We’ve all got a wee bit of Irish in us on St. Patrick’s Day! If the traditional Irish recipes don’t entice you, then celebrate the color green. Try making our Emerald Salad, which facilitates creativity and spending time with your child. Plus, it is delicious and nutritious.

Most of us have an image of salad being a pile of green lettuce leaves, maybe some spinach and a tomato or two. In reality, salad does not have to be made with lettuce! Abandoning our idea of a traditional salad, allows you and your child to be more creative and discover a salad he/she really enjoys. Most importantly, salad should be packed with fruits and vegetables. Emerald salad has one imperative rule, choose at least five green fruits and/or vegetables to mix together. This salad does not require a lot of preparation, in fact, making it impromptu almost forces you to get creative with ingredients already in your kitchen. For example, leftover cooked or grilled green vegetables, such as asparagus or broccoli, can be mixed in with salad greens. Combining cooked and raw ingredients utilizes a variety of textures making the salad more interesting. Additionally, combining fruits and vegetables, some more familiar than others, may encourage your child to try something that he or she would not have touched if it had been presented on a plate all alone.

If you do have more time for planning your salad, take your child to the grocery store and ask her to pick five green fruits or vegetables to mix in a salad together. Let imaginations run wild! There is no rule saying salad has to be all vegetable or all fruit. Mixing the two is another way to create interest with unexpected flavors and textures. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that kids eat more salad if there are kiwis or green grapes tossed in. Another advantage to using fruits is that their juices can act as a dressing.

Example                                                       Example

Spinach                                                              Cucumber

Peas                                                                    Avocado

Green apple                                                      Green grapes

Celery                                                                Grilled green pepper

Roasted broccoli                                             Cilantro

Leave a comment below with your favorite Emerald Salad combination. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!