🌞 📖 MODERN MEDITERRANEAN DIET GUIDE https://carolinelfranco.gumroad.com/l/jedrp
Ciao and welcome to my channel! In this recipe video, I am sharing 3 Mediterranean Diet Summertime Salad Ideas highlighting seasonal whole foods, with simple, quick, and easy ingredients and steps. These recipes are incredibly flexible and can be adapted to fit your specific diet and preferences, such as vegetarian, gluten-free, or vegan, providing well-balanced meal ideas designed for an achievable and sustainable long, healthy, and zestful life.
I hope you enjoy this video. Please comment below with anything you want to see, questions you’d like me to answer, etc. Thank you so much for watching, and I hope you create a zestful week!
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RECIPES
☼ Sumac Blackened Salmon with Harissa Tahini Farro Salad https://carolinelfranco.com/blackened-sumac-salmon-with-harissa-tahini-red-pepper-farro-salad/
☼ Marinated Bean Salad https://carolinelfranco.com/marinated-bean-and-vegetable-salad/
☼ Strawberry Asparagus Broccolini Feta Salad https://carolinelfranco.com/strawberry-asparagus-broccolini-feta-salad/
TAGS
⋒ #MediterraneanDiet #WeightLossRecipe #SummerRecipes
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 → intro / mediterranean diet tips
2:40 → Sumac Blackened Salmon with Harissa Tahini Farro Salad
8:42 → Marinated Bean Salad
12:48 → Strawberry Asparagus Broccolini Feta Salad
ciao my name is Caroline I share all things modern Mediterranean living and today I am sharing a delicious Mediterranean diet recipe video featuring three incredible super quick and easy fresh and seasonal Mediterranean summertime salad ideas I’m still trying to figure out so much as far as how to film in my new kitchen I’m still not there yet and I thought something was better than nothing so this is a very informal kind of different style of recipe video because I just am not fully prepared to give you guys what I Envision as a true Carolina Franco modern Mediterranean diet recipe video I really really wanted to start off my return back to recipe videos with something so many of you guys have been asking all three of these are absolutely incredible for weight loss I feel like salads get a bad rep because always leafy greens that’s not the case a salad does not always have to be leafy greens while those are incredible and highly highly highly recommended on the Mediterranean diet salads don’t necessarily in my mind have to be leafy greens what a salad is to me is a high volume so you get to eat a lot of it veggie packed dish and it can be filled with so many different things so you feel super satiated and it doesn’t have to be served right away it doesn’t have to be hot it can be room temperature another question I have gotten so much of is variations which I’ve always tried to show so many variations in all my recipe videos I am including gluten-free dairy free plant-based focused high protein of course kind of I’m including everything in all of these different types of salads today so hopefully you can find something that works for you if not I’ll kind of share how you can adjust it to make it work for you so there are so many options on the modern Mediterranean diet I also really wanted to try hard I don’t think I did an incredible job but I really tried to pick what Corners I could cut today in these recipes because I know a lot of you don’t like that I make like all of it from scratch and I like to make so much of it from scratch because that’s true Mediterranean cooking is cooking as much as you can from home but we live in a modern world where that is just not always the option and I get that I get that you want convenience but everything is way way way too much convenient here in America we have to prioritize starting to cook more food at home in America I know it’s timec consuming and it sucks but it just needs to be done because that’s what separates us from the blue zones that’s what separates us from the Mediterranean diet is the Americans do not cook enough at home that’s my little summary to intro this video I just wanted to share a few little notes before we hop into making some delicious fun summertime salads that are inspired by the Mediterranean diet recipe number one is going to be a sumac spiced or blackened salmon Harissa far salad so let’s start off with the first thing that I said the delicious salmon now you can use any fish you can use a vegan source of protein maybe tofu sauté beans America loves a good blackening seasoning it’s basically just a bunch of spices on a piece of fish and so inspired by that I kind of took all my favorite spices that I feel like would be really good on fish and did my own sumac seasoning blackening seasoning sumac is one of my favorite spices of all because it is this like peppery lemony really vibrant red beautiful spice and I tried to put as many spices as I could in there that would complement sumac and this could be used for so many other things than fish use it