Shred your Greens (and so forth)

In the winter, I’m not very enthusiastic about green smoothies or juice, but I do like to eat a lot of salads.

See, since I dropped grains out of my diet, I’ve had some people pick on me about how all I’m eating is cheese and meat (lots of Atkins Diet jokes coming my way). Well, it’s not actually true. I still think a veggie-centered diet is the way to go. It’s just that instead of accessorizing my meals with buckwheat, quinoa, or sprouted grain bread, I’m accessorizing more often with farm eggs, raw cheeses, grass-fed organic meats, and wild caught seafood. Oh, and some yogurt—but I’ll be honest, when I overdo the milk products, my skin pays for it. I had meat/fish twice last week.

My favorite delivery system for veggies is in the form of a salad—but not big fluffy leafy salads. I like chopped salads. With lots of stuff on them. Coated in dressing (please eat fat with your greens, it helps nutrient absorption). That way, everything in the salad is about the same size, and to me it’s more enjoyable.

There are two ways I chop greens: with a mezzaluna or by rolling the greens into a log and slicing them.

rolled up chard (spine cut out). Note: once I slice the log of greens like this, I chop it twice length-wise....then I get perfect small pieces.

 

Mezzaluna (9in, 2 blades)

Last week, I looked at Alexis Stewart’s blog, and saw pics and a link to this Kale and Brussels Sprouts salad. As soon as I realized it was chopped, and that it contained something fun (brussels sprouts), I was sold on it.

I was alone this weekend (and was almost 100% unproductive, but that’s another story), and so after I dug my car out of the snow on Saturday morning and dragged myself to Wegmans, I bought the ingredients for three things.

1. The Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad

2. Chicken Broth

3. You’ll see in the next post!

You can find the Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad here .

This is what I modified:

• I added 1 tsp of sugar (actually, Just Like Sugar) to the dressing – it was SO tart!
• I added an extra cup of chopped almonds
• I used Swiss Chard instead of kale (the Canandaigua Wegmans didn’t have Tuscan Kale)

 

The first version, for dinner last night (extra almonds really made this awesome!)

Here’s Take 2:

Day 2 for lunch, plus crab (and a sprinkle of chipotle powder). The salad part tasted even better---after marinating in the dressing overnight.

Full disclosure: Before I ate it, I added more crab, and mixed it all together. It was awesome, but I stopped myself from eating more at lunch (so I could have it for dinner too).

Take 3 will happen tomorrow, and it involves an egg.

My conclusion: I loved this salad, and it worked perfectly for my habit of eating the same thing several days in a row. A reviewer on Epicurious had mentioned that she added pomegranate arils and I think that would be great too.

This was a good reminder to me that I really like to make salads from a recipe—Much of the time I just throw in whatever’s in the fridge, but often that isn’t quite as delicious!

What I’m getting from my salads this weekend:

• Chard: calcium, magnesium, vitamin A, chlorophyl, fiber, water
• Almonds: protein, vitamin E, folate, choline, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, monounsaturated fat, fiber
• Brussels Sprouts: vitamin c, vitamin K, choline, potassium, B vitamins, manganese, and iron
• Crab: folate, potassium, zinc, protein, phosphorus, selenium
• Egg (tomorrow): Protein, riboflavin, selenium, omega-3 (DHA–enhanced via food)

So if I pick one or two salads to make each week, then I should do a pretty good job of getting a wide range of nutrients over a week (that’s my goal). Note: A lot of things that I make, Joe does not want to eat, so if I can’t pawn some off on my Mom and Fred (across the street), then I have to eat the same thing for three days in a row or throw it out. Full Disclosure: I throw a lot of things out, and I want to get better at not doing that.

A few more things:

I intended to do so much work this weekend, and I did the essentials (essentials=work that must be done or I’ll get fired). I got distracted by my kitchen (just finished the chicken broth a few minutes ago—and even cleaned up). I also ended up visiting my Dad and a friend this weekend, and spent time with my Grandparents and my cousin (who came to town from Staten Island with his new wife—he’s in the Coast Guard and recently moved from Hawaii to NYC. He had long johns and two winter coats on today.). Today is my Grandpa’s 88th birthday, so we had pie. (well, I didn’t–it had grains in it. And I know my life has changed because I didn’t even want it a little bit).

I worked out and went in the sauna twice (I think I was procrastinating doing work because I also cleaned the house).

I almost forgot to tell you!!! The almond flour that came from my almond milk escapade is amazing! It’s super fine (even more than the store bought kinds I’ve bought), and it includes the skins (which is called almond meal vs. almond flour which has the skins peeled off so it is white. The skins have a lot of nutrients, but often when you buy almond meal, it is not quite as fine and soft as almond flour).

Do you think about getting a variety of nutrients? Do you think about the nutrients in food that you’re eating? I didn’t in the past, but now it’s part of how I enjoy my food—I really loved my zinc-rich crab today! 

What is your favorite salad recipe? I need ideas!