Colorful and festive dishes for outdoor meals can still be healthy. Think about combining red juicy watermelon, salty white feta cheese, sweet blueberries, and dark greens to create a patriotic July 4, salad. Topped with a homemade dressing, and paired with your favorite grilled meat, you have the makings for an easy summer feast.
Watermelon Feta Salad
You will need:
2 cups dark greens of your choice (kale, spinach or mixed lettuce, rinsed with stems removed)
1 ½ cups seedless watermelon cut into cubes
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon sweet onion, diced
3 tablespoons red wine or apple cider vinegar
1-tablespoon sugar or honey
1/3 cup olive or canola oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Steps:
Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 minutes.
Place greens in a salad bowl and place ½ cup of cubed watermelon in the center.
Circle the watermelon with a stripe of crumbled feta cheese.
Place the blueberries in a circle around the feta cheese and the rest of the watermelon around the outer border of the bowl.
Whisk the diced onion, vinegar, sugar or honey, oil, and salt and pepper together to make the dressing.
Drizzle the dressing over the top of the salad.
Refrigerate for up to two hours before serving.
Refrigerate any leftovers within two hours.
Recipe makes six servings.
Your July 4 celebration may look a little different this year, but it is still important to make food safety steps a part of your meal preparations. Foodborne illness can increase in the summer due to warmer temperatures and longer time spent cooking outdoors. Following are three tips from USDA that will help reduce your risk of foodborne illness:
Don’t Cross-Contaminate
Always keep raw meat and their juices from touching other foods. While grilling, avoid using the same utensils for cooked and ready-to-eat foods that were used with raw meat or poultry. Wash and sanitize all surfaces and utensils after they touch raw items. A recent USDA survey showed that 34 percent of respondents do not follow an important step to use a different utensil to take food off the grill. Bring enough tools to keep your raw meat and poultry away from any cooked or ready-to-eat foods and have extra cleaning and sanitizing supplies ready for your surfaces, plates and utensils.
Use a Food Thermometer
Some grill masters may say they know food is done just by looking at its color when it comes off the grill. This is where a food thermometer comes in handy. “More than 25 percent of burgers can turn brown inside before they are fully cooked,” says FSIS Administrator Paul Kiecker. “Although your grilled foods may look done, foodborne illness causing germs are not killed until the safe internal temperature has been reached. Using a food thermometer is the only way to know your food is done and safe to eat.” Meat thermometers are sold at grocery stores and are easy to use. The USDA recommended safe minimum internal temperatures are:
Beef, pork, lamb and veal (steaks, roasts and chops): 145°F then rest for three-minutes
Fish: 145°F
Ground meats (beef, pork, lamb and veal): 160°F
Whole poultry, poultry breasts and ground poultry: 165°F
Keep Foods at a Safe Temperature
Perishable food items should not be left out of refrigeration for more than two hours, and only one hour if the temperature is at or above 90°F. Keep your food at or below 40°F, in coolers or containers with a cold source, such as ice or frozen gel packs. This includes any leftovers from the grill, cold salads and even cut fruits and vegetables. Leftovers should be refrigerated or placed back in the cooler within 2 hours (1 hour if temperatures are at or above 90°F).
If you are not sure how long food has been sitting out, throw it out to be safe from foodborne illness.
July 02, 2020 at 09:52PM
https://ift.tt/2NNY116
STEFFENS COLUMN: Salad adds red, white and blue to July 4 cookouts - Newsandtribune
https://ift.tt/3ekeW79
salad
No comments:
Post a Comment