Nutrient-rich salad greens provide us with vitamins A and C as well as beta-carotene, calcium, folates, fiber and phytonutrients. People view salads as a boring dish containing lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, but there are unique twists that you can put on a salad to make it an exciting, nutritious and satisfying meal.
Make It a Meal
Forget the side salad and turn your greens into a well-balanced meal. Add a few simple proteins and carbohydrates to your vegetables for a healthy salad well suited for warm weather eating or busy people on the go. Try new ingredients or use up leftovers from earlier meals to build your salads. Combine romaine lettuce with thinly sliced flank steak, tortellini or other pasta and some whole-grain croutons for a filling meal. Chef Elle Krieger combines Napa and red cabbages with sliced chicken, mandarin orange segments, water chestnuts, sliced almonds, carrots and scallions for an Asian-inspired meal.
Try New Greens
Instead of defaulting to romaine or iceberg, add new tastes and textures to your salads by experimenting with different types of salad greens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts salads greens into four categories: loose-leaf, butterhead, crisphead and romaine. Crisphead greens, such as iceberg lettuce, have a mild flavor and crispy texture but are the least nutritious of all of the salad greens. Butterhead lettuces have a mild, buttery flavor and smooth texture. Boston and Bibb lettuce are the most common butterhead greens.
Loose-leaf greens, such as oak leaf, red leaf and green leaf, generally have a darker green color, some with deep red tinges to them, and they generally impart the most nutrients. With Caesar salads continuing to gain in popularity, romaine lettuce has become a staple in many kitchens. Its taste ranges from mild to strong depending on the color of the leaves, and people who prefer iceberg lettuce tend to like romaine for its crisp texture. Experiment with peppery arugula, bitter Belgian endive, mild lamb's lettuce or chewy escarole.
Dress It Down
Although salad dressing adds a burst of flavor to an otherwise mild salad, it also adds the most calories. Creamy salads are particularly notorious for adding fat calories to salads as many are sour cream-based. According to NutritionData.com, 1 oz. of light sour cream contains 38 calories, 27 of them from fat. The best way to control the amount of fat in your salad is to make your own oil-and-vinegar-based salad dressings. In addition to adding herbs, the type of oil and vinegar you use makes a big difference in flavor. Instead of the usual vegetable oil, try extra virgin olive oil or pressed oils from nuts and seeds such as hazelnut, walnut, dark sesame, sunflower or grapeseed oil. Pair it with one of the many vinegars available on the market such as apple cider, balsamic, distilled white, rice wine, sherry, red wine, white wine or herb-infused oil. For even more flavor, add a hint of mustard or some capers, anchovies or garlic.
Blend It
Christian Care Health Initiatives calls blended salads "a powerful and delicious way to maximize your intake of nutrients." To make a blended salad, simply blend your raw greens and other foods together until the mixture has the consistency of a thick baby food. Cellulose is the main component making up a plant's cells. Your body does not have the appropriate enzymes to break down the cellulose. Simply chewing salad greens leaves roughly 70 to 90 percent of the cellulose intact, preventing you from benefiting from the nutrients contained in those cells. Blending the salad does a better job of breaking down the cellulose, making the salad a much more nutritious meal.
Cook It
Cooking your salad greens may seem counterintuitive, but a quick wilt can bring out new flavors. Arugula and spinach are especially good candidates for this technique. Cook your pork, beef, chicken or fish in a hot skillet. Remove from the heat and drain any excess oils, leaving any brown bits from the meat on the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat under the skillet to medium-high, and deglaze the pan with some oil and vinegar, a vinaigrette dressing or other salad dressing. Cook for a minute or two, scraping up the bits on the bottom of the pan. Add your salad greens to the pan, and toss a few times to coat them with the dressing. Quickly remove from the pan, arrange on your plate and top with your meat for a warm and healthy meal.
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