Dijon Vinaigrette Dressings For Spring Green Salads

Vinaigrette Salad Ingredients:

2 packages torn mixed salad greens (about 8 to 10 ounce pack each, should get around 16 cups)
2 cups large fresh basil leaves, lightly torn (about 2 ounce) or same amount of lightly packed small basil leaves
6 medium radish, sliced thinly to get about 2 cups
1 medium cucumber, cut into two halves lengthwise and sliced thinly to get about 2 cups
1 tablespoon Dijon style mustard
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried herbs de Provence, crushed
¼ teaspoon sea salt or other regular salt
Cracked black pepper
1/3 cup walnut, hazelnut or olive oil
Purchased croutons, optional

Method:

1. Combine white wine vinegar along with salt, herbs de Provence, Dijon style mustard and olive oil in a screw top jar. Cover the screw and shake the jar well, leave aside.
2. Toss the salad greens along with torn fresh basil leaves, radish and cucumber in a large bowl. Add the prepared dressing and mix well to coat. Season with cracked black pepper and top with croutons if desired. This recipe makes about 20 servings. You may choose to prepare the dressing 2 to 3 days in advance and chill it in the refrigerator. Remember to remove it from the refrigerator and thaw 1 hour before mixing with the vegetables and salad greens. Also if you prepare the dressing in advance shake well before using. You may also choose to toss the salad ingredients in a bowl without the dressing and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 hours before serving.

Health Tip:

• Make sure to use chilled vegetables and salad greens for the salad as this will help to give a bright color to your vegetables. Avoid storing your vegetables that you use for salad at room temperature.
• Spring green with Dijon vegetable is a very low calorie, easy salad recipe which can be prepared in less than 15 minutes.
• This recipe can be considered diabetes friendly as well as heart friendly as it provides only 41 calories, 4 gm total fat (negligible cholesterol and saturated fats), 1 gm protein, 1 gm fiber, 43 mg sodium, and 2 gm carbohydrates per serving.
• If you are on a very low calorie diet or fat restricted diet then you can skip the Dijon mustard and olive oil from this recipe. Eliminating these two ingredients from the recipe will not only decrease the total calories but also make the total fat content negligible.