Salads with Whole Grains and Fruit

Cooked wild rice, barley, brown rice or other whole grains make wonderful salads when combined with fruits, vegetables and seasonings. Here are four recipes to get you started. Experiment with your own combinations and favorite flavors; it’s hard to go wrong!

Wild Rice Fruit Salad

2 cups cooked wild rice

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup green pepper, chopped

1 cup seedless grapes

1 bunch green onions, sliced

1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley

2 T. lemon juice

1 t. curry powder

1/2 cup no-fat mayonnaise, or enough to moisten grains

Combine all ingredients and chill.

Cuban Mango Salad

1 small sweet onion, chopped

2 mangoes, peeled and chopped

1 16-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups cooked, chilled brown rice or barley

1/2 cup chopped cilantro or Italian parsley

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Bottled hot pepper sauce to taste

Combine all ingredients and chill.

Fruity-Nutty Salad

2 oranges or 6 tangerines, peeled and cut in bite-size pieces

2 tart apples, cored and cut in chunks

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 bunch green onions, sliced (white part)

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

2 cups cooked, chilled wild rice

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup fat-free mayonnaise

1/2 cup cashews, chopped

Combine all ingredients. If making ahead, leave out the mayonnaise and nuts. Chill, then stir in the mayonnaise and the nuts just before serving.

Cranberry-Wild Rice Salad

1 cup dried cranberries

4 cups cooked wild rice, chilled

1/4 cup finely chopped sweet onion

1 6-ounce can water chestnuts, drained and chopped

1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 cup chopped flat parsley

1/2 cup rice vinegar, or to taste

1/2 cup slivered almonds or other nuts of your choice

Combine all ingredients. If making ahead, add the nuts just before serving.

 

Taffy Apple Salad

Apples are a delicious healthy food, easy to carry for snacking, low in calories, a natural mouth freshener, and they are still very inexpensive. The old saying of “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away” has a good deal of merit.

Eating one or more apples a day may lower your risk for Alzheimer’s disease and cancers of the breast, colon, and prostate as well as numerous other conditions. To get the full benefit you must also eat the skin.

There is nothing like Fall with the aroma of fresh apples in the air as you pick your own in the local apple orchard. My favorite thing to do with my grandchildren is apple picking and then going home and making some of the delicious recipes from those fresh picked apples.

Some of our favorite recipes include apple pie, apple crisp, apple butter, applesauce, baked apples, candied apples, apple bars, apple cake and this wonderful Apple Taffy Salad.

This is a great recipe for kids. It really does taste like a taffy apple! If you want your kids to eat apples you have to try this salad.

SERVINGS: 

Ingredients:

1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple drained with juice reserved

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 and 1/2 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

4 cups diced unpeeled apples

2 cups lightly salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

4 cups miniature marshmallows (optional)

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine pineapple and marshmallows; cover and refrigerate for several hours.

In a saucepan, combine the egg, sugars, flour, vinegar and reserved pineapple juice; cook and stir until mixture thickens and reaches 160°. Remove from the heat; cool.

Cover and refrigerate.

Fold whipped topping into the chilled dressing. Add the apples and peanuts to the pineapple and marshmallows. Fold dressing into fruit mixture. Refrigerate leftovers.

 

What is Aquaponics

Aquaponics is the creation of a complete cycle of symbiotic relationships where the fish help plants and the plants help fish. Aquaponics uses no chemicals, requires one tenth of the water needed for field plant production and only a fraction of the water that is used for fish culture. (Aquaculture)

This is truly a remarkable system, because it works so well. The fish actually supply nutrients to a bed of plants, (called Grow Beds) and plants clean up the water that the fish live in, making a mutual beneficial environment for both. The only external input to the system is food for the fish. The plants grow in a Grow Bed

Both Aquaponics systems compliment each other as a single unit, not as separate units.

The fish water is pumped to the Grow Beds, and is evenly distributed by a simple system of pipes. The fish water feeds the plants, such as tomato’s, cucumbers, lettuce and other green leafy vegetables, then filters through the grow bed that is filled with gravel / round river stones, finally returning to the fish tank by gravity or by pump. The water is returned to the fish tank cleaned ready for use by the fish, and so the cycle continues.

So an Aquaponics system is made up of a tank containing the fish of choice, and a series of Grow Beds for vegetable production.

Aquaponics is suitable for ornamental fish, Barramundi, Bass, Jade Perch, Golden Perch, Silver Perch, Murray Cod. In Australia we are blessed with a wide choice of Native Fish Species (some listed above) that are perfectly suitable for Aquaponics and are wonderful eating as well.

What is amazing in Aquaponics, once the system is initialised, the water stays Ph balanced and remains crystal clear.

