Those Salad Days
At one point or another almost every parent has to get creative when it comes to forcing (I mean encouraging) their young child to eat healthy food that isn’t smothered in sugar, salt, or fat. Some parents are crafty at hiding vegetables baked into desserts or blended into tasty smoothies, proudly exclaiming, “Little One couldn’t even taste the kale that I snuck into their brownie.” Other well-meaning adults attempt to play games with their child’s spoon, making puttering plane noises in the hopes of distracting them from spitting their vegetables out of the “airplane hanger.”
Then there’s the desperate parent who resorts to lying to get their child to eat something that they deem important. This parent cleverly places their child’s back to the large window at dinnertime while they convince him that a furry bunny is eagerly watching as he eats his “big boy salad.” In the middle of telling this tale, the guilty mother looks with satisfaction as the child becomes enamored in wanting to impress the magical rabbit whom he’s never seen, with his stellar eating habits. Little Johnny becomes so focused on trying to catch a glimpse of Peter Cottontail that he forgets that he just devoured his greens. Of course, it is only a matter of time before Johnny inquires as to why the bunny never shows himself and only comes to the window when he has a salad on his plate, but he has already grown so accustomed to his healthy eating habit that one doesn’t fear that a pathetic explanation will damage him. Forevermore, Johnny loves eating salad.
I will let you take a guess as to which parent I was.
“Prince Charles is very relaxed at the table, throwing his salad around willy-nilly. I didn’t find him stiff at all.”
Salad, with its leafy greens and other cut vegetables and accompaniments (nuts, seeds, oils, cheese, beans, etc.) may not be the most glamorous, creative, or tastiest food available, but gosh darn, it is certainly the most reliable. When you eat a salad, you know what you are in for, like when your weird uncle comes for dinner, you know an uncomfortable joke will be told. A basic salad has the potential to make any meal healthier and tastier, as well as helping to fill up your stomach without adding a lot of extra calories. While the days of the stay-at-home order have caused most of us to partake in some form of emotional, stress, or boredom eating, adding a side salad to more meals is one of the easiest and most practical things we can do to eat healthier during this time.
In his endeavor to pursue a healthier lifestyle, a client of mine decided to add one side salad to his meal a day, and after doing so for a few weeks his outlook on his nutrition changed for the better. Not only did he feel healthier and more full, but he said this new routine gave him the encouragement to start incorporating other healthy habits into his life because he had found that adding the daily salad had been so easy.
You don’t have to be a culinary genius to make a salad. Throw some greens into a bowl (to save time I prefer triple washed spring mix), chop some colorful vegetables, garnish with a little something special (perhaps protein), and call it good. Let it take up ample space on your plate, leaving less room for large portions of other higher calorie foods. Salad for the win!
“If you have a complete set of salad bowls and they all say Cool Whip on the side, you might be a redneck.”
For the last few years my daily go-to lunch salad has been spring greens layered into the biggest plastic bowl I can find with sliced red cabbage, sliced mini-peppers, and either shaved or shredded carrots. I add a small amount of ground chicken cooked with Trader Joes Taco Seasoning Mix and crumble a few tortilla chips over the top for crunch. People think I’m weird for not using dressing on my lunch salad, but I opt instead to enjoy more tortilla chips.
My family always knows, “If there’s no vegetable on your plate, add a salad.” Every few weeks I splurge on micro greens and add a simple dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a few grinds of pepper and parmesan grated on top. This can be served next to anything: curry, burgers, pizza, you name it.
“I have some weird habits. For instance, I love beets. Show me a salad bar and I will clean them out of their beets.”
I won’t waste time telling you exactly what you should put on your salad as we all like different things, but I prefer adding vegetables that add a lot of crunch. I would refer to myself as a “coarse chopper,” where I like large bits so that I can tell what I am eating compared to my father in law who loves his salad to contain tiny and beautifully cut vegetables.
If this time during quarantine has increased your consumption of comfort food, decreased your ability to buy fresh vegetables every few days, or left you not wanting to be creative in the kitchen, I completely understand. While most all of us have more time to spend preparing home-made meals, for me, I don’t desire to be elaborate or go to great lengths right now. That is why a side salad is such a wonderful option to add to meals. Other than not chopping your finger off when you cut vegetables, it doesn’t require much effort, yet it is such a healthy choice. While salad will probably never be called “the ultimate comfort food” it is reassuring to know that we are trying to remain healthy during this time of uncertainty.
My Favorite Kale Side Salad
(Recipe adapted from Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg)
Ingredients:
1 bunch lacinato kale or curly kale (thick ribs cut out)
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more to finish.
1/8 tsp dried Chile flakes
Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
Stack several kale leaves on top of one another and with a sharp knife, slice crosswise into very thin ribbons (chiffonade). Wash thoroughly in a colander and dry thoroughly. Pile the kale into a bowl.
In a small bowl add the lemon juice, a healthy glug of olive oil, chile flakes, salt, plenty of twists of black paper, and 1/4 cup of pecorino. Finely grate 1 small garlic clove into the bowl, and whisk to combine.
Pour the dressing over the kale and toss well to thoroughly combine with your clean hands, massaging the kale with the mixture until the kale softens slightly. Taste and adjust with more salt or black pepper, and before serving add more grated Pecorino Romano and toss.