​In 2012, my trip to The Netherlands included a visit to a cheese farm. I was able to witness firsthand how traditional Edam cheese is made on small farms. These small farms cater to both local clients and curious tourists.

Mild Edam, which is young cheese, goes well with fruits such as cherries, melons and apricots. While aged Edam is good with apples and pears, it can also be mixed well with other traditional cheese fruits like pears. It can be enjoyed on crackers, bread and as a dessert treat as Cheese and Biscuits.

Pinot Gris and semidry Riesling wines, Champagne, Chardonnay, Shiraz/Syrah, and dry Riesling are all great with Edam cheese.

A basic tomato salad is a wonderful way to show off the natural sweetness of tomatoes. It is a refreshing summer salad. Whether you use cherry tomatoes or larger Beefsteak tomatoes, the flavor will be perfectly highlighted in this salad. Add a dash of olive oil or balsamic vinegar, and it's a tasty appetizer or main course.

​A simple tomato side salad can be a great dish to serve as a light snack, a side dish or even a light main course, particularly if you fortify it with grains and nuts. A great side dish, or even a light main course, the salad goes well with virtually any type of grilled meat.

This easy-to-make salad takes no more than 15 minutes to make. Simply slice tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions and mix well. When preparing, you can even serve it with a grilled chicken or steak. The resulting dish is the essence of summer. When preparing a salad, remember to use fresh ingredients whenever possible. 

​The most basic tomato salad recipe involves cucumbers and tomatoes. Sliced cucumbers and tomatoes are then tossed in olive oil and vinegar. You can add fresh basil and smoked paprika if desired. Once the tomatoes are mixed together and tossed with the dressing, you can serve the salad as a side dish. Make a batch of this salad and serve it at your next BBQ or picnic! 

If you're in the mood for a simple, easy-to-make salad, try a basic tomato salad recipe. In addition to fresh tomatoes, you can also add chopped white beans and chickpeas. The best type of tomato for this recipe is cherry tomato, as it is packed with flavor. If you are using larger tomatoes, then you should cut them into larger pieces. Otherwise, the tomato salad will taste more like salsa or relish. Lastly, it's important to serve this salad fresh, within an hour.

The most important aspect of this recipe is the dressing. If you choose to use vinegar or olive oil, then you should drizzle it over the salad. For added flavor, add fresh herbs like parsley and dill. Toss and serve! 

This recipe takes only minutes to make and has all the classic flavors. Enjoy! Another basic tomato salad recipe uses cherry or grape tomatoes. Choose larger ones for better taste and texture. When cutting larger tomatoes, one way to retain good texture and juices is to cut them in half from top to bottom. Next, slice them into wedges and cut them into chunks. Then add some loosely torn out lettuce leaves.

To make a simple dressing for a basic tomato salad, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, and herbs. Add a pinch of salt to taste. Drizzle this over tomato slices, onion rings and serve. To make it more hearty, you can add grains like fluffed Cous Cous, quinoa, chick peas or black beans. This salad is a great side dish for a barbecue or an outdoor barbecue. Just be sure to have enough fresh vegetables to share!

Heat some oil in a grill pan. To vary nutritional content with my foods, I have used mustard oil today. It is a very wonderfully tasty, though a bit strong flavored oil. When you buy it, ensure it is food grade, since some of them tend to be for external use only! 

Next, add some whole cumin seeds. To make this even more healing-helpful, you may want to add a pinch of asafoetida. Once cumin starts to give out their fragrance, add thinly chopped onions. 

​To add variety of taste, I have used a mix of white and red onions. As these onion soften, add corn and let cook for few minutes. Sprinkle some dried oregano, dried chives, freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste. Next add finely chopped fresh cilantro and cook till corn is al-dente cooked- i.e. cooked thru but still is firm to feel.

A few tips to keep in mind- 

• If you are cooking in a small kitchen or simply ‘hate’ doing dishes, then you can use the same pan to sauté onions, cook corn as well as heat up (and flavor) any fish or meat that you want to serve with this salad. 
• While this corn-onion mix is cooking, stack it over your fish, so that it absorbs the wonderful flavors of these herbs and spices.
• In addition to cooked onions, finely chop a little piece of white onion. Similarly use only part of finely chopped fresh cilantro. Both cooked and raw onions and cilantro, lend different tastes and a balanced mix of the two will really ROCK your salad!

Now coarsely chop up some Roma tomatoes. I prefer the Roma variety, since it is more firm and fleshly for such salads. But, you can use any other tomato variety as well. Pile up our cooked onion and corn mix. Add finely chopped white onions along with some fresh cilantro.

Top up with your fish or meat for a complete one-dish healthy meal or simply enjoy the veggies as a warm, hearty salad!

Read about healing health benefits of including tomatoes in your diet.

It looks gorgeous and tastes great. Hope you enjoy it. Do let me know how yours turned out in comments below…

​We all know the many health benefits of eating couple of cloves of raw garlic each day. But considering the pungent taste of garlic, it is quite difficult to eat it raw, that too couple of cloves!

