Easy Healthy Summer Salads

Summer means fresh from-the-farm produce, best eaten simply to savor their ripe flavors. It's also a time when we want to eat lighter and get outside more. Ripe tomatoes, crisp lettuces, sweet corn, and refreshing watermelon invoke what summer is all about. In their simplest forms, these ingredients need little adornment. Here are a couple of our favorite salad recipes we think you, your family and your friends will love. They’re full of flavor, like our OSMOSIS Sauvignon Blanc, and pair beautifully with a glass or two!

Watermelon, Tomato, Feta and Mint Salad

A quintessential combination of sweet, savory and herbal flavors make this salad a refreshing choice for summer entertaining. Not only does the watermelon help hydrate you, tomatoes are a rich source of Vitamin C and loaded with the antioxidant lycopene, feta has more calcium than most other cheeses, and the mint aids in digestion.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large ripe tomatoes, cut into large dice

2 cups of watermelon, cut into ½ inch cubes

½ cup crumbled feta

¼ cup fresh mint leaves, torn into pieces

Balsamic Vinegar to drizzle

Optional add ins – red onion, cucumber

1. Combine the tomato, watermelon and feta in a large bowl.
2. Let stand for a few minutes to let the juices settle.
3. Drain the excess juices.
4. Gently mix in the feta, sprinkle mint on top and drizzle as much or as little balsamic as you like!

Fresh Corn and Black Bean Salad

Nothing is more synonymous with summer than fresh, sweet corn. This is a salad that’s full of fiber, thank you black beans and corn! - and flavor. Corn also contains Vitamin B and other essential minerals like zinc and magnesium, while avocado is high in mono-unsaturated fat, the 'good fat'. Add bright, colorful cherry tomatoes, rich in antioxidants, and this salad is a nutrition powerhouse. Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

4 ears of sweet corn on the cob, husk and silks removed

1 can of black beans, drained

1 red onion, diced small

1 pint fresh cherry tomatoes, halved

2 ripe avocados diced

2 limes juiced

¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

½ cup chopped cilantro

Optional – minced jalapeno pepper to taste. Optional – grill the corn to slightly char before taking off the cob.                                                                                         

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut the raw, sweet corn kernels off the cob.
2. Put in a bowl and combine with the black beans, diced red onion, and cherry tomatoes.
3. Mix the lime and olive oil together with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Drizzle over the ingredients and combine.
5. Sprinkle cilantro on top and gently mix to combine.
6. Let stand for about ½ an hour for all the tastes to combine and meld, then serve.