Salad by Vanita95 🥗

Believe it or not- I hate vegetables. Cold. Crunchy. Bitter. Sometimes wet,

and even slimy. Ick. I have a lot of issues with the tactile experience of eating a salad... which is why I make my salads as though they are designed for people who hate eating salads.

When it comes to salads, the trick is to eat the rainbow. I tend to eat with my eyes first, so when you see me having a fancy plate of salad which looks very intentionally made, it's for a reason. And no, the reason isn't for the good ol' Instagram- Instagram is an afterthought when it comes to making food. I am a very picky eater who cannot stick to any strict diets.

I am going to leave you with a list of ingredients I generally use for my salads, and if you want to figure it out from just that, go right ahead. But, more importantly, I will explain my method so the concept sticks and maybe the next time you find yourselves making a salad you might remember one or two tricks to make it more interesting.

Category	Ingredients
Base options	Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, Arugula, Cucumbers, Cherry tomatoes, Sliced tomatoes
Layering (color and flavor)	Sweet bell peppers (various colors), Purple onions, Strawberries, Apples, Seedless grapes, Dried cranberries, Mandarins
Nuts and seeds	Sliced almonds, Walnuts (crunched or whole), Cashews, Shell-free pistachios, Pecans, Pumpkin seeds, Poppy seeds
Cheese options	Pepperjack cheese (tiny cubes), Feta cheese
Protein (chicken and seasoning)	Cubed chicken breasts, Freshly picked Bandanya, Salt, Pepper, Diced onions, Garlic
Carbs	Croutons/bread

This table organizes the ingredients for easy reference when you're building your salad!

Step 1:Base 🥬🍅

Figure out your base: Lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula, etc. You can even do a combination of them, as very often I mix lettuce with spinach as my combo. Then cucumbers and cherry tomatoes/sliced tomatoes (just keep in mind when the tomatoes are sliced the taste and the juices will transfer...unless it's not that juicy to begin with).

Here's where the intentional part comes in. With lettuce, I rip them with my hands because I more or less eat salads with my hands (at home) as it helps me to connect with the food and be mindful of what I am eating and why it is important to eat it. Ripping the lettuce mindfully helps me remember that this stuff is good for me and puts me in a good frame of mind. It is also so grounding and soothing. With the spinach, I tend to choose the leaves individually and make sure they are pretty and whole. I spread the base of lettuce and then I layer with spinach in an even distribution.

Step 2: Layering 🍓🫑🥒

Layer with color: My go to layering options are slices of colored sweet bell peppers, purple onions, strawberries and apples. I also add seedless grapes and dried cranberries whenever I have them laying around. You can add one or two, or all.

🧅 Hack for the purple onions: To soften the flavor of the onion, and prevent it from spreading its pungency to other vegetables in the salad, soak in cold water beforehand for 5-10 minutes. Squeeze out excess water before using. It makes the onion slices sweet almost, and crunchy.

Tip: How you cut your vegetables matter. This will determine if your salad is an experience vs a chore when consuming. Make sure the shapes are appealing and exciting to you.

Step 3: Nuts & seeds 🥜

Add nuts and seeds. Nuts and seeds are good sources of protein, healthy fats, fibre, vitamins and minerals. I love adding sliced almonds, crunched or whole walnuts (but obviously crunched goes a long way), cashews, shell free pistachios and pecans. The idea with the nuts is to make sure you get a good distribution, as it will help to improve the flavor profile, add crunch and ultimately curb the monotony of eating a salad. As for seeds, I currently add pumpkin seeds. I also love adding poppy seeds whenever I have any laying around. I have yet to expand in that department, but hey, it's a journey.

Step 4: Cheese 🧀

Cheese. Cheese isn't bad for you in a salad. It is a great source of calcium and protein. The trick with cheese is to cut many super tiny cubes of a block (I like to use pepperjack blocks of cheese) and once again distribute it evenly. Feta cheese also goes nicely in salads. I use both whenever I have them both. They give nice bursts of tanginess.

Step 5: Protein 🥜

Initially I wrote this salad as a vegetarian salad as usually I eat my protein separately. But if you wanted to add your protein into the mix and have it all in one go, an amazing option is cubed or thinly sliced seasoned chicken breasts. I don't enjoy that thready, chewy feeling of eating chicken in bulky pieces, especially long after it's lost its flavor...it makes me get bored of eating the protein. My favorite pieces of chicken from KFC are drumsticks and wings because of this, and if you're reading this and it's you too, chances are you need to try physically cutting it into literally bite sized pieces, like popcorn chicken :) The best combo I've had with cubed chicken breasts was when I seasoned the meat with freshly picked bandanya (also known as chadon beni or culantro), salt, and pepper. If you don't have bandanya for some reason (I live in The Bahamas now and they don't have green seasoning here 😭 ) use the freshest cilantro you can find. It resembles the taste of bandanya. I digress.

