• About
  • Recipe Index

Building a Better Lydia

~ Weight Loss for an Audience

Building a Better Lydia

Tag Archives: summer food

Summer Salad

27 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by lydiakj in food, nutrition, recipe, Uncategorized, vegan, yum

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

avocado, food, food post, raw, recipe, recipe post, salad, summer, summer food, vegan, vegetables, vinaigrette

All winter long, it felt like I was on a great quest only instead of a holy grail I was searching for easy and tasty ways to prepare vegetables. In the summer, I don’t have to look very far. Inevitably, when summer rolls around, all I ever want is a nice dinner salad. I think it’s the sunlight that inspires me to eat brightly colored cool foods. I search Pinterest for new summer salad recipes at least once a week. One thing I love about salads is that virtually anything in your kitchen can go in one. That leaves a ton of room for creativity and innovation. But a lot of times salad recipes in cookbooks and online call for ingredients that require a special grocery trip or take too long to prepare, which is great sometimes but not always. Sometimes I just want a plain old dinner salad.

Lately, my favorite salad to make has been just that: one that gets back to the basics. Honestly it reminds me of the kind of salad you’d make at a salad bar, except the ingredients are fresh and haven’t been manhandled by who knows how many strangers.

Summer Salad

Summer Salad

This salad is all veggies (plus some sunflower seeds). It is super easy to prepare, and would be a good option to take for lunch at the office. The recipe as it stands is for one entree-sized salad. If you want to make more just increase the amount of ingredients proportionally.

Summer Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

  • Handful Mixed Greens and/or Spinach
  • 1 Heart of Romaine
  • 1 Campari Tomato (or other small variety)
  • 1/2 Cup Diced Cucumber
  • 1/2 Cup Diced Carrots (or Matchstick Carrots)
  • 1/2 Cup Chopped Broccoli
  • 1-2 TBL Chopped Red Onion
  • 1/2 a Small Avocado
  • 1 TBL Sunflower Seeds

Combine all ingredients except avocado. Toss. Address vinaigrette and avocado. Toss again. Enjoy!

Honey Dijon Vinaigrette:

1 Teaspoon Each:

  • Honey (or Agave if Vegan)
  • Dijon Mustard
  • Balsamic Vinegar
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Lemon Juice

summer saladOne important thing to note about this salad is that these proportions are not mandatory. I don’t like much tomato or onion in my salad, so I limited the quantity. One the other hand I love lettuce and avocado so I added a bit more. If you feel the opposite, just adjust your quantities accordingly! This is just a starting guide, really. The dressing, Honey Dijon Vinaigrette, is one of my favorites, and is generally my go-to for a vegetable salad. You can make a big batch and store in a mason jar, but it only keeps for a few days.

This salad is easy to make and pretty tasty. Plus the fiber and nutrients make it surprisingly filling, even though it is fairly low in calories (around 250). It’s just a nice, crisp and refreshing bowl of vegetables that works best in summer, but could probably be enjoyable all year round!

Advertisements

I'm Lydia. I write. I take pictures. I laugh a lot.

This blog chronicles my on-going experiences with attempted weight loss, healthy living and general wellness. It includes advice, feelings and a lot of weird food.

Questions? Comments?
Job Offers?
Get at me: lkjohns@gmail.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 183 other followers

Follow Me on Pinterest!

Follow Me on Pinterest

Around the Blog

  • About
  • Recipe Index

Common Post Tags

"Fat Sick & Nearly Dead" apples avocado black beans breakfast chia seeds clean eating clean living cleanse coconut milk comfort food cooking curry delicious detox diet eating clean exercise film review fish fitness food fruit fruits & vegetables gluten-free greek yogurt halloween health healthy healthy living healthy snack hiking inspiration intro post juice juice cleanse LA Fitness legumes mango mental wellness nutrients nutritarian nutrition oatmeal obesity personal pineapple pumpkin quinoa recipe recommendation resistance bands restaurant restaurant review review salad seasonal foods seasons 52 smoothie soup spicy strenght training strength training stress relief superfood tacos tasty text Thai food thanksgiving vegan vegetables weight loss wellness workout

Blog Categories

breakfast & brunch clean living cooking detox exercise food gluten-free goals health & fitness nutrition plans plans objectives & goals recipe review smoothie queen soup text post Uncategorized vegan yum

Archives

  • October 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.com
Advertisements

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy