FARMER GRACE’S SATISFYING SALAD
Gone are the days when you would have to talk yourself into eating a salad at lunch for the sake of being "healthy", only to be hungry again an hour later. Grace's Satisfying Salad recipe is a template for creating the perfectly balanced salad that will give you your veggie fix, a protein boost, and also keep you full and satisfied for hours. It's also a great way to use up fridge leftovers, which means less waste!
A perfectly satisfying salad requires a bit of forethought, but once you have all the ingredients prepared, you can eat feel-good salads all week long. For me, a satisfying salad must have these five elements.
- Greens (Spinach, Kale, Lettuce, or a mix)
- Carbs (Roasted or raw carrots, turnips, radishes, squash, tomatoes, peppers, apples, etc.)
- Protein (Leftover meat, Roasted Chickpeas, Canned Fish eg. Tuna/Salmon)
- Fat (Dressing, Avocado, Nuts etc.) *
- Crunch (Nuts, Seeds, Microgreens, Croutons, etc.) **
*Do not think you are being healthier by skipping dressing. The fat in dressing (if you use good quality dressing) actually helps your body absorb the nutrients from the salad. Your olive oil should be harvested within the last year, watch out for any seed oils, hydrogenated oils, or highly processed, or rancid oils. I prefer Primal Kitchen for an avocado oil based dressing, but you could also just make your own from a good quality olive oil and some sort of vinegar (balsamic, apple cider vinegar, champagne vinegar, etc.)
**Test your nuts and do not eat expired/rancid ones. If they smell “dusty”, throw them out.
HOW TO USE THIS TEMPLATE:
Saturday when I get home from the market, I like to cut and wash my lettuces right away so they are ready to go at a moments notice. As a busy WFH mom of five, I've found if I have tasty salad fixin's already prepared in the fridge, I am MUCH more likely to actually eat salads for lunch. So each week, I wash a few heads of lettuce and and store them in an airtight container with a paper towel to absorb any excess moisture.
If I have time, I'll also chop whatever additional veggies I'd like to have on my salad, although some veggies are better served immediately after chopping so they don't get dried out.
I'll also often cook a large pot of chickpeas and season liberally with olive oil, salt and pepper. Then each day, depending on what meat might be leftover in the fridge from the night before, I'll assemble my salad with whatever veggies and protein I'd like, add my crunch from the pantry, dress, and serve!
[The salad pictured above features FUF butterhead lettuce, FUF fresh radishes, FUF spring garlic, leftover garlic meatballs, and raw sunflower seeds that I'd made the night before. ]
Once you've mastered the Satisfying Salad, eating your veggies will become a favorite part of your weekday routine!
Warmly,
Farmer Grace