Saladstravaganza!

[fidgiegirl]

I would like to eat more salad, perhaps at every dinner.

We had a delish salad of spring/herb mix, olives, walnuts, seasoned feta and red wine vinaigrette last night.
Tonight it was romaine, parmesan, Greek dressing (homemade), raisins (that part was a little weird, but tasty).

What are some of your faves?

[Rosemary]

I eat salad 1-2x/day. I think of it as a blank canvas - just about anything goes. I like to have something salty and something sweet on my salads, something crunchy (which is almost everything on a salad, but sometimes some additional nuts) and lots of color. The sweet is generally fresh or dried fruit (I don't think raisins are weird, at all!); salty can be the dressing, feta, capers, olives, salted nuts/seeds. I use both cooked and raw veggies on salads, depending on what I have.

Tonight I was in a hurry and my main dinner dish was a pile of veggies anyway, so I just had a simple side salad of Romaine, bell pepper, grapes, and honey mustard dressing. (Main dish was roasted eggplant, roasted mushrooms, and steamed kale with about a tbsp of bolognese sauce, served hot).

I prefer for some veggies to be cooked before adding to salad, like cauliflower, mushrooms, broccoli, brussels sprouts (unless they are shredded, which are tasty and easy to chew raw), zucchini, eggplant, beets. All of those are excellent roasted and then added hot or cold to a salad. Roasted carrots are lovely as well. I prefer my raw carrots to be shredded for salad. Roasted tofu cubes are also good. As are roasted cubes of butternut or other winter squash. Either the tofu or the squash cubes (or roasted potato cubes, even) are a good stand-in for croutons for us GF folks.

For a main-dish salad I like the tofu cubes, or some chicken/turkey/salmon. I keep poached chicken in the freezer for quick meals, and usually have canned salmon around. But usually my salads are vegan, with nuts/seeds on top of lots of veggies and a little fruit.

[Tussiemussies]

Just love salad and love all of the ones the serve at Cheesecake Factory. Nice combinations. Although not a huge variety. Wonder if you can google their salads for the list of ingredients. One I really liked is Farmers Salad, has grilled asparagus, goat cheese and roasted beets on a bed of baby spinach.

Their Ceaser salad is good because they sauté their crotons in oil the way it used to be served many years ago.

They have a small serving if Arugula salad which has raisins in it and it is really good, so don't feel bad about your raisins! Cannot remember what else is in it. DH order the traditional Cobb salad and I get the Chopped Salad, unfortunately I cannot remember what is in it beside the chopped apple, corn and Gorgonzola cheese.

I'm sure my Vegetarian cookbooks have many varieties but they are are all packed away for now. :(

[Tussiemussies]

Kellie, here is. Google page listing Cheesecake Factory salds and ingredients. We order ors with no meat and they are just as good!

https://www.google.com/search?q=cheesecake+factory+salads&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

[fidgiegirl]

MMM! I was also thinking that throwing in some almond slices and clementine pieces would be yummers.

[bUU]

2 cups wheat berries
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 tbsp grapeseed oil (olive oil can be substituted)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp salt
6 tbsps fresh mint
1 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup cilantro
1 cucumber
3 large green onions
1 cup parsley
1 cup chopped red pepper
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 can kidney beans


Directions
1. Chop vegetables into little squares.
2. Chop spices coarsely.
3. Mix all together. Yummy!

[pinkytoe]

Our regular dinner salad is some mix of salad greens and the usual suspects along with whatever else I have - nuts, dried fruit, citrus, pears, apples, snow peas, radishes...Also like chopped Greek style salads with lots of crisp lettuce, red bells, cukes, tomatos, olives, feta. One night, I lightly sauteed some sardines and added those. Can also add chick peas to the greek salad. My big experiment though has been making salad dressings from scratch - our current favorite is oil-free with just some white miso, vinegar, ginger and garlic.

[Alan]

I've always been a fan of simple salads but have recently began exploring, and enjoying, a fancier type. Today, I'll be enjoying a chicken and spinach salad with craisins, gorgonzola, apples, walnuts and lemon yogurt dressing.

[decemberlov]

We had this one last night and everyone loved it! The recipe is for 4-5 servings so you can cut in half if it's just you and your husband.


Blackened Skirt Steak
BLT Salad

(1 T smoked paprika)
(1 t ground cumin)
(1 t garlic powder)
(1 t onion powder)
(1 t dried oregano)
(½ t kosher salt)
(½ t black pepper)
(1 t olive oil)
1 lb skirt or flank steak
10 oz bag spring mix salad greens
2 c chopped tomatoes
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
½ c thinly sliced red onion
(3 T red wine vinegar)
(3 T extra virgin olive oil)
(2 t Dijon mustard)
(1 t minced garlic)
(Salt and pepper to taste)

Preheat broiler. Combine paprika, cumin, garlic powder,
onion powder, oregano, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
Brush oil evenly over steak. Sprinkle both sides evenly with
spice mixture, pressing to adhere. Place on a broiler pan.
Broil 4 inches from heat for 8-10 minutes, turning once.
Remove from oven; let stand 15 minutes before slicing.
Combine greens, tomatoes, bacon, and red onion in a
large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine vinegar, oil, mustard,
garlic, salt, and pepper; stir with a whisk. Pour dressing over
salad, and toss to combine. Serve steak over salad.

[JaneV2.0]

I haven't been very inventive with salads, and since I've decided to make my own dressings I haven't made many. But I ran across a recipe (in The Truck Food Cookbook) for tarragon/anchovy/dill mayonnaise that spurs my interest. I think I would make two versions though: tarragon/anchovy and dill/anchovy. The first one would make a good base for Green Goddess.

[rosarugosa]

I recently had a salad at a local restaurant made of arugula, beets, goat cheese and pistachios. It was delicious, so I've added beets, arugula and pistachios to my list of possible add-ins (goat cheese is already a regular).

[fidgiegirl]

Drooling! Delicious, all!

[puglogic]

My current obsession is a romaine salad with goat cheese, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, and lemon vinaigrette. But I'm an equal opportunity salad eater.