9 Steps to upgrade your salad

Sticking up to a balanced eating pattern automatically implies consumption of salads or at least vegetables among the various meals that an individual consumes daily, whether vegetarian or not.

However, this doesn’t mean having to get bored of dangling lettuce bites or simple basic salads composed of only greens and some cucumbers! Your salads can be easily, smartly upgraded into rich bowls having plenty of colors: the more colorful, the higher in antioxidants and nutrients, doesn’t this ring a bell for you about our layered rainbow salads?

Nonetheless, your salads can also be leveled up in a way that they become a main meal, i.e. a main course salad, this being said, a salad can be a lunch/dinner, not a side salad anymore, if you’re more into fresh light meals rather than cooked food, or if heating a meal is not convenient at your workplace!   

Some keys to having rich non-boring nutritious salads are:

• Going beyond lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. In other words, use a variety of vegetables from different categories
  • leafy greens – lettuce, spinach, iceberg,
  • cruciferous – cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli
  • marrow – pumpkin, cucumber, zucchini
  • root – potato, sweet potato (white or orange)
  • edible plant stem – celery, asparagus.
  • allium – onion, garlic, green onion.
• Adding sources of protein (opt for less fatty ones): boiled eggs, dairies (cheeses, labneh or shanklish balls), seafood, chicken, grilled steak, etc..
• Tossing in some seeds, nuts, and good fat sources (almonds, walnuts, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, avocado..). You can add them whole or ground (flaxseed, or any of your favorite nuts)
• Including a kind of beans or legumes (mung beans, lentils, chickpeas..).
• Adding grains like oats, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, and freekeh.
• A salad can contain fruits as well! Don’t you like some combo of exotic fruits with your salad? Or the amazing taste of figs with goat cheese and honey? Try the addition of fruits to your veggie salads and thank us later! Here are some successful examples to inspire you: pomelo, pineapple, mango, pomegranates, apples, grapes, and strawberries..
• If you want to add some crunchy carbs, try to make your own at home for fewer preservatives and more fun! (croutons, roasted bread bites, or crackers..)
• Use fresh herbs (basil, oregano, thyme..) for a more unique flavor and catchy presentation.
• For a dressing that’ll just go perfectly to your craving, try doing yours at home. This way, you’ll probably end up doing a healthier mix that you know what’s really inside.

Options are endless honestly, you can never go wrong trying to upscale your basic classical salad into a refreshing nutritious dish!