I sautéed diced onions and garlic until fragrant, then added the seasoned chicken and grilled it to perfection. The result was incredibly flavorful, tender, and savory. I cooked it last, and added it piping hot on top of the salad. Since salads are mostly (in my experience) cold and wet, adding a piping hot element of protein is a nice way to make it feel 'alive'. I don't like cold chicken, and I won't pick out all of the chicken to heat it and re-add to the salad, so I store the grilled chicken separately when meal prepping to be able to reheat it and keep myself interested in it.

Step 6: Carbs 🍞

I'm going to keep it very real with you. The reason Carbs are last in this blog post is because when you get to this point of making a salad, the carbs feel like an afterthought. I usually buy those bags of seasoned croutons and sometimes sprinkle a few on top of my salad last. You really don't need it, as you will get carbs from other elements of the salad. I even asked ChatGPT to tell me which ingredients have carbs and you can see them in the table below.

Here's a breakdown of the ingredients that contain carbohydrates:

Category	Ingredients with Carbohydrates
Base options	Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, Arugula, Cucumbers, Cherry tomatoes, Sliced tomatoes
Layering (color)	Sweet bell peppers, Purple onions, Strawberries, Apples, Seedless grapes, Dried cranberries, Mandarins
Nuts and seeds	Walnuts (in small amounts), Cashews, Pecans, Pumpkin seeds, Poppy seeds
Cheese options	None (Cheese is primarily protein and fat)
Chicken & seasoning	None (Chicken, salt, pepper, onions, garlic, and bandanya contain minimal to no carbs)

But, sometimes, when trying to be healthy, you do need to take a break and snack on a Carby ass Carb. So, I ration my croutons. Anytime I feel like I've been chewing grass for a long time, I remind myself that a bite sized crunchy crouton is on the horizon. Then it gives me the courage to carry on.

Whenever I am pinching on the grocery bill, I would take a slice of bread and cut small squares and toast them. Home made croutons ;) If you don't have bread...well...hard luck.

Salad dressing is optional. Personally, I don't usually eat salad dressing because I find it counterproductive (the unhealthy ones) as they take away from the flavor of the vegetables and sort of mask it. I already put so much effort to make my salad full of flavor and I never feel the need to ruin it with dressing. But, to each their own! Try it without first, though. I have converted a lot of people into eating their salads without dressing with this formula.

And there you go! This is how I make salads. Every time it is a little bit different and I don't always have all the ingredients. It sometimes largely depends on what is in season and what is available at the supermarket/farmer's markets. Once, Travis added the yummiest mandarins sliced in half and it added a lovely kick! So you can definitely play with it and make it your own. I do hope you try it!

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As you may already know, I am an Onlyfans model and a large part of my job is staying fit and healthy, in addition to looking the part. Three years ago I wanted to build a stronger foundation in food and nutrition so I could make better choices in my day to day life. I signed up for a nutrition course with my nutritionist, Priyanka Nankissoon, which was the best investment I ever made for myself. This course lasted 4 weeks and had online zoom classes twice per week, as well as homework assignments which included sending a picture of each meal plated before I ate it.

Did you know that every meal should always contain quarter of a plate of uncooked vegetables, quarter of a plate of cooked vegetables, quarter of a plate protein and quarter of a plate carbohydrates? Taking the pictures of my food every day for one month made me feel ashamed when I didn't get the portions of vegetables, carbs and protein right, and further cementing my building of new habits- having someone to hold me accountable.

My nutritionist was also great at explaining alternative options for me and making me aware of the nutritional value of each option. I somehow found myself scrambling to put crackers on my plate the days I didn't have bread and roti, expecting to be scolded but was complimented instead! It was from this course I learned the fundamentals of how I should be eating, basic awareness of every food group, what is the limit of sugar intake I should be having per day, how to calculate and count my sugar intake, how I should pack and store food items in my refrigerator, and so much more. The most helpful part of this course for me, personally, was being able to pick up the phone and call whenever I was in the grocery, or send texts of images of products and food items I wasn't sure about, and get feedback and advice in real time.

I recommend refreshing yourself on nutrition so you can make the best choices for yourself and your loved ones, even if it's on Tiktok/Youtube/extra reading. It really helps to know what the vegetables does for your body and understanding the why as a motivating factor.

However, if you would like to take her course, I will leave the details for you below. Just tell her I sent you her way as my little way of saying hi!

Disclaimer: This is not sponsored- it's just a resource, and I paid for this course when I took it. I am just leaving this here as an added resource.

Nutritionist: Priyanka Nankissoon

Cost of nutrition course: 1500 TTD/ $222 USD

Contact number: +18686522220

Instagram page: @priyankanankissoonrd

https://www.instagram.com/priyankanankissoonrd?igsh=Mzg4bXBzZHN4cmF2

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