Healthy Eating: Food and Health with Healthy Eating Recipes by Lucy Hyland at Food For Living

Thursday 27th May

Take a look at my healthy eating article in the Cork Independent today. It continues the theme of my ‘Eat Real Food this Summer’ campaign which is highlighting how simple it is to prepare a dish yourself at home with fresh ingredients.

More than Just a Salad

Last week I started about my ‘Eat Real Food this Sumer’ campaign. By this I mean eating meals that involve buying the fresh ingredients and prepare from scratch. Last week, I gave a basic homemade tomato sauce recipe, as this is one item I see a lot of people buying for no need – they can make their own at home in 15 minutes. So what else can you easily make at home?

Prepared salads feature a lot in supermarket shopping baskets. People often feel relatively satisfied that they are buying a healthier option, but there are a few things to watch out for. Firstly are the salad leaves. Try to pick salad leaves that have washed in spring water only or buy the lettuce as a whole. There are questions by some about the chlorine levels in the water used to wash pre-pared salads.

Remember that the fruit or vegetables in the salad will have been cut days before you buy and them. These start losing their nutrient value as soon as they are chopped or exposed to air.

Secondly, watch what is going into the dressing. I often check to see what types of oils they are using. Good dressings will usually contain mostly extra virgin olive oil while cheaper dressing contain vegetable oils or sunflower oils, processed in a way that usually leaves them rancid. These rancid oils have been linked to obesity and heart disease, to name but a few. Also check what additives and preservatives are in the dressing.

Below is a simple salad and dressing you can make yourself at home. You can substitute the leaves and the vegetables for whatever you have in your fridge!

Simple House Salad

A head of lettuce (Butterhead or Lollo Rosso)
2 tablespoons of lightly toasted pumpkin seeds
2 carrots (grated)
½ head of red cabbage (very finely sliced)

Dressing

50ml extra virgin olive oil
Juice of ½ a lemon
¼ teaspoon Dijon or wholegrain mustard
Salt and freshly cracked pepper

Wash lettuce well, dry well and prepare vegetables. (10 mins)
Make dressing by placing all the ingredients in a bowl and mixing well. (3 mins)
Toss salad in the dressing and serve – here you have your own homemade salad in 15 minutes!

Check my website for many more simple recipes you can make yourself at home on www.foodforliving.ie