Cooking Delights

Thursday, August 17, 2006

The Salad is the Main Dish!


I have been reading Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live and one of the things that he said that really struck me was make salad the main dish. It got mt thinking about the way I plan my meals...always around the main dish, which is almost never a salad. The salad is usually an afterthought. So then I thought, what if I planned my meals around my salad?

As soon as I shifted my thinking, this delicious salad popped into my head. This salad is an all-time favourite. My daughter even made up a song about this salad which we affectionately called, "the Mango song." My daughter has received numerouse requests for the song she used to sing as a toddler picking the mangos right out of the salad singing, "mango, mango, mango song."

Here I have created the mango salad with red and green leaf lettuce, mangos and a small sprinkling of feta cheese and pecans. Now, I have lots of room for improvement because Dr. Fuhrman certainly wouldn't advocate any animal products and I sprinkled my salad with feta cheese. Also, he certainly wouldn't approve of the amount of oil in this dressing. Good nutrition is always a process, so all in good time. Here is the recipe for the dressing. The dressing is taken from Rose Reisman's The Art of Living Well. The dressing really makes this salad.

Dressing
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. honey
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. minced garlic

In a small bowl whisk together vinegar, olive oil, honey, sesame oil and garlic. Pour over salad.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman advocates a diet rich in whole fresh fruits and vegetables. He argues that most vegetables contain more nutrients per calorie than any other food and are a rich in all necessary amino acids. Apparently, of any beneficial food, raw vegetable consumption showed the strongest protective effect against cancer. Fuhrman sites leafy greens such as romaine lettuce, kale, collards, swiss chard and spinach as the most nutrient-dense of all foods.

So, eat your salads! Plan your meals around them!


8 Comments:

  • At Thursday, 17 August, 2006, Blogger fusion boutique said…

    No problem about the bag I think you will get a lot of use out of it! We can talk about the newsletter on Sunday I am a write off today anniversary last night... a whole year!

     
  • At Thursday, 17 August, 2006, Blogger Catherine said…

    That's so weird. I was just reading Eat to Live too. I think he had a lot of good ideas and agree with the salad thought. I thought the diet plan was very strict. Who wouldn't lose a ton of weight on that?

     
  • At Thursday, 17 August, 2006, Blogger urban vegan said…

    I have to check out this book. Your salad looks so special.

    Our salads are so gignatic that we ROLL away from the table. When guests come over, they can't beleive that we eat THAT many greens every night. We just think it's normal.

     
  • At Thursday, 17 August, 2006, Blogger Dr. Melissa West said…

    Catherine, I totally agree. But it sure is a great read for a vegetarian isn't it? I always like to improve my nutritional imput. I think some of his ideas are a little over the top - like the thinner the better - that is scary and could definitely lead to eating disorders for women. But I like how he is encouraging me to eat more vegetables and shift the way I think about eating. The tone is a little bit sales-pitch like and therefore over the top... but I still think there is good stuff in here!

     
  • At Thursday, 17 August, 2006, Blogger Carrieā„¢ said…

    First off, when I saw your comment on my blog, I thought "Who is Melissa West? I haven't seen that name posting anywhere." Then I checked out the profile and smacked my forehead "Oooohhhh!! It's dragonslayer!" Cool new look!
    You've been busy, busy. So have I but in a stressed out work-related way. I'm thinking that may be rectified soon - by me. Anyhow, lots and lots of good food pics. Sorry Fressen wasn't so great this time. Happens to me too. I think that's why I usually order the same old thing at restaurants. I know what to expect and I know I'll like it. Boring? Yes. Sometimes being adventurous can pay off though. Keep at it. I can't wait until your next date night!

     
  • At Friday, 18 August, 2006, Blogger Dr. Melissa West said…

    Thanks for your comments urban vegan! We are definitely trying to make a hugs amount of grens normal every night. I am really inspired to plan my meals around my salad instead of making them the after thought. That should make the salad take the place it deserves.

    Hi Carrie

    Yes, I decided to let go of my anonymity on my food blog. I am using my food blog to promote my yoga, pilates fitness and lifestyle coaching now, so best to use my real name! I've missed you around and your posts - although your quinoa looked fantastic! Hope work gets less stressful for you soon. Can't wait to meet you when kleo comes to town in October.

     
  • At Friday, 18 August, 2006, Blogger Unknown said…

    Yumm Yumm...often if I'm packing a dinner for work, I'll do a bigass salad, but I've not done it enough.
    I don' really agree with all of Eat the Live's guidelines, as it's more of a 'Diet' book and I believe in my heart of hearts that the diet industry (a fifty BILLION dollar industry) is not trying to help us acheive health, but rather a lowering of our innate health both spiritual and physical...however, it does have its merits, and for that I thank you for sharing your recipe!

     
  • At Monday, 21 August, 2006, Blogger KleoPatra said…

    YUMMY! Salads rock my world, Melissa/Dragonslayer! Can't wait to meet up with you 'n' Carrie & any other of our "bloggin' pals" in person in October!

    -Karen (o:
    aka Kleo

     

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