How to Make Light Summer Cooking Easy

We love it as a side for the barbecue, with a hearty main course or as a healthy starter in a multi-course menu. But how do you feel about giving your next salad the starring role? To make sure your summer salad works as a filling main that provides you with important nutrients, there are a few essential things to bear in mind when choosing the ingredients.

We'll show you how to make delicious, varied summer salads and give your summer cooking a tasty upgrade!

Why do we eat lighter in summer?

Have you ever noticed that in summer you're less hungry and have less appetite for hearty food? That's because your body doesn't need extra energy to keep warm. The rising outside temperature already takes care of raising your body temperature on its own. 

However, you shouldn't neglect eating when it's hot. When your body is exposed to great heat, you lose important minerals through sweating, such as potassium and sodium. To counter this, you should adjust your diet accordingly and focus on easily digestible food, mineral-rich food and the right energy sources. This is where our juices come in! Lightly chilled, they're the ideal snack of cold-pressed fruit and vegetables when you want to do something good for your body but aren't very hungry. Our slightly richer almond milk with banana also works as a small main meal, ideally with added vegan protein powder from frank. made from natural ingredients. 

What you can do about a potassium deficiency

The essential mineral potassium is, among other things, partly responsible for the acid-base balance and plays an important role in transmitting nerve impulses, which matters for muscle contractions, heart function and blood pressure regulation. 

A deficiency can show up as heart rhythm disturbances, muscle weakness and reduced reflexes, but also tiredness and headaches. Athletes who perform at a high level in great heat are often affected by potassium deficiency and wrongly put muscle cramps down to a magnesium deficiency. 

To counter a potassium deficiency in the hot months, you should eat foods containing potassium. 

The following foods have a high potassium content: 

• Bananas & apricots
• Carrots, avocado, peppers 
• Nuts & pulses 
• Wholemeal bread

What you can do about a sodium deficiency

Sodium is one of the electrolytes that, among other things, is responsible for the fluid balance in the body. It's taken in through food and drink and excreted  via sweat and urine. Healthy, well-functioning kidneys ensure a balanced sodium level. However, if the body needs more fluid in summer to regulate its temperature  and not enough sodium is taken in, deficiency symptoms can occur.

Sodium deficiency is one of the most common electrolyte disorders and can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and confusion in those affected. 

To counter a sodium deficiency in the hot months, you should salt your meals a little more than usual, as table salt is a good source of sodium. Rather than relying only on magnesium tablets, athletes are also advised to mix a little table salt into their drink. And of course, drinking enough fluid is the be-all and end-all! On hot days, we treat ourselves to our lemonades during exercise for an extra motivation boost.

How do I create a delicious summer salad?

Despite rising temperatures and a smaller appetite, it's especially important in summer to pay attention to a balanced diet. Fresh fruit and vegetables make it a breeze to conjure up a colourful, nutrient-rich plate in the warm season. 

To make sure your light summer cooking gives you all the important nutrients your body needs, there are a few key basic rules to follow when putting together salads and the like.

The base 

The base of a salad is, surprise surprise, lettuce. But there are some important things to keep in mind when shopping. Avoid pre-cut salad, as it has a much higher germ count and also creates unnecessary packaging waste.

When buying, look for regional produce. In summer, salad varieties like iceberg lettuce, butterhead lettuce and rocket are in season. You'll often find the best yet cheapest quality at local weekly markets, but we can also recommend organic quality from the supermarket.

Your source of fibre

As you may have already read in our last blog article on a high-fibre diet, fibre is important for a long-lasting feeling of fullness and at the same time supports your gut health. 

So that your salad can slip into a starring role, you should make sure it includes a good source of fibre. Wholegrain pasta, lentils, chickpeas or quinoa, as in today's recipe, work well in salads. 

Your source of protein 

If you reduce your carbohydrate intake in summer, your metabolism falls back on your fat and protein stores for energy. To make sure your protein stores are topped up regularly, you should include a high-quality protein source when putting your salad together. We've summed up why protein plays such a special role for your body in this blog article!

Besides turkey and strips of beef fillet, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, peanuts and tofu are also rich sources of protein for your summer salad. 

The sweet touch

Who actually said that only vegetables are allowed in a tasty salad? Colourful, bold and crunchy, that's how salad should be! So we say be brave, try something new and work your way through the fruit and vegetables of the season.

In summer especially, you have a big choice of fresh fruits that work perfectly in salads too and often mask the bitter note. Our favourite with rocket, for example, is strawberry! And blueberries combined with walnuts are an absolute must.

The dressing 

We know that the dressing is the real game-changer in a salad. That's why you should take special care to choose the right ingredients for the dressing. No matter how healthy your earlier choices were, a ready-made dressing from the supermarket can spoil a healthy meal in the end.

Ready-made salad dressings often contain a lot of sugar and artificial additives that give them a longer shelf life. 

In our eyes, completely unnecessary, because a salad dressing is quickly whipped up and basically consists of just a few ingredients. The base is usually one part acid, such as apple cider vinegar, lemon or white wine vinegar, twice the amount of oil, for example olive oil or sesame oil, and fresh herbs or spices for a special note. 

Besides the basics, you can also refine your salad dressing with tahini for an oriental touch. 

To balance out bitter notes, natural sweeteners like agave, maple syrup or honey work well.

Did you know that you can make an Asian dressing in record time with our ginger shots? With sesame or peanut oil, a little soy sauce and lemongrass, nothing stands in the way of an Asian-inspired salad!

Light summer cooking: vegan quinoa and tofu salad

Serves 2, preparation time: approx. 30 minutes + overnight

Our delicious quinoa and tofu salad is perfect for light summer cooking and also as a to-go salad for the office. Quick to make, it gives you all the important nutrients, and tomato and cucumber give you extra fluid too. 

By the way, 100 g of quinoa  already gives you 25% of your daily iron requirement, 50% of your daily magnesium requirement and, with 14.5 g of protein, covers half of the recommended amount of protein. The rest of your daily protein requirement is covered by the tofu. You see, even a salad can be a real powerhouse. Enjoy!

Here's how
The evening before: first rinse the quinoa in a sieve under warm water. This removes bitter compounds and makes the quinoa softer. Then put the quinoa in a pot with 200ml of water and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes. Then take it off the heat and let it cool down completely. 

Once the quinoa has cooled overnight or after a few hours, dice the smoked tofu, tomatoes and cucumber and add everything to the quinoa. Mix the ingredients, then stir in the lemon juice, olive oil, herb salt and ⅔ of the parsley (chopped). 

Finally, season the salad with pepper and salt and garnish it with the remaining parsley leaves.