will admire this small and handy kitchen gadget. Using salad spinner you can rinse the salad ingredients for any dirt and then dry them just by spinning it around.

Let’s see how easy it is to handle the salad spinner. First put the strainer basket in the salad spinner bowl and put the greens inside. Then add enough water so that you can rinse the greens well. Remove the strainer from the salad bowl to drain off the water. Again rinse the bowl with clean water. You can repeat the steps if you need to be sure that it is properly clean.

After washing and draining the greens (upto satisfaction level) return the strainer with the greens to the salad spinner bowl. Fix the top on the bowl and spin it to dry (this is the most exciting part in the whole process). With a good salad bowl you will find the process easy and the greens water free in the serving bowl.

Now while choosing a salad right salad bowl for you do test it on some parameters. Get a model that is sturdy, has a tight fitting lid and spins easily. Also it should have a solid base so that it won’t trip over while spinning a big quantity. All these features are a must look for but I would also suggest a salad spinner which is big enough to hold, wash and dry greens for entire family (rather than putting it again and again to work).

Hygiene is another important part which I would like to draw your attention to. Most of the salad spinners are easy to operate but really taxing to clean. Get your self one which is easy to use as well as to clean. Salad spinners come in a variety of sizes and designs, though all of them work on the same principle (Let me guess! it works on centrifugal force).

Some spinners have knob-lids for manual spinning. Others operate on pump action by a cylinder that pops up from the lid. Using your palm, you press down on the cylinder or pump to generate the spinning motion. Most pump action salad spinners also have a brake in the form of a button in the lid. When you want the spinning to stop, you simply press the button.

One more suggestion, a salad spinner can be used to store salad in the refrigerator. Although salad spinners are dishwasher safe, kindly read he product manual before putting it into the dishwasher.

Whenever it’s already salad time, people will begin to ready the key ingredients to complete the meal. Every recipe for salad includes lettuce and other vegetables, cheese, bacon bits and croutons. And to top it all off, the final recipe to flavor-up the salad – the dressing. Nowadays though, there are just so many salad dressings to choose from, so let us tackle some of them to help you decide on what to use for your salad.

No salad is complete without the dressing and frankly, I don’t know anyone who’ll eat a salad without it. In fact, when it comes to applying dressing, people mostly go into extremes. This is perfectly fine if you’re not overly concerned with health or weight, but if you want to trim down on those fats, you need to be choosy on what you put on your salad.

There’s no need to worry though since the choice for salad dressings is vast. Just take a look at any salad section of a grocery store and you’ll find lots of them adorned with their brands. Each brand will span into different flavors too and it’s quite confusing on what to choose to perfectly complement your meal. It’s easy to say that the sky is the limit, unless if you’re planning to prepare a specific type of salad, because sometimes a certain salad type can only go with a specific flavor of dressing too.

For instance, if you’re going for some Caesar salad, you wouldn’t think of any other dressing than the Caesar style. That’s quite obvious, just like partnering a Cobb salad with some tasty Green Goddess dressing. Bottom line is that sometimes, in order for you to recreate that fancy restaurant taste for your salad, you just have to follow the norm of using its partner salad dressing because most of the time, it’s better that way.

I can’t blame you for being creative too and in fact, I highly suggest experimenting with your dressing decisions. With all the salad dressing choices in the grocery, you just have to trust your gut and your taste buds on what you think will do the trick. You may make mistakes in choosing, but the rewards are definitely greater when you find a combination that you’ll always enjoy.

Salads are originally meant to be a healthy alternative meal. When we’re talking about dressings though, most of the time, health is compromised. You have to admit, you’ll rather want to smother your whole salad with some tasty dressing than just putting in a small amount. It’s still a fact that in eating, we would mind the taste more than the health factor.

Read the label – this same rule applies when choosing a healthy dressing. Your recipe for salad should consist of correct measurements too if you want to monitor calorie intake. About 2 tablespoons of dressing will do, really. That’s already 11 grams of fat, but it can be worse off if you don’t measure.

You can also search for healthier salad dressings in the grocery like those low fat or low calorie ones aligned with the regular ones on the same isle. These alternatives are very famous for health conscious individuals. The taste of these products is nearly the same and the price doesn’t really vary much, making them worth the difference for your health and weight efforts.

Of course, for the ultimate experiment, why not try making your own version of your favorite dressing at home? Olive or canola oil can be the building block of a wonderful home-made dressing. Put in some vinegar, add some lemon, pepper and other spices to taste, and amaze yourself with your own salad dressing creation.