Tag: salad

A large plate bursting with colorful plants and topped with a zingy vinaigrette—a big salad—has been part of my regular dinner repertoire for years. Happily, this concept is finally getting the love it deserves as a result of today's increased focus on plant-based diets. Forget the naked salads of the 1980s, cruelly deprived of dressing. Follow these five tips and get creative to make salad the star of tonight's supper.

American life is full of references to cherries, from George Washington chopping down a tree of them (Why did he do that?) to the popular song "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" sung by Ethel Merman in 1931. But the actual fruit itself, beloved by most, is a sweet, juicy reminder of the changing season.

Here in California, our local cherry season lasts just a bit longer, while the Pacific Northwest and Midwestern harvests are still weeks away, guaranteeing that the cherished cherry will be in good supply until the end of July.

Children take pride in what they create, whether it’s a picture colored with crayons or a meal they helped prepare for themselves and their family. When encouraging healthy eating, participation is a key to success.

Creating a salad bar as a family meal is an easy and fun way to allow each member of your family to have creative control over their meal, while encouraging exploration and adventure of their taste buds. In addition, children can help in multiple ways to prepare the meal and take pride in the variety and choices they’ve helped to make for the family.

You may have heard people comment that lettuce is just empty calories, but contrary to popular belief, this is just not true. While iceberg lettuce is not a nutritional powerhouse, other salad greens are nutritional champions.

As a general rule, the darker the lettuce leaves the more nutritious the salad. As an example, romaine and watercress have seven times as much beta-carotene, two-to-four times as much calcium and twice the amount of potassium as iceberg lettuce.