Best Strawberry Salad EVER
This strawberry salad will keep summer alive all year long.
Summer never has to end with this salad. I selected the most nourishing ingredients I had in the kitchen this weekend:
Strawberries - anthocyanin, fibre to name a few. But a bowl of strawberries has over 56 different polyphenols (1) (organic compounds with multiple phenol groups, found in plants to demonstrate various properties, including anti-oxidizing when consumed).
> I chose these for immune health, anti-inflammatory properties.
Baby Kale - vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A, folate (all B vitamins exc. B12), calcium, magnesium, potassium, fibre, flavonoids (2)
> I chose these for the potential chronic disease prevention, including cancer, heart disease, and hormone health.
Bell Pepper - rich in vitamin C, and depending on the colour of bell peppers you choose, you can increase the diversity of polyphenols. From resveratrol to quercetin. (3)
> I chose these for the diversity of anti-inflammatory properties.
Red Onion - vitamin C, not a significant source of minerals such as copper, manganese, potassium. And an excellent pre-biotic to feed your gut microbiome. The best onion-source for polyphenols like anthocyanin and flavonols. (4)
> I chose these for immune health, anti-inflammatory properties, boosting the gut microbiome’s diversity and health.
Walnuts - we don’t often think of nuts as being a valuable source of fibre, protein and fat - but they offer all three. Also a significant source of omega-3 fatty acids ALA, and a good source of magnesium, vitamin B6, iron. (5)
> I chose these for brain health, anti-inflammatory properties, boosting fibre intake and adding protein.
Ingredients & Directions
Estimated time: 15 minutes
Effort/Skill: Easy
Salad
4-6 cups baby kale
1 head romaine, chopped into bite-size pieces
1 cucumber, diced
12-14 fresh strawberries sliced and diced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 handful of raw walnuts
1/2 of each - red, orange, yellow, green bell pepper
12 snap peas, chopped
optional: broccoli florets, vegan feta cheese (love Violife)
Dressing
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp lime juice
2 strawberries
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp maple syrup - optional but I recommend
2 tbsp vegan mayo (OR 1 avocado and 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp maple syrup)
Directions
Wash, chop, prepare all salad ingredients
Add all ingredients for dressing to a blender and whip it up!
Toss your salad with that dressing and add some strawberries to the top for added summer-effect.
Eat & enjoy!
Sources:
Canada.Ca. September 13, 2022, from https://food-nutrition.canada.ca/
(1) Gasperotti, M., Masuero, D., Mattivi, F., & Vrhovsek, U. (2015). Overall dietary polyphenol intake in a bowl of strawberries: The influence of Fragaria spp. in nutritional studies. Journal of Functional Foods, 18, 1057–1069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2014.08.013
(2) Satheesh, N., & Workneh Fanta, S. (2020). Kale: Review on nutritional composition, bio-active compounds, anti-nutritional factors, health beneficial properties and value-added products. Cogent Food & Agriculture, 6(1), 1811048. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2020.1811048
(3) Blanco-Ríos, A. K., Medina-Juárez, L. Á., González-Aguilar, G. A., & Gámez-Meza, N. (2017). Antioxidant activity of the phenolic and oily fractions of different sweet bell peppers. Journal of the Mexican Chemical Society, 57(2). https://doi.org/10.29356/jmcs.v57i2.226
(4) Metrani, R., Singh, J., Acharya, P., K Jayaprakasha, G., & S Patil, B. (2020). Comparative metabolomics profiling of polyphenols, nutrients and antioxidant activities of two Red Onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivars. Plants, 9(9), 1077. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9091077
(5) Agnoli, C., Baroni, L., Bertini, I., Ciappellano, S., Fabbri, A., Papa, M., Pellegrini, N., Sbarbati, R., Scarino, M. L., Siani, V., & Sieri, S. (2017). Position paper on vegetarian diets from the working group of the Italian Society of Human Nutrition. Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases: NMCD, 27(12), 1037–1052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.numecd.2017.10.020
