Tossed Vegetable Salad

I find this the most guilt free and enjoyable meals. Be it main course, side, or appi - Salad will never leave you feeling wrong. I am still learning when it comes to salad recipes but whatever I make now seems to please Mr. Hubby. This recipe is a basic salad with store bought dressing. You can choose to make the dressing at home. I find the store bought ones very convenient and lasting. I am very fond of Balsamic Vinegar for health reasons and because it gives my salad just the right kick of sourness.

1. Broken pieces of romano lettuce.
2. Fresh tomato wedges
3. 1 cucumber,cut into bite size pieces (whatever shape to like)
4. Red onion, finely chopped
5. Balsamic vinegar dressing

Instructions:
1. Throw it all together.
2. Toss.


Voila. A fresh salad is ready. Check out more salad recipes here.

What do you add to your salad to make it different?

Ceaser Salad

I am so glad I am back on track with healthy eating and healthy living. I signed up for yoga classes and went to the gym today. Such a great feeling!

I have been trying to post about salads but was not able to for many personal reasons. It is about time this post makes its way to you.

This recipe is a standard recipe. I use store bought ingredients for convenience. It's an easy to make, in a jiffy, cold side that are great contributions for picnics, barbecues, or a quick lunch.

1. Romaine lettuce, washed and broken into bite size pieces
2. Garlic Croutons
3. Parmesan cheese
4. Dressing (I used Kraft Ceaser)

Instructions:
1. Throw everything together.

You can also add pieces of baked chicken for a plus to the protein factor.

Potato Salad

Potato salad is a side dish, served cold, that is a winner at summer barbecue parties, potlucks, picnics, pool parties, or any party where the grub table is full of snacks or finger food. The good thing about Potato salad is that it's easy to prepare, takes minimal time and ingredients, is rather low cost, does not need warming before serving it, and sits well with most people - vegetarian or not.

Next time you're invited to a party, consider taking this for your hosts and then sit back and enjoy the praise :)

Ingredients:
1. 4 Potatoes boiled, peeled, cut into cubes.
2. 5-7 heaping tablespoons Mayonnaise
3. 1 red onion, chopped
4. 1 tsp mustard sauce
5. 1/4 kg carrots, boiled, mashed.
6. Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Throw everything together and mix well.
Refrigerate for a few hours before serving. Poato salad galore.

Counting calories? Fear no more! Moongh Salad/ Green Bean Sprouts to the rescue...

So I am living by my healthy living, healthy eating pledge. I did a 10k walk in the rain yesterday and going to the gym on a regular basis. I have cut down on sugar and carbs and focus on including protein in my diet. One ubiquitous meal option for a nutritious fat free diet is salad. Salad can be of various types and I've previously experimented with making veggie salad with home-made salad dressing. This time I had some green beans (hari moongh) sitting in the pantry, that kept staring at me, hoping to devoured. This situation seemed to work quite well with my latest health obsession. So I did give in to the desperate plea of the moongh in my pantry. Here is how I went about having mercy on my hari moongh who so wanted to make it to my digestive tract.

Needs preparation. Serves 4-6.

1. Green lentils soaked for 2 nights
2. Red onion, chopped
3. Ripe tomato, chopped
4. Coriander leaves, chopped (optional)
5. lemon juice, drizzled
6. Salt to taste
7. Chaat masala
8. Red chili powder
9. Green chili, chopped (optional)
10. Chopped cucumber
11. Black pepper, freshly ground, to taste.

Fast facts:Moongh is native to India and when soaked for 2 days, turns into sprouts. Sprouts is also common to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese cooking. Belonging to the legume family, moongh is low calorie, high protien diet.
Tip: If you want more flavour to this salad try tempering salad with olive oil and cumin seeds (jeerey ka tadka). Alternatively, you can boil moongh in a pressure cooker with all the ingredients. But according to me, moongh is likely to be more healthy uncooked.

Toss everything together and serve cold. Breakfast, lunch, or snack? Healthy eating encore!

Salad decoration

Salad goes with about everything and will be welcomed by everyone alike because it's healthy. There are many types of dressings out there but sometimes it's just fun decorating vegetables and not worrying about the dressing. There are lots of ways to make your salad look pretty. This is one simple way. It was fun doing this. The key was to group together similar shapes and colors. Having orange in the middle circle and light colors on the innermost and uttermost circles brought out the visual interest. The directions to make the strategically placed tomato rose will be presented in another post. Stay tuned...

How do you decorate your salad?

Tomato cucumber salad

I have been cooking lots of Indian lately, for my dad, and therefore eating lots too. I have been skipping going to the gym too because I want to spend time with him when I am home. Saturday night I wore a top and realized how much I have put on weight in just two weeks! So eating healthy starts now! :) (We will see how long this lasts :P)

I have never made salad any other way other than the Indian way. But I have tried all sorts of salad. So today I pledged not use any Indian spice. I looked up several recipes and adapted it to suit my palate. Some recipes added sugar but given that today was No-Indian-Healthy-diet Day, I passed on the sugar.

No preparation required. Serves 1.

Ingredients:
1. 1/2 fresh cucumber, sliced
2. 1 small tomato
3. 1/4 red onion, sliced or chopped
4. For the dressing
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
A dash of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tablespoon garlic salt
Salt to taste

Instructions:
1. Cut vegetables in a big glass bowl
2. Add olive oil, garlic salt, lemon juice, salt, black pepper and toss.

Relish with a guilt free smile!

http://easytastyrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/03/announcing-afam.html