While we fully agree that eating salad is eating healthy, today’s many food choices and combinations seem to have neglected the true essence of salads. The real salad is abundant in organic ingredients. It’s packed with darker greens, fruits and raw vegetables in a low-fat vinaigrette that offers a low-fat, low-calorie meal.
This is called the salad matrix. It’s an approach to encourage darker colored vegetables and more organic components in a light dressing to ensure high amounts of protein, calcium, vitamins, digestive enzymes and antioxidants. It may be hard for us to adjust, but low-fat salads are the only way to change our eating lifestyle for the better. It’s just rubbing the raw and nutritious into a bowl of greens. Here are sample salad array recipes to try:
Simple orange, avocado and spinach salad
Ingredients
- 1 orange
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- a pinch of sea salt
- 2 cups of baby spinach
- 1 avocado, sliced
- black pepper
Addresses
With a good kitchen knife, section the orange and cut the skin from the segments. Reserve any extra juice in a small bowl, and then toss with olive oil, lemon juice, and sea salt. This will make the dressing light. In a medium bowl, combine sliced orange, spinach, and sliced avocado and pour dressing over top. Mix gently. Sprinkle with black pepper for seasoning. Serve cold.
Detox Kale Salad with Apples and Cherries
Ingredients
- 1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves thinly sliced
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- celtic sea salt
- 2 teaspoons of raw honey
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup chopped apple, with skin
- 2 tablespoons raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds) in small handful
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened organic dried cherries or raisins
Addresses
In a large bowl, combine the kale, half the lemon juice, a dash of oil, and kosher salt. Work until the kale begins to soften and wilt. Massaging for 2-3 minutes will soften hard sheets. To make the dressing, whisk the remaining lemon juice with the honey and black pepper. While whisking, add 1/4 cup of the oil until a dressing forms, then season with salt and pepper.
For the dressing on the kale, add the apple, cherries and pips. Shake. You can serve your light salad right away or chill it before serving.
Indian mixed fruit and vegetable salad
Ingredients
- 2 bananas
- 1 guava
- 1 apple
- 1 orange
- 1 cup of red pomegranate
- 1 cup of green grapes
- 1 cup boiled potato, peeled
- 1 cucumber
- 1 tomato
- 4 green chilies
- 3 teaspoons ginger
- 3 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup coriander leaves
- ¼ cup cherries
- jeera powder
Addresses
Start by washing all fruits and vegetables with clean water. Except for grapes, peel the skin off all fruits and vegetables and cut them into small pieces. You can get creative by cutting any of the dense vegetables into shapes you like best. When done, place all the chopped fruits and vegetables in a bowl, then add lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Follow with salt, pepper and green chillies, coriander leaves and Jeera powder, mix well. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Better when it’s cold.