Create Healthy Salads: Paint Your Plate With Color For Better Health

How magnificent is the visual appeal of this salad?

How many colors are represented in your salad? The more colors you put on your plate, the more vitamins and minerals you will consume during that meal! Think Color!

Salad dressings can quickly transform a low calorie salad into a calorie dense salad just by adding a dressing that is high fat. Create healthier salads by making homemade dressings with ingredients you might already have in your kitchen! You can get the most out of every tablespoon with vinaigrette dressings due to their thin liquid consistency, but you can also make low calorie creamy dressings by using Greek yogurt and/or mustard instead of higher fat ingredients.

Recipe: Brussels Sprout Salad with Raspberry Dijon Vinaigrette

Brussels Sprout Salad

3 cups Brussels sprouts, sliced in half, seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. Vitamin D whole food spice powder (SkinAuthority)
1.5 cups red cabbage, chopped or sliced
1.5 cups of carrots, shredded (shred your own or by prepackaged shredded carrots)
½ cup of dried cranberries (or other dried fruit such as raisins and dried cherries)
½ cup walnuts, chopped

Optional: 1 orange for fresh orange zest to garnish salad

Raspberry Dijon Vinaigrette

1.5 cup of raspberries (fresh or frozen)
¼ cup of fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons of white wine vinegar
1.5 Tablespoons of olive oil
1.5 Tablespoons of Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon of honey

Directions:

Season and roast Brussels sprouts in a hot oven (400 F) for 30 minutes. Let cool.

Mix all the salad ingredients in a large bowl.

Place all the vinaigrette ingredients into a blender and mix until the raspberries are pureed and the dressing is a smooth consistency (strain/sift the dressing to remove the seeds).

Add half the dressing to the salad and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Optional: garnish your salad with 1 tsp of orange zest.

*The remaining dressing can be saved and refrigerated to be used for other salads, coleslaws and/or as a marinade for meat.

Nutrition Information Per Serving: 1 cup of salad with 2 Tbsp of vinaigrette