Power Salads

Featured Recipe: Cranberry-Pecan Wheat Berry Salad

Salads are typically eaten before a meal or on the side; however they also shine as a main dish. Go beyond standard toppings and transform your salad into a nutrient-packed meal.

Go Green

Salads are a no-cook summertime favorite! Simply choose your base of greens, layer on your favorite seasonal fresh produce, add the finishing touch with a light dressing and you’ve got a meal in minutes! Use triple washed and ready-to-eat salad blends like organic girl® to make your salad prep even more effortless. All varieties including Supergreens!, Baby Spinach, Baby Spring Mix, 50/50 Blend and Herb Baby Romaine feature tender, darky leafy greens that are loaded with antioxidants for eye, heart and bone health, plus cancer prevention.

Great Grains

Greens aren’t the only base you can use for great salads. Create hearty and healthful salads with easy-to cook whole grains like Nature’s Earthly Choice™ Wheat Berries. They have a nutty flavor, slightly chewy texture and contain iron and six grams of protein per serving. Serve cooked grains as a side or add chicken, shrimp, beans, lentils or toasted nuts to make it a meal. Chill grain salads for at least one hour before serving. Also, look for Nature’s Earthly Choice™ antioxidant-rich Black Rice, Chia Seeds for omega-3s, Italian farro—one of the oldest cultivated grains, protein-packed Quinoa and new Easy Quinoa™ that features a vegetable and seasoning packet inside.

Give it Texture

Sprinkling dried fruit over vegetable or grain salad takes it from ordinary to extraordinary. It also adds flavor, fiber and antioxidants. The chewy texture and tangy flavor of Ocean Spray® Craisins® Dried Cranberries bursts when paired with savory ingredients like blue cheese crumbles, pecans and vinaigrette in this recipe for Cranberry-Pecan Wheat Berry Salad.

The Brighter, the Better

Eating one salad a day is a simple way to eat more fruits and vegetables. For extra nutritional value, top salads with an array of colorful berries, mandarin oranges, grapes, bell peppers, beets or tomatoes. Topline® Tomatoes On the Vine are carefully picked in clusters, leaving the vine intact to further enhance the flavor, color, nutrient content and aroma of the tomatoes. Beyond salads, slice, chop or dice them for use on sandwiches or burgers or in salsa.

Best Dressed

Dress salads with oil and vinegar-based options, instead of calorie-laden creamy dressings. For calorie control, measure dressing before adding to the salad or keep it on the side and dip only your fork into the dressing before taking each bite. Each two tablespoon serving of Ken’s® Light Options Salad Dressings contains about 33 percent fewer calories and half the fat of regular salad dressings. They are lower in sodium and sugar too.

Skip Fat Free

Healthful fats from nuts, seeds and oils add flavor to salads and aid in the absorption of vitamins A, E and K.

Made from the first pressing of ripe olives, Pompeian® Extra Virgin Olive Oil lends robust flavor to salads on its own or when whisked into a homemade vinaigrette dressing. Olive oil supplies monounsaturated fats which may help lower LDL “bad” cholesterol when used to replace saturated fats in the diet. To preserve olive oil’s nutrient content and flavor, store away from light and heat and use within six months of opening.

Your Simple Guide to Greens

Your Simple Guide to Grains

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