This is how you make a healthy lunch
Sandwiches with cheese also get boring sometimes. A salad is a nice fresh alternative, especially in warm weather. This way you immediately get some extra vegetables, so that you can easily get your two ounces of vegetables per day. How do you make your tray green filling and how do you take it with you?
The basis of a salad usually consists of vegetables. Real classics are of course lettuce, cucumber and tomato, but most vegetables do well in a meal salad. Some you can add raw, others are tastier if you cook, grill or bake them first.
For example:
- Raw: artichokes, avocado, pickles, celery, broccoli and cauliflower florets, carrot, onions, bell pepper, radish, spinach, chicory.
- Cooking / steaming: white asparagus, beets (or buy pre-cooked), green peas, celeriac, snow peas.
- Baking / grilling: eggplant, green asparagus, mushrooms, pumpkin, zucchini.
Fruit gives a nice sweet accent. Mix pieces of strawberry, apple, pear, pineapple, mango, melon or blueberries into your salad.
Filling ingredients
If you make a salad from only raw vegetables, you may be hungry again an hour after lunch. With a protein source with the lettuce you are satiated for longer. Add a boiled egg, quinoa, a tablespoon of nuts, salmon, tuna, (smoked) chicken or your favorite cheese.
If you can use some extra energy, increase the amount of carbohydrates in your salad with whole wheat pasta, brown rice or potatoes. Or opt for canned legumes, such as chickpeas or lentils: then you have both proteins and carbohydrates.
Formatting cliques
A salad is ideal for recycling leftovers. Pop into the fridge and get creative with leftover dinner. Think of boiled or stir-fried vegetables, (sweet) potato, couscous and pasta. Keep leftovers for a maximum of two to three days in a refrigerator with a temperature of 4 to 7 degrees Celsius. Fish is sensitive to spoilage and therefore not very suitable for residual processing. You can easily turn stale bread into crispy croutons. Fry cubes of old sandwiches without crust in a little oil until they turn golden brown.
Dressing
Ready-made dressings and salad dressings are sometimes very fatty and, although you might expect it, manufacturers often put sugar in them as well. Making your own dressing is healthier and doesn’t have to take much time at all. Just a nice oil can be enough. Low-fat yogurt or halvanaise is a slim base for a salad dressing. Add vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, honey and/or fresh herbs.
Take away tips
Are you short of time in the morning? On the weekend, make a bottle of dressing for the whole week and steam, cook and cut vegetables for the coming days. Lettuce quickly becomes limp once dressing is mixed in, so take dressing with you in a separate jar or bottle. It is also better to take ingredients that discolor quickly, such as apple and avocado, separately and cut them at work. Nuts and seeds soften quickly, they remain tastier if you sprinkle them over the lettuce just before lunch.
Of course you need a well-closable container for your salad that does not leak. Handy are containers with separate compartments for the dressing and other ingredients that you prefer to store separately. Another solution is a salad in a tall (weck) jar. Build the salad in layers: first the dressing, then the harder ingredients, then the lettuce and all the way on top of any nuts and croutons. As long as the lettuce doesn’t touch the sauce, it stays good. If you are on the road for a long time and the salad has to survive outside the fridge for a while, then a lunch box with a built-in cooling element is very practical.