on meat you can use it on a lot of things but this was once a cinnamon jar and I just saved it um instead of going on Amazon and buying like a 30 pack of aesthetic spice jars don’t need to do that just save what you use reuse it and make your own little spices when you want to how I like to do my salmon you never ever want to get salmon with any dyes in it you want wild cot salmon the Mediterranean diet is All About Seafood as much as possible I mean the Mediterranean diet really emphasizes Seafood because oh yeah it’s about being by the Sea so my favorite way to cook salmon avocado oil nice little fat nice little crispy oil does really really well in high heat I did the blackening seasoning I have a tray here with foil on it just because of easy cleanup and we’re just going to broil it and broil it till it’s nice and looks cooked in my opinion fastest way to cook it easiest way to cook it you could put it on the grill on a cedar plank that would be delicious you could sauté it just going to pop po it into the oven to broil and as I wait for it to broil we’re going to talk about all the other things going into the salad I love Mis Faro one of the best whole grains ever if you’re gluten-free rice would work absolutely incredible quinoa would work incredible here but if you can’t have gluten and you haven’t tried farro you’re missing out it’s chewy it’s nutty it’s thick it’s alente super satisfying texture so I made some farro I did it in a little bit of br bro you could use water but we’re always looking to amp up the flavor in easy ways so having chicken broth or vegetable broth on hand is always really nice it has protein in it it’s a great carb loaded with fiber it’s whole grain very unprocessed she’s a be and so she’s going to be the base of the salad so next going in the salad is roasted red peppers I cheated I used easy Jarred roasted red peppers why the roasted red peppers so we have that really spice filled spice rub so I thought of something to really complement it would be Harissa so Harissa is a Tunisian which don’t forget Africa is part of the Mediterranean everyone always thinks it’s all Italy or Greece or Spain Mediterranean is huge it’s it’s a lot of countries I talk about this in my Mediterranean diet guide so Tunisia has a beautiful spicy sauce called Harissa and she’s spicy she’s too spicy for me but I try to cater to everybody so I have a homemade Harissa sauce on my website but picked up some Harissa did it have canola oil in it yes we have to pick and choose our battles it really is not the end of the world to eat you know something that doesn’t have olive oil in it it’s still a product of Tunisia which I really liked that it was still three ingredients I could read all the ingredients such minimal ingredients so I was like hey let’s cut this corner pick up this Harissa paste mixed it with tahini and a little bit of water and then I was like eh there’s not enough flavor for me cuz my mind had a little more flavor so I put a few spices in it I feel like that kind of helped but what I was saying is so we have this spiciness complimenting the spiciness here I know that Harissa is made with peppers so I was like okay let’s balance out all the spicy with a little bit of sweet so we have the roasted red peppers and then I was like well I need more veggies so let me pick a spicy veggie a rugula and then some chopped almonds I try to always get them toasted because if I could amp up the flavor put a little bit of broth add a little bit of toast you could use use raw red peppers but instead of raw red peppers add a little bit of smoky charness that compliments all the spices that compliments the spiciness if you can’t add a little to every ingredient you’re using that’s Mediterranean cooking cuz you want minimal ingredients it looks like I have so many ingredients in my recipes because I’m making everything from scratch but at the end of the day we’re using such wholesome ingredients and how do you make a recipe absolutely delicious with such minimal wholesome ingredients you find a way to to amp up the flavor wherever it’s possible so I’m going to combine everything while we wait for the salmon and then we’ll plate it [Music] up I have water ready because she’s too spicy for me that herisa is way too spicy but I know if you like spicy which I know a lot of people do they’re going to love it I need to try the salmon on its own but oh my gosh it’s so good that suac and Zar on the salmon is so so so good the salmon alone is loaded with so much flavor because of that delicious spice rub this is so good the flavors are so amazing it’s very spicy but very good I love the Ki I love the sweet peppers the crunch of the toasty almonds everything compliments each other so well I think I need one more bite and then we can move on to recipe number two recipe number two is a total Caroline recipe a marinated bean salad beans legumes high and mighty on the what to eat for the Mediterranean diet incredible plant-based