I started this New Year with the determination to eat healthier and live better. Among the list of my many New Year resolutions, I’m aiming to cut out as much processed foods from my diet as I possibly can.
In a world where supermarkets’ center aisles are crammed with boxes and packages of processed foods that are meant to make our lives more convenient and fast-paced, it’s not always easy to make the right choice to eat right.
However, I believe that our bodies deserve to be treated right; and for us to live long and live well, we need to purposefully eat healthy.
I want to make a gradual but consistent shift away from processed foods to a real-foods based lifestyle – which basically means a diet that mainly consists of unprocessed foods, and relies heavily on organic, non-genetically modified produce like meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts and needs.
I also want to show people that eating well should not mean missing the heavily-processed foods we shouldn’t eat, but having a whole new world of flavorful, nutrient-dense foods options that will restore our health and give our bodies the food we really need.
This also means cooking more, and eating food that I’ve prepared at home, instead of some fast food takeout delivery. Will it take more time and effort? Definitely. Is it worth it? A thousand times over!
I’m a person who eats first with my eyes, so for me to truly enjoy any meal, it has to be colorful and a pleasure to look at. Naturally, I tend to include as many colors and textures as possible in my dishes, and in doing so, widen the range of nutrients and vitamins that my meals contain.
Since it’s summer here in Argentina, my body has been craving salads of every kind – fruit salads, vegetable salads. Thanks to the hot weather, I’ve been feasting on all the seasonally-available vegetables and fruits, an extremely welcomed break from the heavy, high-calorie winter dishes.
One day I thought, why not make a fruit-and-vegetable salad?
This summer citrus salad certainly has the best of both worlds – bright, vibrant colors and shades as well as an incredibly delicious combination of tastes.
I loved the explosion of citrus flavors – tangy oranges, sweet mandarin oranges and slightly sour grapefruit – on a bed of fresh arugula leaves, dressed in lemon vinaigrette, and garnished with fresh mint and horseradish.
I’d never thought such a simple and quick-to-assemble salad would be so utterly satisfying, but the truth is that is it, and if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. With the freshest ingredients and just the right amount of salt, lemon juice and olive oil, how can any dish go wrong?
I hope you’ll enjoy this citrus salad as much as I do!
This summer citrus salad certainly has the best of both worlds – bright, vibrant colors and shades as well as an incredibly delicious combination of tastes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of fresh arugula leaves
- 2 oranges
- 2 mandarin oranges
- 1 large grapefruit
- Handful of fresh mint leaves
- 1/2 lemon (for the juice)
- Salt
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
Instructions
- Wash arugula and remove the stems, use leaves only
- Peel oranges, mandarin oranges and grapefruit, and cut horizontally into even slices
- In two plates, divide the arugula leaves evenly (as the bed for the rest of the salad)
- Divide the sliced oranges, mandarin oranges and grapefruit evenly between both plates
- Sprinkle salt over each plate, squeeze juice from 1/4 lemon and pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil over each plate.
- Add a handful of fresh mint leaves as garnish.
Notes
Serves 2
Felicia is a Singaporean who’s currently located in Buenos Aires, also known as the “Paris of South America”. When she’d first moved to Argentina, she found herself grappling with the mysterious concept of cooking. Thankfully, with the help of cooking classes and constant practice in her tiny kitchen, she’s developed a love for cooking and with that, a passion for food blogging.... Read More
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