How To Build An Epic Salad

Salads can be one of the most nutritious meals you can eat, but they can also be a dangerous trap you can get caught in. All parts of a salad can be either beneficial or not depending on the base, toppings, add-ins, and dressing you choose to use to build your salad. 

To me, it's important to always be eating with a purpose by packing as many nutrients in a meal that I possibly can. Salads are an excellent way to "eat with a purpose" and I'm going to show you how you can do that!

Samantha's Guide To Building an Epic Salad . . .

Start off with a nutrient filled base:

Picking the base is essential in building your epic salad. My advice towards this is the darker the green, the better. Using a dark green for the base to your salad is the best start to a nutrient packed meal. Choosing a dark green, rather than a lighter one, means that there are more vitamins and minerals, providing you with the most bang for your buck. 

Try to pick from this list of nutrient packed greens for the base to your salad:

Kale, swiss chard, spinach, red cabbage, beet greens, dandelion greens, arugula

Also, try to buy organic when you can!

Choosing your vegetables:

The next part of building your salad usually includes adding vegetables. This is where you can go the crazy! Throw in as many vegetables as you possibly can and don't be afraid to cook them in different ways; roasted, raw, boiled, sautéed, or steamed. Try chopping the vegetables up in different sizes, or even shred some of the heartier vegetables for a different texture. Again, choosing nutrient dense vegetables is key to making sure you are not skimping out on the health potential of your salad!

Here are a list of some of my favorite vegetables to add to my epic salads:

Carrots (raw), celery (raw and including the leaves), cherry tomatoes (diced), beets (roasted or raw/shredded), cucumbers (finely diced), green peas (frozen), sprouts (raw), mushrooms (raw or sautéed)

Put some heart into your salad:





Often times people complain about salads not being filling or leaving them satisfied. This usually is because they need to add a "hearty" component; by this I mean something that bulks it up and allows it to feel like a full meal in a bowl. This is also an opportunity to add grains to your salad which is a huge part in making it into a meal, rather than a side dish. So don't leave out those complex carbohydrates!

Choose one or two of these to give your epic salad some heartiness:

roasted potatoes, cooked/cooled quinoa, buckwheat, or rice, roasted/sautéed corn, roasted spaghetti squash


Don't forget the protein:

Another key part of turning a salad into a full meal is adding protein. I suggest choosing a plant-based protein that will provide a low fat, high protein element to your epic salad.

Plant-based proteins to add:

sautéed, baked, or raw organic tofu or tempeh (season with whatever seasonings you enjoy), rinsed canned or home prepared beans (black, garbanzo, pinto, red kidney, navy, cannellini), hemp seeds, lentils, organic edamame (shelled)

Just a little fat:

Fat is another important part of a salad, mostly because fat combined with a salad helps our bodies absorb all the nutrients. So by incorporating some fat into your salad, you're not just adding flavoring but allowing your body a better chance to absorb all the nutrients. Fat is an essential part of our diet, but be careful of the type, quality, and quantity of the fat you decide to use. Also, I typically use a vinegar based dressing rather than an oil based one, so if you use a oil based salad dressing, you may not need as much of these fat components I'm mentioning. 

Choose 1 of these servings of  fat to add:

1/8 medium/large avocado, 1 Tbsp. flax seed, 2 Tbsp. seeds or nuts (almonds, pumpkin seeds, cashews, pecans, walnuts), 2 Tbsp. chopped olives, 1-2 Tbsp. hummus

Boost up your salad:

Adding booster foods to your salads is another key part in turning a normal salad into an epic salad. Booster foods are foods that are eaten in an effort to obtain medicinal benefits. They are super important to incorporate into your diet because they provide large amounts of nutrients that are equivalent to supplements, or medicine that you may be taking in a
pill form. 

Choose as many of these booster foods as you'd like:

1-2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast, 1 tsp. liquid aminos,  1/4 tsp. kelp, 1 Tbsp chia seeds, 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar, 1 Tbsp. bee pollen, 1 Tbsp. spirulina, 1 Tbsp. wheat germ, 1 Tbsp. raw garlic, 1/4 cup fresh herbs (basil, parsley, cilantro are recommended)

Dress it up:

The place where most people mess up their salad is with the dressing they choose to use. Often time the dressing itself turns a perfectly fine salad into a disaster. I always recommend making and using your own salad dressing, rather than buying it in a store. But if you find it easier to buy dressing, make sure to choose vinaigrettes rather than "cream" based and check the ingredients, making sure there are no artificial sweeteners or even high fructose corn syrup that is in it. Also avoid any hydrogenated oils, artificial coloring, "natural flavors," and modified starches. 



There are TONS of homemade salad dressing recipes online, but a simple combination of a vinegar, oil, and/or fruit juice makes a delicious dressing for any type of salad! If you're wanting a creamy dressing for your salad, use tahini, hummus, avocado, or mustard as a "creamy" element to your salad instead of ranch or caesar dressing which don't provide any nutritional value. 