The dressing in this salad completely helps mask the strong taste of garlic and actually makes it taste really yummy! In a salad-dressing mixing bottle add a little Modena balsamic vinegar. Add a little over same amount of extra virgin olive oil. Next add finely chopped three to four cloves of garlic and finally a little pinch of organic raw brown sugar. Shake well to mix and make up your awesome dressing!
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Chop up some tomatoes into medium size pieces. Sprinkle a little dried oregano on it and then drizzle this yummy dressing. Mix well and it’s ready to serve. 

​It is preferable to eat light fresh foods during summer months. Particularly fresh salads. That gets very easy with all the produce- veggies and fruits that become available at our local farmer's market!

Here is a quick-fix tomato and avocado salad. Cut tomatoes in quarter inch slices. Next chop up avocado and coat with lime juice to not only prevent oxidation but also for that wonderful flavor and citrus aroma. Next comes fresh basil. Chop up generous quantities of basil- here it is not so much a garnishing as much as it is one of the key salad ingredient! Plus, basil is full of health benefits and flavor, so load it on 😊

​Finally drizzle some extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste) and your light and healthy summer salad is ready.

Ayurveda notes: Tomato can of course increase pitta, which is not typically recommended during summer season, but given its humungous health benefits along with great taste, if one is particularly concerned about it’s pitta generating qualities, then you can counteract it by sprinkling a little organic sugar over it.

​Where avocado is concerned lemon/lime helps reduce its pitta qualities. Not to mention that sweet basil which has generous nutritional benefits is not used just as a garnishing here but as a main herb-salad ingredient. So, that makes this a good salad to consume even during summer days!

Categories: 
Quick Healthy Eats

Keywords and Tags:
#DeliciousSummerEats #ILoveTomato #TomatoSalad #TomatoandAvocado  #healthyrecipe    #eatingsmart #eatinghealthy #healthandwellness #simplehealthyfoods #healthfood #nutritiousfood

Considering the fact that I absolutely love French Fries- though folks from Belgium will be quick to correct that it originated in Belgium and then became famous after being included the American fastfood meals and that “French Fries” have nothing French about them!!

Now that you know this little tidbit about French Fries history trivia- let’s see how we can enjoy it and make some special flavorful versions of this tasty side dish (sometimes main dish, like in my case- just sometimes, I promise!!)

I invested in an Air Fryer- for those of you who are not sure about how an air fryer works, you can check out my article about it, titled-   Air Fryer- great way to occasionally indulge in deep fried foods!!
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But bottom line is that this machine utilizes just a tablespoon or so of oil to ‘deep fry’ and make a pound of French fries.
Then considering I love my Indian masalas, I have made these fries (photographed here) with Garam Masala, by sprinkling some over the half-cooked potatoes, after around the half-cooked mark!

I have also made these with other flavors from around the world- Ras al Hanout (also written as Ras el Hanout) spice mix from Morocco is my favorite after Indian Masala French Fries.

Try out this variation or anything else that you fancy- after all it is true that food is about healthy eating and providing our body with good nutrition, but it is also true that it is important to feed our soul with food that truly brings us joy- in this regard, there are no hard and fast rules about hey, you cannot use Indian masalas on French Fries or sprinkle some Ras al Hanout on your Belgian waffle. If you like it and it is not detrimental to your health and you do not overdo it, then a little indulgence should help to not just feed your body about also feed and uplift your soul.
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Maybe this is where the word- soul food originally came from?? I need to now research that word origin. Will let you know my findings in another post… 

Categories: 
Quick Healthy Eats

Keywords and Tags:
#soulfood #frenchfries #masalafrenchfries #sinfulfoods #enjoyfood  #eatingsmart #eatinghealthy #healthandwellness #simplehealthyfoods #healthfood #nutritiousfood

Now, back to making our omelette batter. To our wheat and gram flour mix, add around a cup and half of water to achieve smooth consistency- where it is flowing but not too watery. Then add around one and half tea spoon of oil. This not only helps to bind the veggies and the flour, it also makes flipping quite an easy breeze!

Finely chop up two medium tomatoes, half a medium red onion and half a green bell pepper. If you like it spicy- then add finely chopped serrano peppers (to taste). Add these veggies to your batter. Next, add finely chopped cilantro, sea salt (to taste), freshly ground black pepper and coarsely ground cumin and coriander seeds. Wisk a bit more and allow batter to rest for 30 mins or so- for these flavors to come together.

Next- heat up a flat griddle (like a crepe pan). Smear a little coconut oil on the pan and pour some batter and allow to cook at medium temperature. Once one side is well-done (it comes off the griddle easily), then flip it and cook further. Once it is well done- then you can add a little organic butter on top to further enhance the taste as well as increase its nutritional value. Of course, if you are counting your saturated fat intake or want to make it dairy free then you can easily skip butter. 

Enjoy it warm with a little butter, coriander chutney or by itself. :-)

This is originally an Indian ethnic recipe (from Maharashtra-Goa region). It is balanced in nutrition and taste according to Ayurvedic principles. Ayurveda is ancient Indian healing science. I will shortly also share a modified fusion version with the same Ayurvedically balanced goodness but for a more western/European taste. ​