Summer salads are refreshing, while keeping the kitchen cool

My daughter Mona is great at making salads. As part of a large farm family, she’s used to cooking for crowds. When she comes to visit, as she did for my July Fourth party, she always asks me to get out the large bowls.

Then she peruses her vegetarian cookbooks, which she brings with her, and prepares her latest salad success.

She made tabouli, so after she left, I made a batch. I like to add nuts and fruit to tabouli like in the photo above, the salad on the left. Grapes are good additions as are blueberries.

Since I have a lot of kale in my garden, I tried a kale salad with dried cranberries, sweet potatoes, and pistachios. It’s the salad on the right in the above photo. The tasty ingredients sure perked up the kale, which can be boring and tasteless.

Then, there’s the old standby – potato salad. I add celery seeds and chopped celery to go with a dressing of nonfat yogurt and pickle juice. The photo above shows the potato salad, along with the last serving of the kale salad, and the first green beans from my garden.

As temperatures rise, salads are a good choice. They’re quick and easy to prepare, packed with nutrients, and require minimal time in the kitchen.

Here are some tips from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension how to dazzle up your salad game at home:

• Add protein: Adding protein such as beans, tofu, nuts and seeds, hard boiled eggs, lean poultry, salmon, tuna, turkey, or shrimp is a great way to make a salad that’s filling, full of fiber, and packs a flavorful punch.
• Try different greens: While iceberg lettuce is commonly used in salads, there are plenty of greens to choose from that are rich in nutrients. Try adding greens such as spinach, romaine lettuce, arugula, or kale to your salad. Adding a combination of greens not only looks appealing but is a great way to try out different flavors while getting a  variety of nutrients.
• Make your own salad dressing: Commercial salad dressings can often be expensive and contain many unnecessary ingredients. Try making your with an acid, oil, and spices.
• Grow your own greens:There are hundreds of varieties to choose from, providing a wide range of sizes, colors, textures, and tastes. Your salads will be fresher and less expensive – and there’s something satisfying about eating food you’ve produced yourself.
• Add fruit: Adding fruit to a salad is a good way to incorporate fruits into your diet while also creating some sweetness to the salad. Try incorporating citrus fruits such as mandarin oranges, sliced strawberries, or fresh blueberries as toppings.
• Taste the rainbow: Whether it’s dark leafy greens such as spinach or kale, bright reds such as red bell peppers and tomatoes, blazing oranges such as carrots and oranges, or bright yellows such as corn or yellow peppers, there are endless color combinations that provide a wealth of different nutrients.
• Add grains: Try brown rice, whole grain pasta, corn, or quinoa. Adding grains to your salad is a great way to ensure you’ll be having a delicious filling meal with plenty of whole grains for digestive and heart health.

I hope you continue to enjoy the summer weather and tasty summer salads, too.

Comments

[Beth Havey]

Great ideas...though the fridge is usually full of these goodies, having a new way to serve them really works!! Thanks.

[Rita]

Yes, the kale salad is a good use of yogurt and all the kale in my garden.