Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Posts Tagged ‘Green Salad’

Cilantro Has Some Good Stuff

Posted by terrepruitt on June 18, 2013

I used to not like cilantro.  Or at least I thought I didn’t like it.  Funny how that happens, isn’t it?  I really thought I didn’t like it then one night I was at someone’s house and they had made a salad . . . a BEAN salad at that and I tried some and I liked it.  I don’t like beans and I don’t like cilantro and I don’t normally eat onions . . . . .well, that is what I would have said all that time, many months ago.  When I tried the salad I decided that I did like beans and cilantro, but only in that particular salad.  I figured it was the combination of all of the ingredients that made it acceptable.  You might have read in some of my other posts though that I will eat kidney beans in a recipe I make called Red Beans and Rice.  It is NOT the typical Red Beans and Rice recipe, click here to see.  Since I do make the bean salad recipe I find myself with left over cilantro.  And since I have discovered I like it, I put it in my green salad.  It is a nice addition to the salad to give it a different flavor.  I actually haven’t tried it in anything else I can think of.  It seems like people either LOVE cilantro or HATE it.  I like it.  I don’t LOVE it, but it is a nice change of flavor. Today while I was making the Bean Salad I decided to give a look at what cilantro has to offer.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaFirst of all cilantro is the leaves of the coriander plant.  Coriander is the little round pellet type seasoning.  Wiki states that all parts of the plant are edible, but it is the leaves and the dried seeds that are most commonly used.  That is cilantro and coriander.  Also, “the leaves are variously referred to as coriander leaves, fresh coriander, Chinese parsley, or cilantro (particularly in North America).”

Cilantro contains antioxidants.  Coriander does too, but the leaves were found to have a stronger effect.

According an article on the Global Healing Center’s website, consuming large amounts of cilantro regularly can help clear the body of toxic metals.

Cilantro contains potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, and magnesium.  It also has many vitamins including vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin K. The website Power Your Diet states that there is 30% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C, about 225% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin A, and about 258% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin K, but in 100 grams.  That seems like a lot of cilantro to eat.  When I put it in my green salads or bean salad I don’t think I put but a small fraction of that.  I think I put about a cup of cilantro in the bean salad today, but I don’t think it weighed near 100 grams.  I still think that health benefits can be received.  I don’t really need 200% of any recommend value.

I believe herbs are a good way to both flavor our food and get nutrients we need to assist our bodies in being healthy.  Do you like cilantro?  Do you cook with it?  

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Salad On My Mind

Posted by terrepruitt on April 21, 2011

What do you think of when you hear “salad”?  When I was young when I heard salad I thought of lettuce with a few veggies in it.  I don’t eat potato salad and egg salad so I never thought of them, but they are salads.  There are so many other types of salads too.  Wiki says:

“Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes including: vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads.  They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.”

Salads could be considered the perfect food.  At least in my opinion.  As mentioned in wiki there are “vegetable salads” and “pasta salads”.  When you put veggies and meat in a pasta salad you can have a pretty balanced MEAL.  It also depends the ingredients you use when talking meal.  Like my last post, the quinoa has a good amount of protein so mixing it with veggies makes a great meal.

There are salads that are a meal and salads that are a side.  When I make a green salad I add cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, sometimes tomatoes, sometimes broccoli, sometimes nuts, sometimes cheese, sometimes seeds.  For a long time we were using baby spinach as our “lettuce” but then I switched to a mix of lettuces.  We buy spinach every once in a while.  Either way I like the green for a salad.  I don’t use iceberg.

Salads are fascinating.

I mean we even call jello with fruit in it salad.  And they are really fun because they are usually prepared in a jello MOLD so you have a salad in a fun shape.  And oh, fruit salad.  When I was young we called one salad fruit salad and one ambrosia.  Fruit salad was all different kinds of fresh fruit cut up and put tossed together and served in a bowl.  Ambrosia was the same thing but with cool whip mixed in with all the fruit.

Ha . . . I should have checked my past posts before I posted because I already have a posted about salad, pretty much the same thing.  But I can tell you a bit about the salad I posted about.  It is clear to me that some of us have ideas in our mind about what a salad is because there was a time when my hubby (yes, Dear, I am dragging you into my post again!) wouldn’t eat a “salad” that didn’t have lettuce in it.  He would claim it was not a salad, even though his family is a “jello salad family”.  But after we visited Europe and they would often serve a “salad” without lettuce I was able to do the same thing when we got home.  Ahh . . . travel is awesome.   (I think I’ve said this before in a post too!  The part about my hubby.)

