A bite into the perfectly ripe peach and having the juice drip down your chin can be one of summer’s sweetest treats. Farmers markets are overflowing with summer produce and, like me, you may be tempted to buy a couple of baskets of peaches because they are just that good. But in case you can’t eat them all before they over-ripen, there are ways that you can enjoy this beautiful fruit in many other dishes, in their simplest form – such as this peachy bean salad. Continue reading “Lunch Today: Peachy Bean Salad”
Lunch Today: Peachy Bean Salad
July 27th, 2020 by Paula Gallagher
Corn, cherries, cucumber, blueberries… the epitome of summer harvest. Brightly colored fruits and vegetables and beautiful yellow sweet corn make a tasty combination for this lunch on the go! Offering tons of fiber, vitamins and minerals, this salad is a super healthy meal that takes advantage of many of the lovely offerings of summer.
Packing a lunch for school-aged children can be challenging, but I find it almost as challenging to pack a lunch for myself. As an adult, it sometimes seems easier to grab a sandwich, soup or salad from the deli counter in the building, than it is to take some time and brown bag it… or in this case, Mason jar it.
“Taste the rainbow” should be a slogan for fruits and vegetables and not for candy! The more color on your plate, the more nutrients you are getting, like the following. This colorful, nutrient-rich rainbow salad is chock full of flavonoids – phytochemicals that give many plants their vibrant color. It is also loaded with vitamin C, beta-carotene, and other antioxidants that will provide you with extra nutrition. These foods also provide iron, calcium, fiber, and a modest 2 grams of protein per serving. 
If you think that you are making the healthiest choice by ordering a salad at your favorite restaurant, you may want to think twice. While salads can be low in calories and a great way to eat more fruits and vegetables, more often than not, they are loaded with a lot of fat, sodium, and calories. Restaurants can sabotage your good intentions by offering salads that are topped with crispy (fried) chicken, processed meats, mayo-rich tuna, chicken, shrimp, potato or pasta salad, glazed nuts, sweetened dried fruit, crunchy noodles or onions, croutons, cheese, sour cream and bacon. 
