10 Minute Recipe Series:Vibrant Mixed Salad with a healthy punch of anti-oxidants

Whenever I add a salad to our meal, I try to make it as colorful as possible...you know, so the kids will atleast let me put it on their plates because they like the colors...once it gets on their plates, of course, chances are it has some hope of making it to their tummies!!! Otherwise, it is "Can I have something else to eat?" and of course, the other high feature on the list of complaints about food being - "This doesnt look cool." Then, I launch into the usual lecture about how we could not open our mouths to do anything except eat when we were at the dining table as kids...sigh!

Of course, the more colorful the salad is, the greater nutritional punch it can pack - from a variety of veggies and fruits. Yes, I like to combine veggies and fruits in salads...not just because of the colors, but also because it is so tough to get kids to eat both...so any help one gets from combining them, the better.

Of course, when I am starting to mix things up with fruits and veggies...I dont stop there...I also sneak in some dry fruits and nuts for the anti-oxidant punch!!!

Also, here I like to use a simple salad dressing combining lemon juice and honey...which is great because I understand that one of the health benefits of honey is in regards to how it can help people lose weight. Believe it or not, by combining honey with lemon juice, the body can more easily digest the fat in various foods. And I can always use that benefit...another sigh!

The awesome thing is that, the flavors are so varied, it does not need any addition of cheese, croutons or any of the other flavor enhancers for salads!!!

This salad I have here is not only colorful...it also gets ready in under 10 minutes...a great accompaniment to breads, pastas, rotis and even great as a snack by itself!!!

Recipe for Vibrant Mixed Fruit and Veggie Salad:

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Serves: 4

Prep/Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

Carrots - 1/2 cup cut into thin slices

Grape Tomatoes - 1/2 cup sliced in half (or any other firm tomato variety cut into small chunks) 

Cucumber - 1/2 cup cut into small chunks or slices

Apples  and / or Pears - 1/2 cup cut into pieces(I used the variety Golden Delicious but any crisp yet juicy variety should be good)

Raisins - 1/2 cup seedless

Pecans / Walnuts - 1/4 cup cut into small pieces

Grapes(optional) - 1/2 cup(you could also do half raisins and half grapes or just omit the grapes altogether - both ways work fine)

For seasoning / salad dressing: Mix /whisk together all of the following and set aside -

Light olive oil - 1  tbsp

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Honey - 1 to 2 tbsp(depending on how sweet you like the salad to be)

Crushed Black Pepper - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

Add all the cut veggies. fruits, nuts and dry fruits together in a bowl.

Pour the seasonings / salad dressing on top of the salad.

Whoo Hoo!!!

Note: This salad is better when consumed immediately or within an hour or two of preparation, otherwise the apples start turning brown.

I wonder how my blogger friends add punch to their salads???!!!!