One of the comments on my one of my previous posts about salad talked about the dressing on a Greek Salad.  The commenter said she didn’t like the dressing.  But that is one of the great things about a salad if you make it yourself you can put whatever dressing you want on it!

I have yet to make the tomato and watermelon salad that my friend mention in the comments of my “salad” post.  I am putting that in my calendar in June.  So I remember.

Usually I check my blog to see if I have posted about a subject before, but it was late (really late) and I didn’t check and now that I am looking I have several posts on salad*.  As I said and as is now totally obvious, salads are fascinating.

*Here’s a few of the “salad” posts:

Quinoa Salad

Bean Salad

Awesome Salad

Summer Salad

So?  I’ve said a whole lot about salad.  What do you have to say?  Have a recipe?  Like one thing over another?  Have you tried any of the salads on my blog or the suggestions people have posted?  Do tell?  Salad is awesome!

(I think I need to make a “Salad” Category.)

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Thanksgiving

Posted by terrepruitt on November 25, 2010

My post last year said I didn’t like Thanksgiving, which is not true and in the sentence following I explain it is all of the traditional foods that I don’t go ga-ga over.  I do love the thought of giving thanks and spending time with family.  I was thinking about family traditions and some of the food traditions familes have.  I have a friend whose family has a tradition of creamed onions.  I have never even heard of creamed onions.  I asked her about it and she said that over the years the recipe has been altered but it is something that they have had for years.

I love stuff like that.  Hearing what families have at family dinners.  I know of families that have jello salads.  I knew a family that had pistashio salad.  Some familes have a tradition of homemade bread.  Some families always have to have green salad, no matter what other vegetable is being served there has to also be a green salad.  Or what about the infamous green bean casserole?  I think a lot of familes do that one.  What about the spinach dip?  Do you know a family that has to have spinach dip before dinner?  Deviled eggs is also a big tradition with some familes.  Oh, and sushi, my husband’s family loves the sushi.

What about the turkey itself?  There are roaster families and barbeque familes.  And then of course, the fryer families.  I worked with a guy who said that his family fries the turkey and they also tell all the neighbors to come over so they can do theirs too because—he was explaining—that once the oil is hot it is easy just to keep cooking them.  That way all that oil doesn’t go to waste.  I have never had a fried turkey but from what people tell me is that it is cooked so fast the turkey doesn’t even absord that much oil.

Then there is dressing vs. stuffing.  As much as I love bread, I am not really a fan of either.   Oh, and cranberries.  What about mashed potatoes?

What is the traditional cooking style of turkey for your family?  What Thanksgiving food traditions does your family have?

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Salad

Posted by terrepruitt on July 13, 2010

Typically when I think of salad I think of a GREEN salad, a salad with lettuce.  Salad, however can be made up of a variety of things.  I am in the habit of saying “salad” for green salad and vegetables then saying “pasta salad”, “fruit salad”, “potato salad”, etc. for other salads.  We have a salad every night when we eat at home.  If we dinner at home 25 nights out of the month 20 of them will be with salad.

But sometimes I don’t have lettuce.  So I do on occasion just make a veggie salad.  Basically the same things I would put in a green salad but without the green of the lettuce.  Here in this picture, there are cucumbers, red and green bell peppers, onions, and it looks like a little feta cheese.  Maybe it could be considered a Greek Salad.  I didn’t think to put olives in it.  But it was good anyway.

Do you eat salad?  What kind?  What is your favorite?  What do you like to put in your Green Salad?

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , , , | 11 Comments »

Awesome Salad

Posted by terrepruitt on December 24, 2009

Years ago my friend made a salad and brought it to a potluck.  This had to be over 10 years ago.  Since then I have seen many versions of this salad, and I myself had made many different versions.  But for Christmas I am always asked by my husband’s family to bring this salad.

-A bag or two of Spring Mix

-A pear or two (chopped into pieces)

-Walnuts (chopped)

-Blue Cheese

-Balsamic Vinaigrette

Mix all the ingredients together.  Using as many nuts and as much blue cheese as you would like to make a good balance. 

You might be able to tell in the photo of my salad, I did not use spring mix.  I used a bag of heart of romaine and some baby spinach.  I didn’t use walnuts, I used pecans.  I also didn’t take the picture with the dressing on because I didn’t want to toss it until we were ready to eat it even though we were going somewhere not far from San Jose. 

It is a great salad.  I sometimes use apples instead of pears.  Whatever you have on hand is good to use.  I like to use walnuts or pecans, I have tried another nut, but I am sure it would work out.

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »