Creative cooking with ingredients from Brown University's cafeteria, the Ratty
Color your plate, boost nutrition and health!
Recipe Highlight: Green, Purple, and Orange Salad
What’s great about this salad is that it combines servings of both fruits and vegetables of varying pigments, is full of fiber, and balances flavor of both salty and sweet on the palate.
A plate full of color is one that is rich in various vitamins and minerals. The different pigments naturally occurring in fruits and vegetables provide good sources of Vitamin A, C and E and minerals like magnesium, potassium and folate. The pigments of fruits and vegetables function as phytochemicals and provide protective benefits to the heart, some are anti-carcinogenic, and help to prevent against other chronic diseases. Fruits and vegetables derive color from chlorophyll (green); carotene (yellow and orange); and anthocyanin (red, blue, purple).
The salad bars at both the Sharpe Refectory and Verney-Woolley are great opportunities to boost color in your diet. Choose from varying flavors, textures, cuts, and colors to compose your creation. Choose not only from fruits and veggies, but beans, cheeses, tofu, or tuna to add protein and nutrition. If making a salad your entrée, make half your plate from veggies, one quarter from fruits, and one quarter from protein. Go light on the creamy dressings and reach for extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dress up your salad. Lastly, add crunch, texture and fiber by sprinkling on sunflower or pumpkin seeds and top off with some dried cranberries or raisins.
If you like this recipe, you might also like the “Fruity Caprese Salad”
Brought to you by Gina Guiducci, Brown University Dining Services dietitian. Email: gina_guiducci@brown.edu
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