For a full month!
That’s the journey am embarking on for the month of August, 2013. One salad every day for dinner for the entire month, and I will be recording my recipes here.
The reasons for going on a full salad diet for a full month are many… first of them being that my gym instructor asked me to eat salads, as a part of my get-healthy-regime. When I came back to check on my blog for some salad recipes I could replicate, I was baffled to see that there weren’t many. For a self-proclaimed-healthy-eater, that was a shock. And I got about to set it right. Its basically two birds with one shot – eat tasty salads and build a good salad repository should I need it in future.
Salads could be made of literally anything. The vegetables can be grilled/roasted/cooked/microwaved or eaten raw. There could be or need not be a protein always. You can add any number of vegetables though its good to ensure that you eat at least 5 types of veggies per day. Dressing can be a simple lemon juice to a vinaigrette to anything complicated that you can conceive. In short, the definition for salads is wide enough to suite all our taste buds and ensure that we get a healthy and a tasty meal.
I have tried to have at least 3 different kinds of veggies in each of my salads. At least one crunchy has been planned for each salad. Each salad has an option or already has at least one protein – Cottage cheese or Beans or Tofu, the three most commonly used proteins in Vegetarian or Vegan diets. All these salads are vegetarian with most of them even being vegan if you substitute the cottage cheese with tofu wherever applicable. I’ve planned the dressings to be as different from each other as possible. I’ve also incorporated various cooking methods for the salads – some are grilled, some are sautéed, some are roasted, some are even oven-baked. In some cases, I’ve used alternate grains like broken wheat, mixed broken lentils or foxtail millet, all of them healthy and filling.
I’ve also tried to use some really less used veggies in these salads, because I believe that if nature has allowed a vegetable to sustain and grow, then there is something good in it that we should take advantage of. I understand that these veggies like cabbages and radishes do not exactly make ideal salad ingredients , but the idea is to discover a tasty salad-world and break free from the salad that has cucumbers and tomatoes. Or is Fattoush. Or has couscous, no offense to these awesome salads.
Not all these salads are super-stars, but trust me, they are all good for health. With healthy ingredients. This is what am eating for the month, and losing weight too… ;-)
You do not have to make these salads as-is. Use these as an inspiration to make your own salads. Do consider the dressing ideas , though, because that’s where most of my energies went into. They are different and will suite every palate – sweet-loving, spicy, cold, refreshing… all that I could think of. Mix and match the vegetables as they suite your taste. Use as many different kinds of oils as you can. Think of as many different crunchies as you can. Freak out on the proteins.
In short, have fun while you eat!
Here is the list of all the recipes that are filed under – A Salad A Day!
Day 1 – Roasted vegetables with Dalia (Broken wheat)
Day 2 – Cabbage salad with mint dressing
Day 3 – Easy green salad!
Day 4 – Grilled Zucchini & Cottage cheese salad
Day 5 – Sichuan Slaw, magic with those innocent carrots
Day 6 – Radish & Raw Mango salad
Day 7 – Bell pepper & Cottage cheese salad
Day 8 – Mustard girdled Tofu with beet & cauliflowers
Day 9 – Beet & cauliflowers, this time spicy!
Day 10 – Spinach, Corn & Cauliflower salad
Day 11 - Peppers, peas & tofu salad
Day 12 - Grilled carrot & chick pea salad
Day 13 - Watermelon & Tomato salad
Day 14 - Beet, pea & cottage cheese salad
Day 15 - Grilled sweet potato with raw mango salad
Day 16 - Fattoush salad
Day 17 - Roasted tomatoes & French beans salad
Day 18 - Almost Caprese salad
Day 19 - Apple & Tomato salad
Day 20 - Roasted bell pepper & bean salad
Day 21 - How to make a salad in a jar - A Four Bean salad - Also a RecipeRedux submission
Day 22 - Cucumber & Bell pepper salad - Also, how to make a soya and mustard oil dressing
Day 23 - Soba noodle salad - Also, how to make Asian peanut dressing
Day 24 - Carrots with Honey & Chilli dressing
Day 25 - Chick peas & broken wheat saladDay 26 - Chargrilled vegetable salad
Day 27 - Cold not-sesame noodles salad
Day 28 - Bell peppers in a garlic & Oregano dressing - Also, how to make a garlic and oregano dressing
Day 29 - How to make Indian salad dressing - Vegetable salad
Day 30 - Zucchini & Noodle salad
That’s the journey am embarking on for the month of August, 2013. One salad every day for dinner for the entire month, and I will be recording my recipes here.
