Too Hot To Cook?

During the hot sultry days of summer, cooking can be the last thing on your mind. In warm weather our appetites decrease, but it’s important to get your five servings of fruit and vegetables.

Salads are not only simple to prepare, but refreshing as well. Salad recipes are an easy way to combine grains, fruits, vegetables, and meats in one easy dish. Click Here for a cool Tomato Cucumber Salad recipe.

7 Tips for Yummy Salads

1) Look for produce on sale. Then find a recipe that calls for those ingredients. Or try a vegetable you normally might not use and feature in a salad, like beets jicama.

2) To make your salad extra special, add a garnish. Sprinkle paprika; add chopped parsley, chervil, chives or basil. Add hard-sliced boiled egg slices, pepper rings, red onions, or pickles.

3) Add some crunch with sesame or sunflower seeds; chopped walnuts or sliced almonds.

4) When making potato or pasta salad ahead of time, add extra liquid. These tend to soak up the dressing and dry out.

Tino munches on fresh produce.

5) Whole grains, like corn and barley, are great cooled and mixed for a whole grain salad.

6) Serve salad on a slice of melon or halved cucumber.

7) When picnicking, nestle the salad bowl in a larger bowl with ice. This will keep the salad cooler longer and keep it from growing bacteria.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, Click Here.

Listen to today’s podcast, Click Here.

For a synopsis of Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater, Click Here.