amazingness as far as protein vitamins minerals cheap we love cheap you can use any beans I have great northern white beans because they’re quite sturdy or so my research has said they’re quite sturdy these are quite mushy you could even throw in half beans half lentils whatever your heart’s desire so marinated means classic Caroline combination here we have olive oil red wine vinegar a whole lemon zested and Juiced salt pepper garlic simple the good stuff the highest of quality good extra virgin fruity Duty little beauty oven olive oil don’t know what I just said there when you think marinated I think soaking up this gorgeous liquid gold for days in the fridge and it just develops that flavor and it gets more and more delicious as it sits in the fridge so what are things that really soak up a good dressing really really well archo carts I have archo carts here hav sundried Tomatoes salty chewy kind of fruity pungent flavor also salty and great texture olives my favorite are castalano olives but you can use whatever Olive you love some shallots because we’re not cooking the onion in this but I feel like this dish really needs onion that will develop a lot of flavor but I don’t love a lot of robust oniony flavor so I love shallot cuz they’re so mild green onions would be incredible in this as well of course herbs herbs are so important on the Mediterranean diet we should be eating herbs like we we eat vegetables parsley a lot of parsley is going in we want it to be salad we want it to be veggie loaded I got a beautiful medley of gorgeous heirloom cherry tomatoes I would say these actually grape tomatoes cuz they’re like the longer kind but I wanted to add some color some juiciness because again we’re making like a marinated salad so it’s going to be drippy and juicy that could go on any protein with some chicken it could go with your like grilled protein of choice you could make a bed of greens and and plop it on that for just any veggies cuz you’ll have this extra liquid Heaven that these marinated beans and veggies are all in and that’s kind of nice to like drizzle on things [Music] it is time to try the incredible bean salad with artichokes loaded with herbs so many tomatoes chili sundried tomato an olive oh my gosh guys this is bursting with flavor and I can’t even express to you how flavorful this is going to be the next day and the day after that oh my gosh it’s so good the creamy beans the bursting juicy Sweet Tomatoes The the chewy sun dried tomatoes The Buttery Castel V chano olives I really love these olives cuz they’re mild and buttery and delicious okay one more bite one more bite and then I’m putting this down M you can’t see it but at the bottom there’s a ton of liquid so that’s why I’m saying like make sure you give it a super great stir and then also this is so great on top of a bed of rice or farro quinoa pasta this would be so good as a pasta salad you could put this on top of a bed of greens any leftover veggies just something so it can soak up the delicious like sauce that it creates over the few days I had to have one more bite it’s so good so much flavor in every bite marinated bean salad is what’s up all right I think it’s time for the third and final recipe for the third and final recipe we’re going to be doing a little bit strange of a salad but I promise it’s delicious I didn’t get to do very many spring recipes because I was rather busy this spring if you’ve been catching up on my Vlogs but something about the Mediterranean diet more specifically something about eating seasonally is there’s a lot out there of the produce that’s in season each month but it just depends on the weather it depends on where you live it depends on a lot of factors so you can’t say for sure that strawberries are a summer fruit strawberries were where I am in Ohio in season all may long so that’s why I am a huge advocate for going to your local farmers markets and seeing what the vendors are are growing because that is a great indication of what’s in season for example I could redo this whole entire recipe video salads in August and be using totally different veggies by then zucchini will be incredible eggplant will be incredible there’ll be so many other veggies to in and produce in general to pick from right now where my mom goes to pick all these incredible ruby red gorgeous not the white strawberries we get in the grocery store where she goes to pick these strawberries they’re also still growing in a amount of asparagus and most people would say asparagus is a spring vegetable but this is a great like transition cuz like strawberries are summery we have asparagus which is more spring but it’s still in season I really like this salad cuz it’s fresh and vibrant and zingy and sweet I love a good sweetness to anything as we transition from Spring to Summer kind of salad so the base the bulk of the salad is going to be broccolini which is one of my all-time very favorite of vegetables and then asparagus I did a really simple