Salads & Salad Dressings | Gotta Eat, Can't Cook

Archive for the ‘Salads & Salad Dressings’ Category

May 30th, 2022

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Fitness/Health, Salads & Salad Dressings

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Fresh Spinach and Berry Salad Picture Book Recipe

Last post showed how to make the (almost) instant 5-ingredient salad dressing below, which is just as fully flavorful and richly versatile as it is simple to make.

Here’s just one of the many salads, that is just as equally full-on flavorful and easy to make as the dressing: Fresh Spinach and Berry Salad.

Regarding the spinach, there’s nothing better than the farm-fresh spinach I used to get from my good bud, Michael Berberian, and his family Berberian’s Farm Stand in Northborough, MA.

Fresh spinach from Berberian’s Farm, Northborough, MA

Now that I’m in North Carolina (which I love!), I usually get my fresh spinach in a bag at Aldi – I’m a big Aldi fan for both their quality and prices, especially in these days with grocery prices skyrocketing.

Here’s what you need to make this Fresh Spinach and Berry Salad:

Just click this link or any picture on this page for a complete picture book recipe.

April 7th, 2020

Blog, Salads & Salad Dressings

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Enabling Empowerment Vs. Covid-19 and Enabling Kitchen Self-Sufficiency with an Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing

You are the only person who can empower yourself. You can, however, get and find the needed help to enable your empowerment.

Regarding Covid-19 and seasonal flu and their effect to date – and the numbers are sobering, first, the seasonal flu; Global Research reported on Feb. 22, 2020, that “The common flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization .”

In the US alone, here’s an image from the CDC showing 2019-2020 US-only seasonal flu statistics through the end of March 2020.

Staggering!

Now, Covid-19; As of yesterday, April 6, 2020, according to the WHO, there have been 1,210,956 reported cases and 67,594 deaths related to Covid-19 globally. According to the CDC, again as of yesterday, there have been 330,981 reported cases and 8,910 deaths related to Covid-19 just in the United States.

The big problem with Covid-19 is that it is new, hence the name Novel (new) Coronavirus 2019-nCoV, and that means that avoiding the disease can only be accomplished by following all but the first of the WHO-published five easy steps to avoid the flu:

getting vaccinated (Only about 4 in 10 US adults get vaccinated. I’ve not been vaccinated in years. I will start getting vaccinated next season – and document it here.)
frequent handwashing
avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth
avoiding being around sick people
staying home if you are sick to prevent contamination to others

These are all common sense steps to take, and following each can help empower us to cope with all strains of the flu with less fear.

That said, let’s switch gears to help empower better eating, which always improves a brighter outlook, with a quick, easy, richly flavorful and incredibly versatile recipe that you can make no matter how little cooking experience you have. The instant 5-ingredient salad dressing you see here goes great, of course, on warm or cold salads but is also a go-to for me on sandwiches, with cooked grains, over pasta, and much more.

As shown in the picture below (yes, I did use 2 vinegars for added flavor that count as only one ingredient), the only five ingredients you need are garlic powder, black pepper, mustard, vinegar and oil. For equipment, all you need is a 16-ounce jar with a snug fitting lid (if you don’t have a jar, you can use a measuring cup instead).

Click this link or any salad dressing related picture on this page for a complete, easy to follow step-by-step picture book recipe.

November 12th, 2018

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Cycling Food, Nutrition, Salads & Salad Dressings

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Anti-Inflammatory Fresh Ginger Cilantro Kefir Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

If you’re an athlete or physically active at all, you know how inflammation exhibited in joint or muscle pain inhibits how you move your body. Inflammation is also a key contributor to diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and much more.

The very easy to make, fully-flavorful fresh low fat salad dressing you see here goes great on any salad as shown below – or anything savory – and contains kefir (a good bacteria, yogurt-like fermented milk drink), fresh garlic, fresh ginger, fresh cilantro, ground turmeric, mustard, apple cider vinegar, ground black pepper, and honey – all of which are rich with anti-inflammatory benefits.