Top it off:

Many people turn to croutons or bacon bits to finish off their salad, but there are definitely some better options to give your salad a crunch. An easy way to add crunch to your salad is roasted chick peas! Simply roast some canned (rinsed) chick peas and throw them on your salad for a healthy, protein packed topping! Another way to top off your salad is with crumbled up rice or corn cakes, this adds a crunchy texture that is a better alternative to croutons.


Ways to add some crunch/texture to the top of your salad:

1-2 crumbled organic rice or corn cake, 1/4 cup roasted chick peas/edamame, 1/4 cup sprouts, dehydrated sweet potatoes

And there you go, my guide to making an epic salad. Salads can definitely be eaten as a meal, and you can pack in a ton of nutrients and beneficial components, just get creative and don't be afraid to try new things! Happy salad making (and eating)!

Things I Loved In August

August was a pretty eventful month....Natural Chef school ended, I moved into my first apartment, and I began my junior year of college. There were a lot of new things that I experienced this month and I can't wait to share them with you all!

Cacao Nibs

I had never tried cacao nibs until this past month, and I can't believe it's taken me so long to discover them! They are little vegan gluten-free delicious morsels that you can snack on by themselves, throw them into any cookie recipe, trail mix, bowl of cereal, or oatmeal. Cacao nibs are filled with energy and mood boosting compounds, and they even help to raise HDL ("good" cholesterol). If you love dark chocolate, then these are the perfect snack for you!

LARA bars

I mentioned these in my Back To School Snack Ideas post ( Check It Out Here ). LARA bars are one of my favorite snacks to pack no matter where I'm going. They are so delicious and one of the most "natural" energy bars I've been able to find. My favorite flavors are Apple Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, and Blueberry Muffin.




Sprouts

Another food item that I re-discovered this month was sprouts. I've always like them, but never really thought to always have them in my refrigerator until now. I'm so glad I have re-discovered my love for them! My favorite two are alfalfa sprouts, and clover sprouts. My favorite way to eat them is to put them on salads, or even take a rice cake, spread some hummus on it, and then top it with sprouts....so good!



Shredded Unsweetened Coconut

Coconut has never really been one of my favorite flavors, but for some reason this summer I've been eating a lot of it and have fallen in love with it! One of my favorite ways to eat it is in the shredded, unsweetened form. It's so great to put in desserts, throw into a trail mix or granola, or even mix it into oatmeal. Buying it in bulk is the cheapest way I've found to buy it. Also, it stores great in the freezer, so it'll never go bad!

Salads

With school starting back up this month, I've definitely rekindled my love for salads. Salads are so quick, simple, and delicious to make for dinner every night. With a little meal prep one night of the week, a meal worthy salad takes almost no time to throw together. What I've been doing is taking one evening to roast a bunch of sweet potatoes, and any other veggies (beets, broccoli, etc.), and make a big batch of quinoa. Once you have those made, a salad takes almost no time at all to whip together. Here's my go-to salad recipe of this past month:

bed of greens (usually spinach)
handful of sprouts
roasted sweet potatoes
1/2 cup quinoa
any other veggies I have on hand (carrots, broccoli, beets, celery, etc.)
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/4 avocado
1 tbsp. hummus
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 oz. tempeh (I just cut it into slices and sauté it in a pan for about five minutes)



Making To-Do Lists

I've always been a fairly organized person, but I also tend to be a procrastinator so making lists is essential for me to be as productive as possible. Especially now that school has started back up, making lists has really been helpful for me to see what needs to be done, and then actually a motivator to do it.




Nahko and Medicine for the People

I discovered this band a few weeks ago and can not stop listening to them. Their music is so beautiful and it is just "happy" music. Some of my favorite songs of theirs is Warrior People, Budding Trees, Aloha Ke Akua, Manifesto ll, and My Country. I think their message is so powerful and definitely recommend them to anyone who loves some good chill music.


Salt Lamp

At the end of July, I went to the Flea Market in Raleigh for the first time. There, I discovered the world of gems and crystals. There was a vendor there selling many different gemstones and crystals and I loved learning so much about the power they give to us. While talking to the owners, the salt lamps caught my attention, and I immediately knew I wanted one. I decided on one of the smaller lamps, and chose the one I felt drawn to. For the past month, I've been sleeping with it in my room and love the light it gives off and the benefits from it. Salt lamps help to reduce allergens and toxins in the air, and it also binds positive ions with negative ions in the air. Salt lamps can be bought online through Amazon or other websites.


Food Puns

While thinking of a cute T-shirt idea for Appalachian Student Dietetic Association (ASDA), a club that I'm apart of at school, I fell in love with food puns. I think they are the cutest things ever, and they all just make me so happy! I've been trying to come up with my own, as well as googling and pinteresting ideas.