Ham Salad Recipe

Here a simply recipe that will suitable for your breakfast yet getting a good proportion for your nutrition needs. 

Ham Salad Ingredients

• 2 cups finely diced ham
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp minced onion
• 2 Tbsp minced celery
• 2 Tbsp minced red bell pepper
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 Tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• A large pinch of cayenne (optional)
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Mix everything but the salt, pepper and cayenne in a large bowl. Taste and add cayenne, salt and black pepper to taste. Serve chilled.
Serve straight, or mixed in with macaroni, or in a sandwich in a hamburger bun, a Kaiser roll, regular bread, in a pita or as a wrap. Good with lemonade on a hot day.
Makes enough for 3 to 4 sandwiches.

Salad Ingridients

Vegetables - Leaf vegetables, such as head lettuce, curly lettuce, endive, chicory, romaine, water cress, celery and cabbage, make very attractive salads served alone with a dressing or in combination with other materials.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, cabbage and ground carrots are excellent uncooked materials for salad, as are also Bermuda or Spanish onions in thin wafer-like slices or young spring onions marinated in French dressing.

Many cooked vegetables, such as peas, carrots, beans, beets, cauliflower, spinach, asparagus and potatoes, are used in salad making, alone or in combination.

Fruits - The fruits most commonly used in the preparation of salads are oranges, bananas, apples, cherries, grapefruit, grapes, peaches, pears and pineapple. Watermelon or cantaloupe adds a delicious flavor to a fruit salad.

Dried Fruits - Dates, figs and raisins give variety to fruit salads.

Meats - Chicken always makes a delicious salad. Veal and pork may be combined with chicken and it is difficult to detect their use. They may be used alone in salads, also.

Crab, lobster, shrimp, oysters, salmon, tuna fish and sardines are most commonly used in fish salads. Any firm-fleshed cooked fish may be diced and combined with other materials.

Cheese - Cream cheese or cottage cheese, served in mounds on lettuce leaves, makes an attractive salad, with bar-le-duc or other jelly or jam as a garnish. It can also be mixed with green peppers or pimientoes, rolled in nuts, served with pineapple or molded in a loaf and sliced.

Eggs - The most common egg salad is the "deviled egg," or salad egg. Hard-cooked eggs can be cut in slices or quarters or fancy shapes and served on a bed of lettuce leaves with a dressing or used with other ingredients in a vegetable or fish salad.

Herbs - Such herbs as chervil, mint, parsley, peppergrass, sorrel and tarragon may be added to salad to give a pungent flavor.

Fennel (finochio) tops, or root and stem of anise flavor, dandelion, chard, escarole, celery cabbage or cooked zucchini are used both as body of the salad and as flavoring. Those who have a garden will find dill, nasturtium leaves and seeds, catnip and rose geranium leaves usable.

How to serve Salad

Washing Ingredients - Wash salad greens and examine to insure the removal of all aphids. Then soak in cold water for half an hour to crisp, and dry on a towel or by shaking in a wire basket.

Chilling Ingredients - All ingredients, fruits, vegetables, and dressing, should be chilled (see directions on next page for keeping materials) before being folded together. The bowl used should be chilled; also the plates upon which the salad is served.

Frozen Salads - This name may seem misleading because pieces of fruit or vegetable in salads should never be actually frozen. Combined with whipped cream and mayonnaise, the mixture is frozen like mousse, but it should not be frozen long enough to harden the fruit or vegetable. Salads made of vegetable or fruit pulp may be frozen. The freezing can be done by packing in ice and salt or by placing the mixture in the drawers of a mechanically cooled refrigerator.

Keeping Materials - Lettuce, most vegetables and many fruits may be kept for days by wrapping in a damp cloth or paper bag and placing on ice. In a mechanically cooled refrigerator, lettuce and other salad greens keep best if they are washed and placed in closely covered enamel or porcelain containers with a very little water.

Cutting Materials - Salad materials should be cut in uniform, well-defined pieces small enough so that they will not lose their shape in the folding process. If part of the celery to be used is tough, cut it in fine pieces and cut the tender parts in larger pieces. In this way the toughness will not be detected.

"When both the dark and light meat of chicken are used, dice the dark in small cubes and the light in larger cubes. This gives a more pleasing appearance to the salad. If veal or pork is used to extend the chicken, dice it finer than the chicken and its presence will not be detected.

Marinating Salads - A marinade is used to give flavor to salad materials and is made by mixing oil, salt, and lemon-juice or vinegar (sometimes onion-juice). The vegetables, fish or meat may stand an hour or so in the marinade before using. When several vegetables are to be used, each one should be marinated separately. For serving, these vegetables may be combined, or placed on lettuce leaves in small individual mounds, as preferred.

