One of the basic rules to healthy and nutritious diet is without a doubt abundance of green leafs and veggies. Most people struggle with that, and the number one reason is that veggies are boring and tasteless to many people. Eating is literally one of the most emotional things we do, and that’s why we make our choices based on our feelings rather than logic or knowledge when it comes to food. When you realize that, it makes more sense to see why you always pick food that comforts you, rather than food that is obviously good for you and supports your physical exercise. The good news is that your own creativity and willingness to eat healthy, can help you to completely change the way you eat, without sacrificing the emotional satisfaction that a meal can offer.

The first and most basic step in my opinion for you is to Learn To Love Salads and Learn How to Make Them taste Good! Most salads don’t require any special skills or complicated cooking techniques. You have literally endless options and varieties when it comes to Salads. Just think of all the veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, legumes, mushrooms, spice, herbs, and dressings. Not to mention that you can always add meat.

Here is a salad I made today just out of some veggies and left overs I had in the fridge and pantry.

These are the ingredients that I have combined. Kale, Nappa – Chinese cabbage, baby bella mushrooms, an apple, green jalapeño, garlic, ginger, peanuts, fresh herbs, avocado, lemon, olive oil, hemp seeds, flax seeds, white balsamic vinegar, and fresh parmesan cheese that makes every salad taste good.

So I sat on my porch and while watching our dogs playing I tore up some Kale and Nappa into a large salad bowl.

I had only 2 of those little portobella mushrooms left, which was actually a perfect amount for my salad. I chopped them in smaller pieces…

…and then I got distracted by Charlie who just jumped out of his doggie bed to listen to the sounds of nature in our backyard.

Back to what I was doing… Avocado is the next ingredient. I chopped it in smaller cubes.

The same with the apple. By the way, my favorite apples and Fuji apples. I can’t get enough of them and they are the perfect snack if you want to get off of chocolate and onto something that is actually good for you.

I chopped about thumb size of the Jalapeno pepper into the Mortar and Pestle, and I grated a small garlic clove over the top.

I squeezed a half of fresh lemon from our lemon tree while watching…

…Miss Coco. She is so peaceful. Most of the time she is.

Then I grated a thumb size of ginger into the Mortar and Pestle as well. This thumb size was a little bit bigger than the thumb size of the Jalapeno 🙂

I found about a cup of roasted unsalted peanuts in the pantry so I decided to use them in a dressing.

Fresh herbs became the staple in my kitchen and I can’t imagine not to include them in my salads. I think I used just a combination of Parsley, thyme, and oregano.

So I crushed all the ingredients in the Mortar and Pestle, which is by the way one of my favorite kitchen toys 🙂 It’s almost as fun as cracking eggs with one hand.

I poured some white Balsamic Vinegar – about 2 tablespoons into the dressing mixture. I couldn’t decide if I like better the photo where the Balsamic is in Focus or the one with the crushed peanuts in focus. You can tell me which one you like better.

Almost done. I just had to transfer the dressing into the Salad bowl and toss it all over.

I also sprinkled some Hemp Seeds to add some protein and flax seeds to add some extra fiber.

I drizzled some olive oil over the salad and tossed again and then I also sprinkled some parmesan cheese over the top once I had it on my plate.

Good boy Santino for watching my Salad while I went to grab my plate.

Salads like this one are high in nutrients and low in calories. They are also full of fiber, vitamins, and plant based protein, so you can stuff your belly without having to worry about overeating. I hope you will consider to Learn to Love Salads and make your own recipes 🙂
Best,
Z.