blanching so you just boil some water add the in let them get nice and bright green put them in an ice bath make sure they’re nice and well dried off blanched veggies delicious super healthy not overcooked and then I’m just going to add a nice gorgeous amount of strawberries so strawberries and asparagus and broccolini I’m begging you to keep your mind open with this one pistachios I mean is it a Caroline recipe video without pistachios I doubt it feta feta and strawberries and pistachios and then the asparagus and the broccoli like just trust me also protein I’m a huge advocate for protein I don’t think it’s a complete meal without protein your dairy in the Mediterranean cheese is a good protein this is more of a side salad or like a lunch salad it’s definitely the lightest one here as far as keeping you full I would definitely suggest eating this with something and then something super special is a strawberry rose dressing you could use just regular vinegar I have strawberry vinegar from Cina it’s so incredible and do you know what it made me want to do when I was cutting the strawberries up I saved all of the stems and like the top bits of the strawberries I didn’t throw them away and I just coated all of them in a jar of vinegar and so I think I’m going to try to make my own strawberry vinegar so how Fun’s that but anyways if you don’t have strawberry vinegar champagne vinegar would be delicious in this white wine vinegar olive oil um I wanted the strawberry vinegar to really shine so I didn’t add any Citrus but Citrus would be delicious in this and then I did a little bit of rose water because strawberry and Rose and then I feel like rose is springy and I don’t know maybe I’m making all this up but I thought a little rose water would be nice rose water is such a popular ingredient in the Mediterranean a lot of desserts use rose water and I just thought it would be good to add a little floral touch and so once again dump everything in a bowl Stir It Up and enjoy [Music] I am most excited for this right here I I love the flavors I think it’s so refreshing it’s so different M I think the broccolini and the asparagus are like a perfect vessel to soak up this sauce there’s just the slightest hint of Rose anyone who wouldn’t know there’s Rose in it they just be like o there’s something I can’t put my finger on but it’s not like you’re eating perfect I added a few dried rose petals to the top I’m going in for a big bite of feta which is so beautiful cuz it kind of turned pink from all the strawberries salty browny feta the veggies when you shock them in the ice water they stop cooking so they stay nice and crispy and crunchy but like cooked all the way through of course so they have great texture pistachios is just the right amount of crunch but saltiness roasted toasted nuttiness and then that amazing strawberry vinegarette that just rounds everything out oh I could go on and on eating this and talking about it is just so good for sure my most favorite of this entire video wow I think we’re going to I think we’re going to have to um I think we’re going to have to it’s Friday night I have just spent the entire day in the kitchen doing this recipe video this is my favorite wine right now AR grapes so good Italy wine of course Dio CG Caroline wine isn’t healthy alcohol is not healthy the Mediterranean diet I thought it’s only red wine I don’t drink to drink I drink to enjoy I drink with food I drink on a gorgeous Friday night and I usually have one not that I’m justifying myself you you’re like trying to tell you what to do whatever alcohol is never good in the health world no for sure but oh enjoying yourself is indulging in life is alcohol is never good but one glass to make a beautiful evening even more crisp and live a beautiful 100 100 plus years Chen Chen so anyways I think I have to drink some delicious ice cold refreshing beautiful white wine and go have the rest of this salad out on my patio and have a absolutely Vestal evening that wraps it up thank you so much for watching you know the drill leave a comment below which one are you most excited to try what did you love from this video what did you not like but in a nice way what would you like to see from me what are your suggestions like I said in the beginning I don’t need to read it myself but this was a little test this was a little bit of figuring it out finding out what lights what angles you know I was just sick of not trying I was scared to jump back into recipe videos I was definitely nervous today I’m like I haven’t done a recipe video since February and it’s May 30th but I think we did it just fine you know I’m only here because of you so drop a comment below like this video if you like the modern Mediterranean Vibe and creating a zestful day then go ahead and subscribe and I think that’s it thank you so so so much for watching I really really hope you enjoyed this video and until next time I hope you create a very very zestful day ciao [Music] [Music] he