Just thought I’d share… because this was a hit with the kids!

The other night we made a big salad for dinner: grilled organic free-range chicken with lots of greens and various veggies and ‘stuff’.

I don’t really use store-bought dressing much at all – conventional brands are typically full of sneaky toxins in the form of high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, toxic refined vegetable fats (trans-fats, omega 6′s, etc.), excitotoxins/neurotoxins, and sometimes more.

(Here you thought you were doing the “right” thing by eating a healthy salad, but the dressing sabotages your efforts! This is really rotten if you’re trying to shed some excess weight and fat… those toxins trigger the stress response and cause the release of stress hormones that will cause you to gain weight and have a tough time shedding it!!)

Pretty much all of my dressing starts with a base of extra virgin olive oil. Then, depending on the direction I feel like going, I’ll add some freshly pressed garlic or minced garlic, or some lemon or lime, or some fresh herbs, or some real cream if I’m going for a creamier texture… or any combination of the above! I’m no gourmet cook, for sure! I just add what I feel like adding in the moment.

This time around I decided to have the kids help. They weren’t nearly excited enough about the dinner on the menu for the evening, in their mother’s opinion! In fact, I heard some grumbling about “That’s IT? All we’re having is SALAD???” Sometimes I think they forget where they live and who does the cooking! Apparently, they must have anticipated a boring little side dish with lettuce and the ‘restaurant standards’ of a bland tomato and non-crunchy cucumber! I’d be less-than-thrilled too, if I thought *that’s* what was for dinner!

That’s when I called them into the kitchen to take a look at all the ingredients that would be making their way into the salad bowl: several different types of lettuce, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, a few green onions, chives, raw sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, almond slices, a few dried cherries and some shredded raw cheese. Oh, and the marinated chicken that was cooking on the grill. Puh-leeease, children. Give your mother some credit!

Anyhow, they’ve helped with some of the aforementioned dressing concoctions in the past, so I wanted to show them that they could make some interesting dishes in the kitchen with ingredients they may not have thought of … all REAL food, all healthy, and all delicious.

My hubby had just brought home a ginormous container of organic strawberries the day before, so I decided that we’d add some to the dressing. We put a few handfuls in the Vitamix, added a bit of balsamic vinegar and a tiny bit of fresh lime juice… stirred it up… added it to the olive oil I had already poured into the wooden salad bowl… and, voila! Yum-o-la and healthy strawberry dressing.

I get extra “cool” points from the kids when we make something that tastes really good… AND is healthier!

By the way, even if you don’t have time to make your own dressing concoctions, or you’re eating out at a restaurant, just stick with quick and easy oil and vinegar. Even non-organic, non-extra virgin olive oil is better than the toxicity of the conventional dressings!

If you like simple ideas like this to improve your health and therefore your outward appearance (body weight and body fat percentage), check out my book, “The 7 Essential Keys to Shedding Toxic Fat & Unwanted Pounds”… you’ll love what you see!

And, if it’s more hints, tips and healthy recipes that your kids will enjoy that you’re looking for, then you’ve got to have The Healthy School Days Menu in YOUR kitchen!