The salad bowl

We all know how important salads are in our diet. Apart from providing us the necessary fiber content to help us digest our food, salads also serve as a great and natural resource of many vitamins and minerals that we might miss otherwise! Of course, they should not be the “only” diet because we all discuss here about healthy diets and not dieting. Let’s have a look at a cool aspic of tomato and cucumber that you can enjoy with your meal. Many of you must be knowing about the old days, when cool aspics usually were served in the summer when tomatoes were ripe. Today, you can enjoy this zesty salad any time because it is made with hot-style vegetable juice cocktail.

You will need:

* 1 envelope unflavored gelatin (2 teaspoons)

* 3 cans(5.5 ounces each) hot-style vegetable juice cocktail

* 1 teaspoon lower-sodium Worcestershire sauce

* 1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce (optional)

* 1 teaspoon dried dill weed

* 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind

* Nonstick cooking spray

* 1/2 cup seeded and finely chopped cucumber

* 1/4 cup finely chopped sweet green,red, or yellow pepper

* 2 large green onions with tops, finely sliced.

Now, with all that let us proceed further:

1) In a medium-size bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 1 can of the vegetable juice; let stand for one minute. In a medium-size saucepan,bring the remaining vegetable juice, Worcestershire sauce, and red pepper sauce (if using) to boil. Add to gelatin; stir until gelatin dissolves completely. Stir in the dill weed and lemon rind. Cover gelatin mixture with plastic wrap; refrigerate for 2 and 1/2 hours or until thickened but not solid (a spoon will leave an impression when drawn through it).

2) Coat a 3 and 1/2-cup mold with cooking spray. Fold the cucumber, green pepper, and green onions into juice mixture. Spoon into mold. Cover and refrigerate for 2 and 1/2 hours more or until firm.

3) To serve, unmold salad onto plate. Tuck leaf lettuce around base of the salad. Make 6 side-dish servings.

The nutrient data would be as follows for this salad:

1 Serving: Calories 24. Total fat 0 grams. Saturated fat 0 grams. Protein 2 grams. Carbohydrates 5 grams. Fiber 1 gram. Sodium 291 mg and cholesterol 0 mg.

Enjoy!!