Tummy Friendly Salalds

I know it’s still winter for many of you and perhaps you don’t fancy the thought of salads when it’s cold but I’m a real fan of salads both in winter and summer. When I grew up a salad would typically be green leafs, tomato and cucumber, but nowadays there are so many new exiting ways of making salads. There’s warm and cold salads, salads with fruit, meat, nuts, noodles etc, to suit all seasons and taste.

Eating salads is a really easy way to work in a few servings of vegetables and/or fruit. In addition to vegetables and fruit you can add almost anything you like such as quinoa, gluten free pasta, chicken, egg, nuts, herbs etc. I think the secret to a salad is finding the right balance between ingredients. You don’t want to overload your salad but you don’t want it to be too one sided or for it to just contain a few salad leaves either.

Dressings are really important too. I personally think a dressing can make or break a salad. A really good dressing can really enhance a salad and make it super tasty compared to what it would have been without it. I always make my own dressing to make sure it’s tummy friendly and you can find some of my favourite once below.

When making up a salad I tend to put my tummy friendly ingredients into different groups (see below) and I then choose a few vegetables fro the vegetable groups and one or two ingredients from the other groups That way I get a good mix of vitamins, proteins, healthy fats. There’s really no rule as to how you mix up the ingredients/groups but here’s a few examples of how I would make up some salads:

• If I’m making a smoked salmon salad I choose something like: lambs lettuce, cucumber, spring onion (green part), cooked egg, roasted pine nuts, smoked salmon and dill. 
  
  Served with a yoghurt dressing.
• For a warm winter salad I’d choose to roast some vegetable like courgette, pumpkin, broccoli and parsnip. I’d mix that with some cooked quinoa, blanched kale, olives chives and chopped up walnuts. Then sprinkle some Parmesan on top
  
  I’d serve it with my mums super tasty dressing

• If I’m making a summer salad I’d use strawberries, cucumber, mixed cherry tomatoes, Parma ham, feta cheese, dill
  
  Serve this with a classic vinaigrette dressing
  

In today’s salad I’ve used lambs lettuce, red cabbage, fennel, toasted sunflower seeds, feta cheese, roasted potatoes and green beans. Served with a herb dressing.

Have a go at making your own salad with things you like. Choose a few things from the vegetable groups and then one or two things from the other groups when making up a salad. Please let me know what your favourite tummy friendly salad is and how you make it.

COLD VEGETABLES

Cucumber
Tomatoes
Peppers
Grated carrot
Cabbage (white or red)
Courgette
Olives
Fennel
Bean sprouts

ROASTED VEGETABLES
Courgette
Pumpkin
Carrots
Broccoli
Parsnip
Aubergine 
Peppers
tomatoes
Olives
Green beans
Potato (roasted or boiled)

Leafy greens and lettuce
Mixed salads 
Rocket
Baby spinach
Kale (I usually blanche it)
Little gems lettuce
Lambs Lettuce

NUTS AND SEEDS
Walnuts
Pine nuts
Peacan nuts
Macadamia nuts
Sunflowers seeds
Chia seeds

(Most nuts and seeds can be toasted to give them a different flavour)

FRUIT AND BERRIES
Oranges
Clementines
Lemon
Blueberries
Strawberries
Cranberries (mainly dried)

FOR FLAVOURING OR INSTEAD OF ONION 
Spring onion (green part only)
Leek (green part only)
Chives

HERBS & SPICES
Oregano (fresh or dried)
Basil – fresh or dried)
Dill 
Parsley
Coriander 
Ginger
Mint

PASTA & GRAINS
Rice (brown, white, wild etc)
Gluten free pasta (any pasta of your choice)
Quinoa

MEATS & FISH 
Smoked salmon
Parma ham/ham
Chicken (cooked or grilled)
Steak (cut into strips)

DAIRY
Egg
Cheese (mozzarella, Feta, cheddar, etc)
Parmesan

(There’s probably lots of other ingredients so please share your ideas of what you think could be added to the list.)

DRESSINGS:

Classic Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil.
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt pepper to taste

Herb dressing

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup mixed fresh herbs such as mint, parsley or basil
1 tbsp garlic infused olive oil
1 tbsp limejuice
salt and pepper to taste

Yoghurt dressing (great for meat or fish salads)
5 tbsp of Lactose free plain yogurt

1 tsp maple syrup

pinch of salt

1 tsp limejuice

3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1 tbsp garlic infused olive oil

My mum’s super tasty dressing
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste