Fresh Summer Salad
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It is summer time and I love fresh salads on a hot summers day. It is even better when you have the ability to pick your own salad ingredients. I am blessed to have a beautiful garden to harvest my salad greens and green onions. My blueberries, raspberries are not ready at the moment.
I think I got my love for salads about 15 years ago. I worked at a high end fashion retailer in Toronto. Lunch was always the main event. We would always talk about food and what we were going to do for lunch.
There was this one lady I worked with that would always bring these amazing salads, and salad dressings. Things I never thought to put on salads, they were beautiful and a work of art and tasted amazing!. I don't think I was a big salad person until then, and that is when I started to create my own salads.
I have a few rules for my salads. I try and make sure they are as colourful as possible. Eat the rainbow and you will be sure to get a variety of nutrients that you need. Each colour contains different based nutrients. So this is my cheat method to make sure you are getting the correct nutrients.
And using healthy oils in my dressings. I generally avoid store bought dressings. Store bought dressings generally contain a great amount of sugar, as well as additives and preservatives that aren't good for you. I like clean whole foods in my diet.
Olive Oil - This is the olive oil I use for visual reference. It is organic so you know that it is a good quality oil, it is cold pressed to avoid destroying the health promoting benefits and most importantly it is in a dark bottle. Did you know that Olive Oil and other oils turn rancid with heat, air and light? So the oil might be rancid and promote free radicals in your body without you ever knowing about it. Always buy in a dark bottle, and store in a cool, dark location.
Olive oil is full of healthy fats and antioxidants and the right (non-rancid) version of olive oil can be anti-inflammatory.
Apple Cider Vinegar - This is the Apple Cider Vinegar I use. If you cannot find this brand, choose one with "the mother" in it. The mother is the cloudiness in the bottom of the bottle. It is a fermented product and these are friendly helpful bacteria. Apple Cider Vinegar has many healthy properties from antimicrobial and antioxidant benefits. It is also known to help balance blood sugar levels, improve diabetes symptoms as well as aiding weight loss (among other things).
Summer Salad Recipe:
This is hard to do a recipe for as it depends on the quantity of salad you want. I generally make my salads fresh and large so they fill me up.
I took a handful of spring mix lettuce leaves.
Two Green Onions Chopped
About a 2 inch piece of cucumber chopped.
A handful of blueberries
A handful of Sliced Strawberries
6 Baby carrots sliced
Directions:
I chop everything and put it on a plate in the layers noted above.
I always love to add protein to my salads, so sliced nuts, or raw seeds would make and amazing addition to this salad.
Please see below for the dressing (the main event).
Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing:
1/3 cup Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
Himalayan Salt and Pepper to Taste
Directions:
In a small mason jar.
Combine the apple cider vinegar and organic olive oil together and mix.
Olive and vinegar have a tendency to not mix together. I generally shake and then pour over my food right away.
If you like mustard add 1/2 tsp of mustard to the mixture to help emulsify (make it stick together) it.
It keeps pretty well in the fridge. I keep mine on the counter for a few days (as it never lasts longer than that in my house).
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