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ANNOUNCER: Before you start cooking,
wash hands and surfaces often.
Separate raw meats from other food.
Cook to the right temperature, and refrigerate promptly.
Hi, I'm Robin LaCroix,
dietician at the White River Junction VA,
here today with the Healthy Teaching Kitchen.
Today we're making a zesty, all-season salad.
This is a great salad because it's fresh and colorful,
and you can make it at any time of year.
We're starting with some edamame,
which is green soybean.
It might be a new food for many of you.
You buy it in the frozen food section,
and buy it shelled.
If you buy it in the shell, you'll spend a lot of time
trying to take it out.
It's high in fiber, and protein, and iron,
also Vitamin A and Vitamin C.
It has a nice buttery taste while it's still low in fat,
and quite inexpensive.
It's about $2 for a frozen bag.
So, cook it according to the directions on the bag.
It'll either steam or boil for about five minutes,
and we're going to add that to our salad first.
Next, we have one and a half cups of corn,
and I bought a frozen bag of corn.
Make sure you buy it plain.
They also sell corn with added seasonings,
but they're going to add a lot of extra sodium,
so buy it plain.
A cup and a half, and again, cook it according
to the directions on the package,
and then rinse it under cold water.
Next, we have one cup, or half a can, of black beans.
You always want to rinse beans when you buy them in a can.
It takes about 60% of the sodium off.
It also helps you digest them better.
It takes some of those bubbles off that would
occur in your stomach.
So, one cup of the black beans, and we have one cup
of sliced grape tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes would be fine.
And, about three diced up scallions.
If you don't have scallions, plain onions would work fine,
or if you don't like either product,
you can just leave those out.
So, we're going to just stir this together.
And now, we're going to make the dressing for our salad.
I like to use a Mason jar as an easy way to mix your dressing.
You can also make it ahead of time,
and then put it in the fridge in the jar.
If you don't have a jar, just use a regular bowl.
So, we're going to start with three tablespoons
of red wine vinegar.
Apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
would also work fine.
And, we're going to use the juice of the limes.
I've just cut a lime in half here.
Squeeze the juice out into there.
The nice thing about vinegar and limes is that they're adding
a lot of flavor without adding calories or added sodium.
Okay, and we have a tablespoon of olive oil,
a teaspoon of sugar.
You could use honey or maple syrup if you prefer.
One clove of garlic.
I've bought pre-chopped garlic,
which is easy to have on hand in your refrigerator.
If you don't have that and want to use fresh garlic,
chop that up and that would be perfectly fine as well.
And then, a quarter teaspoon of salt.
If you watch your sodium really closely,
feel free to leave the salt out.
You'll still have a lot of added flavor in this dressing.
I'm just going to shake that up.
This dressing is also really nice to have
in your fridge for a regular salad.
And now, we're going to add the dressing to our salad,
and mix that up.
This salad is good.
It can stay in your fridge for about three days.
If you are going to keep it in the fridge for three days,
I would recommend leaving the tomatoes out
and then add them as you want them.
They do get a little soft on the third day.
So, we'll just mix that up.
As it sits, the dressing definitely adds extra flavor.
We'll serve our salad here, so we're going to top it off
with a little parsley, and our salad is done.
It's quick, it's easy, it's a healthy, versatile dish,
pairs nicely with chicken or fish, or alongside tacos.
It's always been really popular at a potluck.
I hope you try it.
ANNOUNCER: The preceding video was published
by the White River Junction VA Medical Center.
Contact Robin.LaCroix@va.gov.
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