Tag: Fruits And Vegetables

Light And Fresh As A Salad

No small thanks to weight watchers everywhere, the salad is beginning to take on center stage from an obscure, little corner during the earlier times. Indeed, salad is now enjoying the same popularity of the, well not exactly pizza, but at least fast food.

New diet and fitness methods seem to pop out everywhere on a monthly basis. From crash to yoyo to Low Carb-High Protein, to the After Six, to South Beach to something as crazy as color dieting.

The methods vary mostly in the food composition that must be consumed while on the diet, but what’s common to all these are the inclusion of salad in one form or another.

Indeed, the humble salad has found its way even to those fast food counters as health consciousness begins to grow. Even the Fast food king, McDonald’s himself, had to yield to the pressure and has started to offer healthy alternatives that includes, you’ve guess it right, the salad.

There are more than a thousand ways to prepare a salad. This can be served as an appetizer, a main course, dessert and even as a sandwich filling. Although most often associated with all those big nutritional stuff such as the lettuces, romaines, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber and grapes, the salad can also take on the form of a heavier meal.

While chicken and tuna are the most common ingredients, pork, turkey and peking duck have already found their way in bowls everywhere.

Generally, the term salad refers to a preparation of chopped and / or sliced ingredients. Although meat can be incorporated in it, it has to contain at least one or two vegetables and fruits. It can be served dry or with a dressing.

The most common dressings are whipped cream, vinaigrette, thousand island, honey-mustard and ceasars’ dressing. And the most common ingredients are lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and cucumber. Eggs have also become a regular ingredient.

The popularity of the salad has grown mostly because of its nutritional value. It satisfies the hunger pangs without weighing in too much on the scale. And this is why it has become a favorite preparation for the health nuts everywhere.

Come to think of it, one need really not be a health enthusiast to enable him or her to enjoy this preparation. With the variety and interesting textures that come up every time, one is bound to find one that he or she can be addicted to.

Go Meditarrenean With Greek Salad

Greek Salad is characterize by its fresh taste. Made only with crisp vegetables. It is a very healthy dish that requires little or less than ten minutes to prepare. Greek salads are a fusion of colors. You have the greens, the yellows, the reds and the oranges. Below is a compilation of some of the most fantastic Greek salad recipes.

GREEK SALAD RECIPE

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic: minced (crushed)
teaspoon dried oregano
teaspoon sea salt
teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and extra for garnish
3 tomatoes: cut into wedges
red onion: sliced into rings
cucumber: sliced into thick half-moons
green pepper (capsicum): julienned
4 oz (120g) feta cheese: cut into small cubes
16 kalamata olives

PLACE the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano in a small jar with a screw-top lid and shake to combine. PLACE the salad ingredients in a large bowl. POUR the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine just before serving. Garnish with a little freshly ground black pepper.

MEDITERRANEAN GREEK SALAD

INGREDIENTS

3 cucumbers, seeded and sliced
1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
1 cup black olives, pitted and sliced
3 cups diced roma tomatoes
1/3 cup diced oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained, oil reserved
1/2 red onion, sliced

DIRECTIONS

1.In a large salad bowl, toss together the cucumbers, feta cheese, olives, roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, 2 tablespoons reserved sun-dried tomato oil, and red onion. Chill until serving.

GREEK SALAD

3 vine ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 European seedless cucumber, cut into bite-size chunks
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chunked
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chunked
1 cubanelle pepper, seeded and chunked
1 cup Kalamata black olives
Several sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley, about 1/2 cup
2 (1/4 pound) slices imported Greek feta
1/4 cup (a couple of glugs) extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons (3 splashes) red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed in palm of your hand
Coarse salt and black pepper
Pita breads

Combine vegetables, olives, and parsley in a large bowl. Rest sliced feta on the top of salad. Combine oil, vinegar, and oregano in a small plastic container with a lid. Shake vigorously to combine oil and vinegar and pour over salad and cheese.

Season with salt and pepper and let the salad marinate until ready to serve. Serve salad with pita bread blistered and warmed on a hot griddle or grill pan.

Natashas Greek Salad

1 bunch leaf lettuce
2 cucumbers
4 large tomatoes
1 small yellow onion

Garnish:

Greek black olives
feta cheese

Dressing:

1 part red wine vinegar
1 part olive oil
crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste
2 pinches sugar

Chop lettuce and onion finely. Chop tomatoes and cucumbers coarsely (about 1/2). Combine and garnish to taste. One of the simplest items we prepare, this salad draws many compliments. Use real Greek olives packed in brine.

Everything You Need To Know About Fruit Salads

Most of the people know only one thing about fruit salads; and that is how to eat them. How could you eat something that you know nothing about? Well, aside from the fact that they are delicious?

A fruit salad is a delicious dish with different kinds of fruit, sometimes served submerged in their own fruit juice, or lathered with syrup. It is oftenly served as an appetizer, if not that, dessert. Eitherway, fruit salads are definitely delicious, you can have them for both appetizer and dessert.

Making your own fruit salad is not hard; you just need to prepare its ingredients. And the ingredients used are neither extinct nor hard to find, you can just whip out your wallet and make the march to the nearest grocery store.

It needs one pint of basket of fresh California strawberries, which you are supposed to stem and make into halves; a teaspoon of finely chopped fresh mint or a half teaspoon of dried mint; a half cup of light sour cream; lettuce leaves; a half teaspoon of honey; two cups of fresh fruits that are in season. See? These ingredients do not require you to go hiking up in the mountains, looking for exotic fruits.

