Warm summer days are great for introducing lite recipes to the table. Salads top the list of healthy food choices that fill you up without bogging down the body with unnecessary calories.
Layer your salad platter with a variety of greens. Add a layer of cucumbers, crumbled bacon and hulled sunflower seeds. Top the salad with sliced fresh strawberries. Add crumbled feta or bleu cheese and use a simple vinagrette dressing. Serve with breadsticks or a hard roll.
Cut balls out of watermelon, cantelope or honeydew melons. Wrap each ball with a section of spinach or endive so the melon is the center and the leaves are the petals of the flowers. Secure the leaves with a toothpick. Place the melon ball flowers on the platter and nestle strips of grilled turkey around each flower. Serve with a fruit yogurt dip.
Cut your favorite favorite fresh vegetables and cold cuts into bite-size cubes. Mix everything together in a large bowl. Add green and black olives and a few jalepeno pepper slices to spice things up. Marinate everything for at least four hours. Fill bell pepper cups with the anti-pasta mix and top with a chunck of cheddar cheese. You can add feta cheese to the mix, if you prefer.
Bake or fry four flour tortilla shells until crispy. Add two tablespoons of chopped chives to a package of cream cheese. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the tortilla shells. Top with salad greens, grilled chicken breast strips and your favorite salsa. Serve with sour cream and shredded cheese. (You can substitute guacamole dip for the cream cheese, if you desire.)
Thinly slice apples, pears, oranges, mangoes and other fruits. Slice broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers and peppers just as thinly. You also need deli-sliced turkey, chicken or ham. Start at the top of a serving platter and position a row of salad greens. Then add a row of vegetables, followed by a row of fruit and finally a row of meat. Repeat the rows until the entire platter is full. Add whole grapes and cherry tomatoes around the platter to complete the display. Pass the platter and let guests build their own salad. Serve with a variety of dressings.
Look around the garden and the farmer's market in your area to find great fruits and vegetables to throw into your next salad.
select one here...