The reasons for going on a full salad diet for a full month are many… first of them being that my gym instructor asked me to eat salads, as a part of my get-healthy-regime. When I came back to check on my blog for some salad recipes I could replicate, I was baffled to see that there weren’t many. For a self-proclaimed-healthy-eater, that was a shock. And I got about to set it right. Its basically two birds with one shot – eat tasty salads and build a good salad repository should I need it in future.
Salads could be made of literally anything. The vegetables can be grilled/roasted/cooked/microwaved or eaten raw. There could be or need not be a protein always. You can add any number of vegetables though its good to ensure that you eat at least 5 types of veggies per day. Dressing can be a simple lemon juice to a vinaigrette to anything complicated that you can conceive. In short, the definition for salads is wide enough to suite all our taste buds and ensure that we get a healthy and a tasty meal.
I have tried to have at least 3 different kinds of veggies in each of my salads. At least one crunchy has been planned for each salad. Each salad has an option or already has at least one protein – Cottage cheese or Beans or Tofu, the three most commonly used proteins in Vegetarian or Vegan diets. All these salads are vegetarian with most of them even being vegan if you substitute the cottage cheese with tofu wherever applicable. I’ve planned the dressings to be as different from each other as possible. I’ve also incorporated various cooking methods for the salads – some are grilled, some are sautéed, some are roasted, some are even oven-baked. In some cases, I’ve used alternate grains like broken wheat, mixed broken lentils or foxtail millet, all of them healthy and filling.
I’ve also tried to use some really less used veggies in these salads, because I believe that if nature has allowed a vegetable to sustain and grow, then there is something good in it that we should take advantage of. I understand that these veggies like cabbages and radishes do not exactly make ideal salad ingredients , but the idea is to discover a tasty salad-world and break free from the salad that has cucumbers and tomatoes. Or is Fattoush. Or has couscous, no offense to these awesome salads.
Not all these salads are super-stars, but trust me, they are all good for health. With healthy ingredients. This is what am eating for the month, and losing weight too… ;-)
You do not have to make these salads as-is. Use these as an inspiration to make your own salads. Do consider the dressing ideas , though, because that’s where most of my energies went into. They are different and will suite every palate – sweet-loving, spicy, cold, refreshing… all that I could think of. Mix and match the vegetables as they suite your taste. Use as many different kinds of oils as you can. Think of as many different crunchies as you can. Freak out on the proteins.
In short, have fun while you eat!
Here is the list of all the recipes that are filed under – A Salad A Day!
 |
| A Salad A Day - 30 salads for 30 days! |
Day 1 – Roasted vegetables with Dalia (Broken wheat)
Day 2 – Cabbage salad with mint dressing
Day 3 – Easy green salad!
Day 4 – Grilled Zucchini & Cottage cheese salad
Day 5 – Sichuan Slaw, magic with those innocent carrots
Day 6 – Radish & Raw Mango salad
Day 7 – Bell pepper & Cottage cheese salad
Day 8 – Mustard girdled Tofu with beet & cauliflowers
Day 9 – Beet & cauliflowers, this time spicy!
Day 10 – Spinach, Corn & Cauliflower salad
Day 11 - Peppers, peas & tofu salad
Day 12 - Grilled carrot & chick pea salad
Day 13 - Watermelon & Tomato salad
Day 14 - Beet, pea & cottage cheese salad
Day 15 - Grilled sweet potato with raw mango salad
Day 16 - Fattoush salad
Day 17 - Roasted tomatoes & French beans salad
Day 18 - Almost Caprese salad
Day 19 - Apple & Tomato salad
Day 20 - Roasted bell pepper & bean salad
Day 21 - How to make a salad in a jar - A Four Bean salad - Also a RecipeRedux submission
Day 22 - Cucumber & Bell pepper salad - Also, how to make a soya and mustard oil dressing
Day 23 - Soba noodle salad - Also, how to make Asian peanut dressing
Day 24 - Carrots with Honey & Chilli dressing
Day 25 - Chick peas & broken wheat saladDay 26 - Chargrilled vegetable salad
Day 27 - Cold not-sesame noodles salad
Day 28 - Bell peppers in a garlic & Oregano dressing - Also, how to make a garlic and oregano dressing
Day 29 - How to make Indian salad dressing - Vegetable salad
Day 30 - Zucchini & Noodle salad
Now there is one thing missing ..
ReplyDeleteGive us a list of all the ingredients used for this full month so we can buy them all at one shot and not hunt for them just before making them :-)
Done. Let me update this page with the grocery list I had before I went for this project!
Deletehaha...did you finally made the grocery list?
DeleteBea, No. Never got around to making it. Will get to it soon.
Delete