The water is basically recycled, with a small amount of water added weekly to compensate for what is lost by evaporation, and transpiration by the vegetables. Therefore Aquaponics uses only about 10% of the water required for traditional gardening or fish farming. Aquaponics is the future of home gardening and commercial fresh food production for a dry land like Australia.

Aquaponics is a balanced, self-contained eco system that works!! No chemical are added what so ever. It is totally organic. In fact, chemicals cannot be sprayed or added to the vegetable part of the system, because if that happens, the fish will die. Garden pests are kept to a minimum by housing the system in a green house and eventually a natural balance is achieved.

Earthworms can be raised to feed the fish and the earthworm compost is used in other parts of the garden or perhaps planter box gardens. The worm farm is fed on excess vegetable material from the Aquaponic system.

 

Fruit Salad Balsamic Dressing – Fresh Fruit, Cheddar Cheese, Easy, Delicious and Healthy

This is a wonderful salad that I make at least two or three times a week. It consists of all fresh fruit except for the mandarin oranges. We happen to have a wonderful grocery store nearby with a fantastic produce department.

This recipe may be difficult for those who do not have access to gorgeous, ripe, sensational fruit at their grocery store or farmer’s market.

Our produce market not only offers fresh fruit, but prepared fresh fruit in plastic containers that is very high quality such as berries, watermelon, cantaloupe, and fresh pineapple. We buy these containers often.

They make great healthy snacks for kids and an easy fruit addition to a cereal breakfast.

This salad is incredibly easy, and my family enjoys it for breakfast just as much as for lunch or dinner.

Ingredients can vary based on what is available and of good quality. Because of the number of different fruits used, you do not need large amounts of any specific fruit to feed the family. It is basically a “sampling” of several fruit varieties.

You do not have to limit yourself to these fruits, or feel that you have to use all of them. It is strictly a matter of choice and what is available.

Fruit Salad (Fresh Fruit except for mandarin oranges)

* Nectarines

* Strawberries, Blackberries, Blueberries (optional and if in season)

* Chunked honeydew or cantaloupe (prepared)

* Bananas

* Seedless Grapes

* Naval Oranges (those large big healthy Naval Oranges!)

* Kiwis (ripe kiwis, not squishy but they “give” a little when gently pressed)

* Apple Sections

* Mangos

* Mandarin Orange Sections (canned in juice)

* Hunk of Extra Sharp Kraft Cheddar Cheese

Balsamic Dressing

* ¼ cup orange juice

* ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar

* 2 ½ tablespoons water

* 1 ½ tablespoons honey

* ¾ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

* ½ teaspoon salt

Place dressing ingredients in a jar, place lid on jar, and shake vigorously to mix. Chill thoroughly.

Wash fruit (except bananas and kiwis) and dry. When ready to eat, place salad plates on counter. Peel kiwis, slice and add to each salad plate. Repeat with bananas. Peel oranges and divide into sections, adding some to each plate.

Slice apples leaving peeling intact. Slice nectarines, leaving peeling on the fruit, cutting chunks around the pit trying not to waste any flesh. Arrange nicely on the salad plates.

Drain mandarin oranges, saving juice for a fruit smoothie or grilling sauce. Divide the mandarin oranges among the plates. Place grapes on the plates intermingling with the other ingredients. Slice chunks of cheddar cheese and place them on the plates. The cheese goes fast, so include 3 or 4 chunky slices.

At this point, you can chill uncovered for a bit. When ready to eat, shake chilled balsamic dressing vigorously to remix and pour lightly over the entire fruit salad. Delicious!

 

Korean Not Real Kimchi Salad

The fact that it was always stored in a huge jar of murky vinegar  didn’t help entice my senses either. Kimchi, to me, always tasted like waxy spicy sour cabbage. I just didn’t like it.

But Korean kimchi salad is a whole different topic.

Don’t be fooled because it has the word “kimchi” in its name. Korean kimchi salad is a fresh refreshing mix of garden veggies with a “not so spicy” sweet dressing. It is nothing – I repeat NOTHING – like regular old kimchi.

Yes, it is that good. It’s sweet, crisp, light, and refreshing – the perfect appetizer for any occasion. I highly recommend everyone to try this dish. You won’t be disappointed.

Here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

1 lb cabbage

1 Tbsp salt

8 oz radish

1 carrot

2 cucumbers

6 Tbsp vinegar

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp Korean brand hot pepper paste (adjust amount to taste)

Minced garlic (adjust amount to taste)

Sesame seeds (adjust amount to taste)

Cut off cabbage root and take off each leaf carefully from cabbage. Boil the whole cabbage (until it is cooked but still with a snap) and then put leaves in an ice bath.

Cut the radish and carrot into julienne strips. Cut the iced cabbage into thin strips. Mix vinegar, sugar, salt, hot pepper paste, and garlic in a bowl. Marinate all the veggies in the dressing and garnish with sesame seeds.