Healthy Recipes / Nutrition Information
Stacy Beeson, RD, LD
St Luke’s Health Solutions Registered Dietitian
Nutrition Segment from
May 12, 2008 Channel 7's Noon Show
Celebrate Salad Month
May is salad month. Salads have come a long way! They used to be the colorless iceberg lettuce side dish, but now spotlight as main entrées at home and restaurants. The key to a great salad is to not get bored with it – don’t feel like it is your obligation, but rather get excited about salad night!
THE BOWL: find the largest bowl you have because greens are one item you can go hog-wild with.
THE BASE: experiment with various greens such as arugula, chicories, radicchio, curly red leaf and baby spinach. Aim for taste and texture differences.
THE BANG: by adding a few often over-looked additions, the salad can turn into something spectacular. For bang, add:
- Cabbage
- Cranberries
- Gorgonzola
- Mandarin Oranges
- Olives
- Parmesan cheese
- Pears
- Pecans
- Pine Nuts
- Sesame seeds
- Sliced almonds
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Sunflower seeds
- Walnuts
- Water chestnuts
BECOMING MORE OF A REAL MEAL: to include satiating protein sources in the salad, use these easy items:
- Beans, black, pinto, garbanzo, Great Northern, kidney
- Chicken, fresh or canned
- Cottage cheese
- Egg
- Flank steak
- Salmon, fresh or canned
- Tofu, already marinated
- Tuna, use light more often than Albacore due to mercury content
THE BEST: below are four favorite combinations that use 5 ingredients or less and one type of healthy, store-bought dressing.
1) Mixed greens, pinto beans, salsa, olives, avocado with Salsa Ranch dressing by Litehouse
2) Tofu, snow peas, baby spinach, tomato, mandarin oranges with light Sesame Ginger dressing by Paul Newman.
3) Romaine, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, red onion, parmesan cheese with Paul Newman’s light vinaigrette.
4) Mixed greens, pears, toasted pecans, gorgonzola, with Raspberry vinaigrette dressing by Annies.
THE BODY: a homemade salad will do wonders for the body – because of all the nutrients from whole foods and because vegetables are so low in calories. One cup of leafy greens only has 25 calories. If you stick to a dressing with 50 calories per 2 tablespoons, your salad will most likely top out at 300 calories.
Call Stacy at St Luke’s Health Solutions with any questions. 381-2403.
