Cucumber, Tomato and Crouton Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette
We are all guilty of eating twice as much when Christmas season arrives. Eating and drinking go with celebrations with friends, families and just about everyone who has a good holiday cheer to share with us. When December starts ticking, our calendars get fully-booked with get-togethers involving loads of food and drinks. What is celebrating without them anyway? That's the fun of it! We rebel from ourselves for our obsession with calorie-counting. When the month starts, we forget about diets, weighing scales and calories but we need to remind ourselves that we should sneak away from holiday food and go for simple and healthy fares whenever we can. Keeping a good balance of rich and healthy food will keep us right on track.
On the days when our calendars are free from any celebrations, prepare a simple meal at home with basic healthy ingredients. Something like a combination of fresh vegetables with homemade vinaigrette helps keep our bodies fit. Tomatoes are great sources of Vitamin C and lycopene while cucumbers are rich in nutrients too as they contain cucurbitacins A, B, C, D and E which help block the development of cancer cells in our bodies.
Making your own salad dressing is always way better than buying the bottled ones. I for one never bought pre-made salad dressings at the supermarkets because not only do they taste like how I would like them to be, they also contain stabilizers and preservatives to give them long shelf lives and to keep them from separating. These chemicals of course will never be found in the salad dressings that are homemade. Mustard vinaigrette is so easy because you just mix basic ingredients like extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper with Dijon mustard (I find this the best kind of mustard for mixing with salad dressings). Some call this French dressing and I think it's because it's one of the basic dressings used in France. I learned how to make this vinaigrette from a friend in France myself. There are no other ingredients that we don't need and it is definitely much healthier (and cheaper) to make your own at home.
When you are ready for some time off from holiday food, make this Cucumber, Tomato and Crouton Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette and enjoy the freshness of a very healthy dish. You can find the recipe at Skinny Ms., a site about everything healthy where I create recipes.
Healthy Greek Salad
Quinoa Salad with Grilled Vegetables
Making your own salad dressing is always way better than buying the bottled ones. I for one never bought pre-made salad dressings at the supermarkets because not only do they taste like how I would like them to be, they also contain stabilizers and preservatives to give them long shelf lives and to keep them from separating. These chemicals of course will never be found in the salad dressings that are homemade. Mustard vinaigrette is so easy because you just mix basic ingredients like extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper with Dijon mustard (I find this the best kind of mustard for mixing with salad dressings). Some call this French dressing and I think it's because it's one of the basic dressings used in France. I learned how to make this vinaigrette from a friend in France myself. There are no other ingredients that we don't need and it is definitely much healthier (and cheaper) to make your own at home.
When you are ready for some time off from holiday food, make this Cucumber, Tomato and Crouton Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette and enjoy the freshness of a very healthy dish. You can find the recipe at Skinny Ms., a site about everything healthy where I create recipes.
More Healthy Salad Dishes:
5 Simple & Healthy Tomato SaladsHealthy Greek Salad
Quinoa Salad with Grilled Vegetables
