Salad: The Most Boring, Interesting Food I Know
Disclaimer: I actually love vegetables — most of them, anyway — just not usually all together in a communal bowl.
One of the easiest ways to achieve the desirable nutritional goal of eating three to five vegetables each day is by adding a salad to your dinner menu.
I get that. This is not a news flash.
As a main course, dinner salad, I’m all on board. Half a dozen or more vegetables, some of them a little less run of the mill (artichoke, beets, leeks). Romaine or spring mix instead of iceberg lettuce, with spinach tossed in for good measure. Maybe a few slices of mango. An egg, some crumbled cheese. Add four or five ounces of protein in the form of chicken, shrimp or salmon with a freshly made dressing and calling that dinner — I’m loving it.
As a side salad, with a gentle mix of a bit of green stuff (probably iceberg — ho-hum), a slice or two of tomato, a couple of cukes, maybe a red pepper or some slices of carrot, topped with some form of bottled dressing and petrified croutons — Ho Hum, again . . . I’m more than a little bored.
When it comes to putting a salad in front of me, go big or go home.
While I like, or love, each and every vegetable that might be a part of a salad, I am much happier focusing on a side dish of a single one of those nutrient rich vegetables than I could ever be mixing them all together in a single bowl — the exception being the aforementioned main course salad.
I could devour bell peppers, red, green, orange, yellow — love them all. I prefer to eat them raw, sliced thin and as a side dish to just about any entree on the table. My husband likes to dip them in ranch dressing — I, on the other hand, prefer them as nature intended — fresh — raw — plain.
Roasted zucchini is a fine treat as the vegetable du jour, served alongside a steak, grilled chicken breast or salmon.
Carrots, steamed and/or glazed, are good enough to be called dessert, as far as I’m concerned.
My favorite place for a tomato is on a Margherita Pizza — but, hey, that’s just me.
Asparagus, Brussels Sprouts, Green Beans — all healthy, all good, all acceptable to me one by one on my plate.
I think I’ve defended myself and my position sufficiently.
I have no beef with vegetables. It’s all about presentation!
Maybe I come by my love of plain vegetables honestly enough.
I started out in life as a plain foods eaters. No condiments on my burgers, hotdogs or other sandwiches. Gravy on (mashed) potatoes only. Hey, it took me twelve years before I would eat pasta or bolognese sauce on my spaghetti — preferring plain noodles instead.
My mother was a good cook, but a simple cook. Gourmet presentations were not her forte. We all thrived with good, old-fashioned home cooking. I believe it gave me a true appreciation for the unique taste of individual foods. For that gift, I will always be grateful to her.
Unless the presentation is tantalizing, as in the case of the aforementioned main course salad, please, steam them or roast them, but let me have my vegetables as a stand alone on my dinner plate.
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