Addition of Salad Dressing - The dressing should never be folded into the salad until time for serving, except in the case of a salad like potato salad, when it is preferable for the dressing to soak in.

Arrangement of Salad - The lettuce leaf should have the stem end cut off so that this ragged part does not hang over the edge of the plate. Care should be taken that the garnish is carefully placed.

Place the salad on the lettuce leaf carefully so that it will not fall apart and spread ungracefully over the plate. No part of the salad should extend beyond the edge of the plate.

Why Salad?

Salad is often touted as a healthy diet food, but the benefits of eating a salad go well beyond dieting and weight loss. Choosing to eat a salad today instead of something else can improve your overall health, make you feel better about yourself and inspire you to continue to make healthy food choices.

Hydration

Eating a salad will help to provide you with your necessary daily intake of water. The vegetables and fruits used in salads contain high amounts of water. Adequate water intake throughout the day is necessary to keep your body healthy, properly functioning and warding off fatigue. Eating a salad can help you remain hydrated. A salad will not provide all your hydration, but it can provide a beneficial amount.

Add Fiber

Vegetables and fruit provide a significant amount of fiber, and fiber is important to your overall health. Eating a salad will increase your fiber intake making you more likely to consume the necessary amounts of daily fiber. The minimal amounts of fiber you should consume vary slightly depending on your age, gender and size, but it is generally between 20 g and 30 g per day.

Improve Digestion

The mixture of high fiber and water contents found in salads can help improve your digestive system. Having a properly working digestive system will reduce constipation and help to remove toxins from your body before they can do any harm.

Reduce Calories

Salads can be a lower calorie option to other foods you might eat instead of a salad. Therefore, by eating a salad you can reduce your daily calories and help yourself achieve weight loss. It is important to note that not all salads are lower in calories. Items that tend to make salads higher in calories include breaded or fried meats, red meat, cheese, high calorie dressings and croutons.

Increase Vitamin and Mineral Intake

Getting a variety of vitamins and minerals in your daily diet is important to your overall health and eating a salad can help you achieve this. HelpGuide.org reports that green leafy vegetables contain an assortment of nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc and vitamins A, C, E and K. Therefore, eating salads full of leafy greens, such as spinach, kale or mustard greens, will help increase your vitamin and mineral intake.

Help Get You Daily Servings

Making a salad apart of your day will increase you intake of fruits and vegetables and help you eat the recommended daily intake. Harvard School of Public Health reports that most people should get about nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day; that is about 4 and a half cups. Eating a salad can help ensure you get at least a couple of these servings.

Daily Food Requirement

The United States Department of Agriculture, also known as USDA, issues regular recommendations for food requirements based on the latest in research and nutritional studies. Every five years the USDA publishes a report titled "Dietary Guidelines for Americans." the latest edition came out in 2005. It highlights all the federal nutritional policies and recommendations regarding healthy eating and physical activity. The publication is intended to provide people with advice on good dietary practices and nutritional requirements.

Grains

The USDA recommends that all healthy adults and children consume grains with every meal. It makes specific recommendations based on age, sex and level of physical activity. The 2005 guidelines recommend that an adult male aged 19 to 30, needs eight ounce-equivalents per day of grains. One ounce-equivalent from the grains group would be one slice of bread, 1/2 cup of cooked rice, cooked pasta or cooked cereal, or 1 cup of ready-to-eat cereal. The USDA recommends that a women belonging to the same age group consume six ounce-equivalent. At least half of the grains intake should come from whole-grain sources such as whole wheat flour, bulgur, oatmeal, whole cornmeal and brown rice. These recommendations are aimed at increasing the intake of dietary fiber and other important nutrients, such as magnesium, selenium, folate, thiamin, riboflavin and other B vitamins.

Vegetables

An adult male needs 3 cups of vegetables; the adult female requires 2 1/2 cups. The USDA also provides specific weekly recommendation intakes for the vegetable subgroups: dark green vegetables, orange vegetables, starchy vegetables and other vegetables. One cup refers to chopped, loosely packed vegetables but with leafy vegetables, such as lettuce and parsley, 2 cups is needed instead. Vegetables are low in fat and calories and supply the body with much-needed vitamins and antioxidants.

Meats and Beans

This group comprises all meats, fish, legumes, eggs and nuts. The USDA recommends varying sources of protein and including fish that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. The adult female needs five ounce-equivalents, while the adult male needs six. One ounce-equivalent of protein translates to 1 oz. of fish or meat or one egg.