I thought I would touch on how I make a salad every day. It sounds exhausting to say that I make one daily, but its actually about as equally easy as making a smoothie. Don’t think you need to make a recipe for a salad, back to school, keep it simple, silly. Though none of you are silly, but when you are new to this or still figuring it out, it can feel overwhelming to decide.

Step one: pick a lettuce or more than one. If you’re trying to keep it simple, I would pick just one and stick with something like Romaine. If you can get the big leafy ones, instead of the hearts, that’s even better as the bigger leaves are the darker ones which are richer in phytonutrients. Hearts are just fine though, that’s what I’ve been using lately. I also have been doing micro greens as they are tasty and pack a nutrient punch. They have a surprising amount of nutrients compared to their mature counter parts. Chop this all up into tiny pieces. The smaller the better so it’s easier to mix in with your other ingredients, and easier to eat. Basically, its partially pre-chewed, ha-ha! I have been putting the greens in 1-2 gallon bags, a paper towel or two, gently squish out the air, and seal it up. It ends up taking up less space in your fridge.

Step two: Pick several veggies as toppings. I always do carrots, onions (green and red), cucumbers, orange peppers, and purple or green cabbage. I chop these up, stick them in a jar. I put a paper towel down on the bottom and at least one at the top. This helps in keeping the veggies crisp. You could also forgo the jar and use a gallon or sandwich bag with the paper towel. I like to try to make a decent amount of each veggie to last me around a week.

Step 3: Pick a bean. I like lentils, chickpeas, and black beans the most. I put on at least half a cup of beans on my salad. It helps with sticking power and helps me stay satisfied after I eat.

Step 4: Choose a nut base salad dressing, or one without salt, sugar, and oils. I’m not saying fat free here, I am saying whole food based fat. In my case, my favorite, linked here: Dr. Fuhrman’s No-Oil Walnut Vinaigrette Dressing | Hello Nutritarian

This might look like a lot of steps to make a salad, but what’s great is if you prep on a weekend, or whatever day is best for you, all of this is in your fridge, ready to go. Just throw it all in a large bowl, and dig in.

For me, I do a little extra. I usually add in some blueberries, or some small pieces of chopped apple. What I really love is pomegranate seeds. They are delicious! Raspberries sometimes also. I also, almost every day, add a steamed beet diced up. They’re delicious and almost mandatory. When I get to my ideal weight, I will start adding an occasional avocado, but since I have weight to lose, I will hold off on that since I already have nuts with fat in my dressing. I also usually put some sunflower seeds or some pepitas. I usually stick with pepitas, and they seem crunchier to me.

I was going to write about my daughter and protein and how we are ensuring the little picky eater is getting her protein every day, but I thought this would be more helpful and maybe insightful. Today, with all the toppings, my salad was over 2 pounds.

Foods to put on a salad. Choose 5 veggies and one fruit and one bean, and go from there. You dont have to make it tricky or crazy.

• Romaine,
• Kale,
• Spinach (1 cup or less raw, good to mix with other greens)
• micro greens
• chopped sugar snap peas, ‘
• chopped or shredded carrots
• chopped or shredded cabbage, napa, green, purple. (napa is big, so I would only do this if it was extra)
• Onions, green and red make a great topping, and having two types is a good choice. I cant remember where Dr. Fuhrman states this, but more than one type at a time is beneficial.
• Zucchini chopped
• Blueberries
• diced apples
• diced strawberries
• pepitas
• sunflower seeds
• Tomatos, roma or cherry tomatos
• Jicama
• Corn, during the summer, this is always on my salad, fresh off the cob. I cook a couple on the weekends and cut it off the cob, and stick it in my salad.
• Orange peppers, green, yellow, or red. Orange is just my personal favorite
• Baked sweet potatos – baked with no oil on a baking sheet. If you cube it up small, at 350, it should bake well.
• Beans!!! Lentils, black beans, kidney beans, white beans, chickpeas. Any that you enjoy.
• Shaved brussels sprouts
• Radishes,
• Broccoli
• Oranges
• Pears
• Persimmons