Tuesday 6 March 2012

new spin on the salad…

It may be slightly cliché, but usually I find myself eating a giant salad around dinner time, not just because it’s easy and fast to prepare, but because it’s a really good chance to sneak in some veggies. You may think that eating vegetables comes naturally to a dietitian, but I definitely have to be intentional about working them into my meals. 

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And salads can certainly be more refined than the icky iceberg lettuce and dried out carrot shreds that compose most packaged mixes. I have found this spiralizer super helpful in making my salads a little more creative. The above salad contains:

  • spiralized cucumber
  • spiralized sweet potato (roasted in olive oil and dijon mustard at 400 for 15-20 minutes)
  • candied almonds (slice almonds and heat in a frying pan with a slight sprinkling of sugar)
  • feta cheese
  • spring mix

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Tahini is a nutrient packed and makes a great salad topper. I like it mixed with a little balsamic vinegar or BBQ sauce (weird, I know but so good). I also will often top my salads with hummus. I find that eating so many green things at once is both energizing (hate eating heavy meals and then going to bed a couple hours later) and definitely filling.

If you find that salads just don’t fill you up, add some extra protein in the form of nuts, seeds, cheese, or an egg.

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Also a new soup recipe for you (adapted from here).

Black Bean and Quinoa Soup

  • 1 T olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced small
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • 1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 can tomatoes
  • 3-4 cups homemade vegetable or chicken stock
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in heavy soup pot, add diced onion and cook over medium heat for 6-8 minutes, or until onions are just starting to brown.  Add minced garlic, chili powder, and fresh-ground black pepper and saute 1-2 minutes more or until spices are becoming fragrant. Add cubed sweet potatoes, black beans, and stock. Simmer on low-medium heat for 25-30 minutes or until sweet potatoes are cooked.

And wouldn’t you figure…after a crazy weekend of snow traveling and skiing, it was 60 degrees today, and I ran a lovely 4 miles outside in the sunshine in shorts. Crazy winter, but I’m not complaining.

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Fave ways to eat vegetables??

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p.s. post on wheat grass in the works…