Summer Challenge: A Salad A Day

[Geila]

The exercise challenge was such a success that I'm ready to try something new now that it's finished.

Lately I've been pretty busy and have been relying on prepared foods more than I'd like. Tomorrow being the first day of summer seems like a good time to get back to fresh food. My goal will be to eat one salad meal per day. I tend to get into a rut with salads because there's a number of things I need to avoid: dairy, acidic foods, nuts. These are all the things that make salads fun. I get tired of store-bought dressing and can only do the olive oil/vinegar/citrus occasionally because of the acid.

With this challenge I'm going to see if I can broaden my salad ideas as well as trying out new homemade dressings.

[Ultralight]

A salad a day? Bless your heart!

I actually hate salads -- except Greek salads made at restaurants.

So I must say you have chosen one hell of a challenge!

[herbgeek]

Here's a couple of favorite salad dressings for you:

Asian Sesame

1/3 c canola oil (or other tasteless oil, not olive oil), 2 T hoisin sauce, 3 T rice vinegar, 1 T sesame seeds, 1 T dark sesame oil, 1 minced scallion

Maple Balsamic (or fig balsamic)

3 T balsamic vinegar, 2 T dark maple syrup (or fig butter), 1 t. dijon mustard, 1/2 c olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

[rosarugosa]

I love salads. Herbgeek, I definitely want to try that Maple Balsamic! I'm always happy with oil & vinegar, but DH is a more reluctant salad eater and definitely appreciates different dressings, and he adores maple syrup!
I make a creamy dressing with goat yogurt, olive oil, lemon and a Greek salad seasonings mix from Penzey's. I think you could change up the basic concept any way you wanted. I know some folks who can't tolerate cow dairy do well with goat.
I don't cook, so if I had to totally fend for myself, I would live on salads. I eat a salad every weekday for lunch. A few years ago when DH had a different work schedule, I also ate salad for dinner 2 - 3 nights a week. A couple of my favorite restaurants are favorites precisely because they have outstanding creative salads.
Good luck with your challenge!

[herbgeek]

In the summer, I'll often make 2-3 salads at a time and rotate through them for lunches, and to have as sides for dinner. There is usually a rotation of bean salad, potato salad, pasta salad, chopped vegetables salad, rice or couscous salad. For bean, it might be a 3 bean salad or black bean and corn. Potato usually cycles between a mayo based one and my mom's German one with oil, vinegar and chicken broth. Chopped vegetable salads are often what's fresh just mixed together (bell pepper, tomato and cucumber with a little onion is a favorite). A couscous salad would be likely to have some nuts, dried fruit and maybe fresh fruit. Then there's always fruit salads. All of these have liberal herbs from the garden.

And yes, we do occasionally have lettuce salads too. :D

[JaneV2.0]

I adore Green Goddess dressing. You could, theoretically, make it with just mayonnaise, but I use mayo and sour cream for creamy dressings. The anchovies and tarragon are key. I also like bacon dressing--a variant of thousand island--with mayo, sour cream, ketchup, bacon fat, and crumbled bacon. Guacamole is also tasty over mixed greens. Chef's salad is good, lends itself well to leftovers, and packs a protein punch. I'm a big fan of salads of many kinds.

http://www.chowhound.com/recipes/chows-green-goddess-dressing-28742

[Geila]

Here's a couple of favorite salad dressings for you:

Asian Sesame

1/3 c canola oil (or other tasteless oil, not olive oil), 2 T hoisin sauce, 3 T rice vinegar, 1 T sesame seeds, 1 T dark sesame oil, 1 minced scallion

Maple Balsamic (or fig balsamic)

3 T balsamic vinegar, 2 T dark maple syrup (or fig butter), 1 t. dijon mustard, 1/2 c olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Thanks herbgeek! I made the Asian Sesame dressing today and it is fantastic. It totally reminds me of Vietnamese spring rolls and I think I might have to make some soon to go with it. I think that counts as a salad. :)

[Gardenarian]

Great challenge! I'm in.
We picked our first tomatoes today, so good timing!

[herbgeek]

I think that counts as a salad.

Definitely counts as a salad. :D

[Geila]

The salad challenge has been going well. Only missed a couple of days when I was too tired to prep and just grabbed something quick and easy. Today I'm going to grill some marinated pork kabobs to have with the salad. I'm hoping the grilled pork will keep well and taste good as cold leftovers.

[Gardenarian]

I'm sticking with it so far.
Another heat wave has arrived, so salad is about the only thing I'm tempted to eat anyhow.
I've got to get some more dressing recipes - I pretty much stick with oil and vinegar.

[Geila]

I'm sticking with it so far.
Another heat wave has arrived, so salad is about the only thing I'm tempted to eat anyhow.
I've got to get some more dressing recipes - I pretty much stick with oil and vinegar.

You should try herbgeek's Asian Sesame dressing. It's delicious. Next week I'm going to buy some maple syrup and try her Balsamic Maple.

[rosarugosa]

Herbgeek: Thanks for the maple balsamic recipe. We tried it last weekend and really enjoyed it.

[herbgeek]

I can't really take the credit. The original recipes came from Stockbridge farms in Deerfield MA. There are 2 sisters who do cooking classes in the western MA area.

I like the maple balsamic too. I had been buying Stonewall Kitchens version at 8 dollars a bottle. Ouch.

[Gardenarian]

Still doing a salad a day!

[razz]

Still doing a salad a day!
So am I as it is too hot to do much cooking but I think that I will heat up the BBQ this morning and get some chicken cooked that I can then pull apart and freeze. Makes a lovely topping for salads