Eating healthy fats is easy with salad greens

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With the temperature forecasted to be in the 80-degree range for the second or third week in a row now, salads have become my new best friend.

In planning meals for this first week of March, I find it hard to get in the mood to make stews, cassoulets and long-simmered anything when it is vibrantly bright and sunshine-y outside.

Kale, once the salad darling of kitchens everywhere, is now ubiquitous and maybe even ho-hum in many salad recipes. And if it were up to one of my children, who shall remain nameless, salads would never include kale but only be comprised of romaine, all day, every day. And only the light green crunchy parts. But I am always on the lookout for different and interesting greens to add to my salads.

One leafy green I am currently completely enamored with is arugula. The first time I heard the term “arugula” was, oddly enough, in an old Steve Martin movie called “My Blue Heaven,” a 1990 mafia comedy.

Martin portrays Vinnie Antonelli, a former East Coast mobster, who becomes part of the witness protection program and moves to California. He tells his local supermarket manager, “I haven’t had arugula in six weeks.” When the manager asks what that is, Martin replies “It’s a vegetable.”

Grown in the Mediterranean area since Roman times, arugula is a pungent leafy green used in most Mediterranean and North African cuisines. In Italy it is chopped and used to top pizzas and soups. Egyptians eat it raw as a side dish to accompany seafood, while the Turkish enjoy it raw dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. And in Cyprus, it is folded into omelets.

Arugula is sometimes called “salad rocket” or “garden rocket” and I can understand why. It is sharp and pleasingly bitter. I think it adds a nice wake-me-up to your average salad. Two of my three kids, and I, also enjoy arugula instead of lettuce in a sandwich. It is now on my “must have” list and I pick up a bag of it every week at the grocery store.

In trying to incorporate more healthy fats into my diet, I’ve discovered that salads are an easy way to do that. One of my goals this year is to include essential fats, both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, from foods like oils, seeds, nuts, olives and avocados, among other things.

As any salad eater knows, the salad is really all about the toppings. Delicious things, like chopped nuts, dried and fresh diced fruits, grated cheeses, seeds, and of course dressings, are what make the salad worth eating, right? And many of these toppings are high in good fats.

This week’s recipe from the allrecipes.com website is a salad with all sorts of yummy toppings – plus it has arugula! The walnuts are loaded with ALA (alpha-linolenic acid)/omega 3 fatty acids as well as magnesium and phosphorous. But it’s really the oils in the dressing that make it a healthy fats recipe.

Walnut oil, sold in the cooking oils section of most grocery stores, is a polyunsaturated fat that is high in ALA, just like the nut it is made from. Avocado oil, which I found at the local Costco, is a monounsaturated fat that is loaded with vitamin E. This week, enjoy our beautiful weather and this good-for-you salad.

Orange, Walnut, Gorgonzola, Mixed Greens with Fresh Citrus Vinaigrette

Serves 4

3/4 cup walnut halves

10 ounces mixed salad greens with arugula

2 large navel oranges, peeled and sectioned

(or 1 can mandarin oranges)

1/2 cup sliced red onion

1/4 cup olive oil (or walnut oil)

1/4 cup avocado oil

2/3 cup orange juice

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

Place the walnuts in a skillet over medium heat. Cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until lightly browned. Alternatively, you can toast walnuts in a toaster oven for a few minutes. In a large bowl, toss the toasted walnuts, salad greens, oranges and red onion.

In a large jar with a lid, mix the olive oil, vegetable oil, orange juice, sugar, vinegar, mustard, oregano and pepper. Seal jar and shake to mix.

Divide the salad greens mixture into individual servings. To serve, sprinkle with Gorgonzola cheese, and drizzle with the dressing mixture.