For you to make a strawberry dressing, you must puree an ample amount of the strawberries in an electric bender, about a half-cup, to make a cup of pureed strawberries. In a separate bowl, stir the puree, together with mint and honey, into a sour cream so that they will all blend. In assembling your fruit salad, line individual salad plates that contain lettuce. Arrange the strawberries that you have reserved with the other fruits on the lettuce and top with the strawberry dressing. Sounds good, huh? You could bet that this tastes even better.

Yes, you now know how to make a fruit salad after knowing the necessary ingredients. But still, do you know where fruit salads came from? This is added knowledge, thus, it would be best if you keep this pieces of information in your memory.

The origin of fruit salads relies highly on what you initially mean by “fruit salad”. Fruit salads that are made up of combinations of different fresh, dried, candied or sugared, and stewed fruits or vegetables. This type of fruit salad originated from the ancient times. The ingredients and the recipes that are used depended on what were available in the country, or if what ingredients were in season. They also depend on the socio-cultural attitudes of the people toward the ingredients, whether the fruits were socially considered to be healthy or not.

The fruit salad, as we know of it today, is a production of the mid-nineteenth century. There has been unearthed culinary evidence that confirms the saying that sometimes, fruits salads are purposely mixed with sugar and alcohol, thus, given the term “fruit cocktail”. The non-alcoholic variation of this recipe, also the jellied fruit salad, was famous in the 1920s. In the period of the World War II, fruit salads were introduced to the world as a proper supplement of Vitamin C, and were, in fact, included in the American diet.

However, fruit salads in the European countries evolved quite differently. The recipes contained amounts of mayonnaise. Have you heard, or better yet, eaten a Waldorf salad? Well, this is the name of the said fruit salad that is lathered with mayonnaise.

Now is the time when you can say that you know everything you need to know that concerns fruit salads. Fruit salads contain one hundred twenty-three calories, two grams of protein, eleven milligrams of cholesterol, four grams of fat, and twenty-one grams of carbohydrates. What more can you ask for?

Easy And Refreshing Fruit Salad Recipes

Fruit salad is probably one of the easiest and tastiest things in the world to make. Any seven-year old can whip up their salad in no time at all. In fact, for a real bonding time with your kids, you can involve them in the kitchen and have fun whipping up this fabulous desert.

This is particularly popular during the summer when fresh fruits abound, however, summer or winter, it doesn’t really matter as fruits grow all year round. There’s really nothing to putting together fruit salad rcipes. The secret is really just in picking out the best fruits. Below are fantastic fruit salad recipes you can do in your very own kitchen:

FRUIT SALAD WITH CITRUS-CILANTRO DRESSING

1 (20-ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained (or better yet, 2 1/2 to 3 cups fresh pineapple chunks)
3 grapefruits, peeled and sectioned
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 mango pitted, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup lime juice
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons honey

1.Combine pineapple, grapefruit, strawberries and mango in a large serving bowl; set aside.

2.In a small saucepan, combine orange juice, lime juice and cilantro. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain and discard cilantro. Stir in honey. Pour over fruit mixture and toss until evenly coated.

FLUFFY PISTACHIO FRUIT SALAD

1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple, not drained
1 (4-serving size) package instant pistachio pudding mix
1 (12-ounce) container non dairy whipped topping, thawed
2 large bananas, sliced
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 (17-ounce) can fruit cocktail, drained
1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained

Pour instant pudding mix into a large mixing bowl. Add pineapple, and mix well. Mix in nondairy whipped topping. Stir in bananas, marshmallows, fruit cocktail, and mandarin oranges.

Cover, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Stevia and Honey – Safe and Sorry

Society today has slowly seen the negative side of sugar. This is why most people would prefer to avoid eating sweet foods, which is quite next to impossible. People love sugar and will probably give up all the other stuff in life before giving up on it.

To answer this need, companies have come up with several alternatives to sugar that are much lower in caloric and carbohydrate content. Unfortunately, because it is not as natural as the ordinary table sugar, people feel that too much consumption of these sugar substitutes can be harmful to the body. They are afraid that just as it took forever for them to discover the problems that sugar can cause, it will also take forever before they will find out just how harmful the sugar substitutes are to the body.

One substitute though that is still considered safe is the honey, which directly comes from honeybees. Because honey is a combination of different kinds of sugars such as fructose, which can be seen in fruits, maltose, glucose, and sucrose, honey is more balanced and has a better effect on the body. It is better absorbed by the body and presents lesser load for the pancreas, which filters the sugar and activates the insulin system.

One disadvantage though that honey provides is the fact that it is very vulnerable to industrial chemicals being a very natural product. Genetically-modified pollen can cause pests like the Varroa mite. This in turn will increase the possibility of the use of some chemical pesticides that may affect the honey that it being produced. Another potential problem is the use of antibiotics that may be potentially harmful to people when ingested indirectly through the honey. In addition to this, honey although quite a healthy alternative for people with normal conditions, cannot be used by diabetics.

Another potential sugar savior is stevia, which is a South American herb that has been used in Japan for centuries. Records also show that native Americans also use this herb in their food. It has a low caloric content and provides great therapy for thrush, which is exacerbated by the consumption of too much sugar. In fact, stevia is believed to be capable of stabilizing the sugar level of diabetics.

However, despite its glowing reviews and resume, stevia has failed to gain an approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration when the agency rejected the call for the herb to have a GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status.