Tag Archives: salad

Salads are Natural for the MIND diet

Leafy Vegetables, Recipes,

It’s really hot here in the midlands so not much cooking going on. It’s good weather for salads, though.  I have found several that seem like they are naturals for the MIND diet. Some need a bit of modification like switching to olive oil or omitting the cheese.  The salads below all contain 3 or 4 of the recommended MIND diet foods.

The first one that comes to mind is one of my favorites:

Mixed greens salad with strawberries and candied almonds
http://www.pickycook.com/soupandsalad/mixedgreenssaladwithstrawberriesandcandiedalmonds.aspx
I’m not going to repeat the recipes on this page. I will point out the foods recommended on the MIND diet and, in a few recipes, foods to avoid. These are the recommended MIND diet foods in the

  • Green, leafy vegetable
  • Berries
  • Nuts
  • Olive oil

This recipe is “just about perfect” for the MIND diet except for the sugar on the almonds.  I love them that way, but not sure if that might count as a pastry/sweet that is listed as a food to avoid on the MIND diet. Actually, the recommendation is to eat pastries/sweets less than 5 times a week. So, if you use the sugar, you might want to count against that. On the other hand, this salad is just about as good if you don’t sugar the almonds.

Bell Pepper, Tomato, Cucumber, and Grilled Bread Salad
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/bell-pepper-tomato-cucumber-grilled-bread-salad

  • whole grain (if you use whole wheat bread)
  • other vegetable
  • olive oil

I haven’t tried this one yet. It looks like the kind of recipe you can add a bit of chicken breast to and have a whole meal. The chicken would add a 4th MIND diet recommended food.

Bulgur Salad with Edamame and Cherry Tomatoes Recipe
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/bulgur-salad-with-edamame-cherry-tomatoes

  • beans
  • other vegetable
  • whole grain
  • olive oil

Another good way to get some whole grain in to a salad.

Black Bean and Corn Salad Recipe
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/black-bean-and-corn-salad-recipe.html

  • beans
  • other vegetable
  • whole grain (corn)
  • olive oil

I love this one. I usually use a little bit of red pepper instead of hot sauce, and sometimes a few jalapeños.   I always add some cilantro.

Spinach, Apple and Pecan Salad
http://www.food.com/recipe/spinach-apple-and-pecan-salad-29765

  • green, leafy vegetable
  • nuts
  • olive oil

Cabbage & Carrot Crunch Salad
http://www.ebfarm.com/recipes/cabbage-and-carrot-crunch-salad?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=native&utm_campaign=ob%20articles

  • green, leafy vegetable
  • other vegetable
  • nuts
  • olive oil

Wild Rice and Celery Salad
http://www.ebfarm.com/recipes/wild-rice-and-celery-salad

    • whole grain
    • other vegetable
    • berries (if you use the cranberries)
    • olive oil

Strawberry and Spinach Salad
http://www.ebfarm.com/recipes/strawberry-and-spinach-salad

  • berries (strawberry vinegar sounds interesting)
  • green leafy vegetable
  • olive oil
  • omit the cheese for MIND diet (or use as “<1 per week”)

Three bean salad
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/86229/three-bean-salad/

  • beans
  • other vegetable
  • olive oil

Of course, you don’ t have to stick to 3 types of beans, or these exact ones. I have made this most often with green beans, yellow beans, and pinto beans.  I usually add more sugar or sweetener or agave than this recipe includes.  So, add more to taste.

Well, that is a pretty good collection.  It’s so nice to find recipes that already follow the MIND diet without having to make a lot of changes. If you have a favorite to add, please make a comment.

 

Mexican Party Salad–Recipe make-over for MIND diet

Recipes, ,

I was looking for a salad recipe to take to a potluck and found Betty Crocker’s Layered Mexican Party Salad that was just about right.  It already had three ingredients that are recommended on the MIND diet (leafy, green vegetable; other vegetable; and beans), but I wanted to make it over to include more.

It was easy to use olive oil for the vegetable oil. The biggest problem was the Suddenly Salad Pasta salad mix.  I have never purchased this product, but I didn’t think it comes in a  whole grain.  Since that, I found that there is a Southwest Grains version that is based on brown rice and whole grain quinoa. However, it looks like it has lots of ingredients (intended and unintended) that I might not want to use it anyway.

Anyway, I tried to duplicate the Suddenly Salad Classic Mix using whole grain rotini. I cooked about 6 oz to the al dente stage. I made the flavoring for it by mixing dried parsley, garlic powder, and pepper into the olive oil, with the cumin and water and mixed that into the rotini.

I didn’t use refrigerated guacamole. I mashed one avocado and added a bit of lime juice instead. It was ok, but I didn’t take it much. Next time, I will either add 2 or 3 avocados or omit it altogether since it didn’t add much to the taste.

I have to admit that I did add the cheese, so that would have to be my cheese serving for the week. Ouch!  I did omit the chips. They just get soggy anyway.

The result was “OK,” but it was a little flat. The leftovers were good when I added some Italian salad dressing and taco sauce. Next time, I will add more spices, maybe a taco seasoning mix or my recipe for the home-made version of taco mix. Also, it was maybe a little heavy on the rotini. I think 4 oz would have been plenty.

I still think this is a good recipe to make-over. With the olive oil and whole grain, it would hit 5 of the 10 recommended foods on the MIND diet.

I need to make this again. Next time, I will try to remember to take a picture!