April 2nd, 2018

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Fitness/Health, Salads & Salad Dressings

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How Learning and Adapting Applies to Cycling and Fresh 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing

It’s all about applied learning and adapting.

First, regarding cycling. Since becoming the Ops Officer at VOmax (performance sportswear) and driving to and from Northampton everyday, I’ve had to adapt to splitting time between rippin’ it on the real road, which I love, and crankin’ it on the “living room bike” (trainer), which no matter how hard I pedal never gets me to the kitchen.

August 21st, 2017

Blog, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Salads & Salad Dressings, Vegetables

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Heirloom Tomato, Basil and Feta Cheese Picture Book Recipe

As I mentioned in my last post posted a few weeks ago (Ow!), one of my favorite summer foods is fresh tomatoes right off the field, and one of my favorite ways to have those fresh tomatoes is sliced and topped with fresh basil, mozzarella chcese, a shot of olive oil, a good shot of balsamic vinegar, and a good crunch of freshly ground black pepper (or chopped fresh jalapeños – yah!). Terrific!

Here’s a slight twist on that combination made with what you see below: heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, feta cheese and Read more »

August 8th, 2017

Blog, Cycling Food, Salads & Salad Dressings

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Easy, Fully Flavorful Tomato, Fresh Basil and Mozzarella Cheese Salad Picture Recipe

One of my favorite summer foods is freshly picked, richly flavorful, no-kidding vine ripened tomatoes, which I always look forward to getting get straight off the field at Berberian’s Farm in Northborough, MA.

January 9th, 2017

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Fitness Food, Salads & Salad Dressings

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Fresh Banana Cilantro Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Yep, you bet! Bananas and cilantro together in a dressing – and it goes great on salads, over cooked vegetables – any way you’d use any other dressing.

The hardest part of making this dressing is peeling the skins off fresh garlic cloves – always a pain, though crushing the cloves first by pressing them under the side of a wide-bladed (chef’s) knife as shown here…

April 28th, 2016

Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Fitness Food, Salads & Salad Dressings

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Fresh Garlic Ginger Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Not too long ago, I showed how to grate or chop fresh ginger and then how to make a fresh low-fat kefir salad dressing packed not only with full-on flavor but also packed with anti-inflammatory ingredients that included ground turmeric, mustard, apple cider vinegar, ground flaxseeds, ground black pepper, and honey. Great stuff!

The fresh garlic ginger salad dressing you see here is a little twist on the fresh low-fat kefir salad dressing in that it substitutes kefir (a fermented milk, yogurt-like drink that’s packed with beneficial – or good for you – bacteria) with olive oil and also adds freshly chopped cilantro.

Here are the ingredients you need to make fresh garlic ginger salad dressing.

Click any picture on this page for a complete, easy-to-follow step-by-step picture book recipe.

April 5th, 2016

Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Salads & Salad Dressings

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Fresh Low Fat Kefir Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Here’s a great way to substitute freshly grated ginger and freshly chopped garlic for the powdered version of those two ingredients to create a fresh low fat kefir salad dressing that’s as fully flavorful as it is full of anti-inflammatory ingredients. Great stuff all around!

Here’s a picture of the ingredients.

January 20th, 2016

Blog, Salads & Salad Dressings

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Instant Nonfat Yogurt Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Last post showed how to make an easy to make, fully flavorful instant salad dressing using only 5 ingredients: garlic powder, mustard, ground black pepper, vinegar, and oil. Here’s an easy variation on that dressing that changes only one ingredient by substituting oil with plain nonfat yogurt. (See the nonfat plain Greek yogurt to oil nutrition fact label comparison below and note that a serving of nonfat plain Greek yogurt is 1 cup (8 ounces) while a serving of oil is 1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce). That means that 1 cup (8 ounces) of oil contains 1920 calories and 224 grams of fat as compared to the cup (8 ounces) of nonfat yogurt shown below containing 130 calories and 0 grams of fat. Though any nonfat plain yogurt will work to make this dressing, I like using nonfat plain Greek yogurt for this dressing for its high protein content, thick texture, and rich flavor.)