Vegetarian Antipasto

Vegetarian Antipasto (Serves 6 entree salads)

Ingredients for Salad:

1 bag romaine lettuce

1 bag spring mix

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1½ cups cucumber, peeled and chopped

1 cup red onions, chopped

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

12 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

½ cup artichoke hearts, packed in water, drained, rinsed and quartered

Dressing:

½ cup Light Balsamic Vinaigrette (optional)

Topping:

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese -1 tbsp. per salad (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, add the lettuces.  Next, add all the remaining salad ingredients. Cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

2. When ready to serve, add the dressing and toss well.  Divide salad on each plate.  Top each salad with 1 tablespoon cheese.

This vegetarian antipasto is the healthiest meal that you can find in an Italian and Irish family that likes their meats, cheeses, and breads. Normally, my mom will make this as a side salad for a meal but she told me that it can be served as an entree for dinner. For its nutritional content, the meal totals to about 236 calories per serving (including the cheese and dressing) and each serving consists of about to cups of the salad which is very filling. There is about 10 grams of fat which is not a lot of fat from a dinner meal since you are supposed to have 44 to 78 grams of fat per day in your diet. However if you eat too many salads, you will most likely become constipated since leafy green vegetables like lettuce are high in insoluble fiber.

Most of the ingredients in this recipe are not processed or could be found in a not processed form. For example, the recipe calls for bagged romaine lettuce and spring mix which means that there was a small amount of processing that the food went through. The person making this dish could always use normal lettuce instead of bagged lettuce. Other than these items that could be found non-processed the only processed ingredients are the cheese, vinaigrette, and the canned garbanzo beans. Most of the ingredients for this recipe are not processed foods.

Depending on whether you buy these items organic or nonorganic is a factor for the price of this meal. Also this dish includes many ingredients, especially vegetables when bought out of season can be expensive. Depending on the time of year and the preference of the customer, this meal could be more expensive than some dinners. Changes can be made to this recipe to make it more affordable for all incomes and it is still less expensive than buying fast food for dinner.