Salads 101
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AllOutof_Bubblegum
Posts: 3,646 Member
in Recipes
Someone once told me they "suck at salads", which totally blew my mind, because I'm obsessed with them. What's not to love about them?? Endless possibilities, jam-packed full of nutrients, delicious, low-calorie, and (if you do them right) filling! I LOVE eating, and I can eat a LOT, but being as small I as I am I have to watch my calorie intake very closely. So salads it is for me. I eat about 5 a week or more.
Anyway, I thought I'd share a little Salads 101 with y'all, in case the dreaded salad cluelessness is more common than I realized.
1. Start with a base of a green leafy vegetable, (any lettuce, kale, raw spinach, arugula, all of the above, whatever.) Red leaf lettuce and butter lettuce are my favorites.
3. Add in your peripheral vegetables, anything you want: celery, broccoli, asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, carrots, etc. They don't all have to be raw, either. They can be prepared any way you like best.
3. Add your protein. Grilled chicken cubes, salmon, tuna, beans and rice (yes, rice in a salad!) ground beef, steak strips, tofu, all the protein!! It doesn't have to be cold, I actually really enjoy the juxtaposition of a cold crunchy salad with hot bits of meat mixed in.
4. Now for the fun stuff! Cubed cheese, sliced hard-boiled egg, croutons, Kalamata olives, sunflower seeds, walnuts, beans, slivered almonds, crushed tortilla chips, strawberries, crumbled feta, avocado. (This is the best part of a salad, but make sure to exercise a little restraint and not go overboard, since most of these things are a lot higher in calories and fat than the rest of the salad. Be judicious in your portions.)
5. Dressing! There are so many, get out there and experiment. Just remember that salad dressing is a condiment, not an integral part of the salad. Don't go nuts, or you could negate the entire low-calorie point of a salad. Just stick to the portion size on the label, and you'll be fine.
If I ever feel stuck, I just think of an underlying theme I want to go with. Greek? Easy. Feta, olives and cucumbers with tomatoes and lemon juice and olive oil as a dressing. Mexican? Ground beef/pollo preparado, tortilla chip strips, tomatoes, salsa, and ranch dressing. The possibilities are totally endless.
Happy Salading! Share your favorite salads in the comments, if you like.
Anyway, I thought I'd share a little Salads 101 with y'all, in case the dreaded salad cluelessness is more common than I realized.
1. Start with a base of a green leafy vegetable, (any lettuce, kale, raw spinach, arugula, all of the above, whatever.) Red leaf lettuce and butter lettuce are my favorites.
3. Add in your peripheral vegetables, anything you want: celery, broccoli, asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, carrots, etc. They don't all have to be raw, either. They can be prepared any way you like best.
3. Add your protein. Grilled chicken cubes, salmon, tuna, beans and rice (yes, rice in a salad!) ground beef, steak strips, tofu, all the protein!! It doesn't have to be cold, I actually really enjoy the juxtaposition of a cold crunchy salad with hot bits of meat mixed in.
4. Now for the fun stuff! Cubed cheese, sliced hard-boiled egg, croutons, Kalamata olives, sunflower seeds, walnuts, beans, slivered almonds, crushed tortilla chips, strawberries, crumbled feta, avocado. (This is the best part of a salad, but make sure to exercise a little restraint and not go overboard, since most of these things are a lot higher in calories and fat than the rest of the salad. Be judicious in your portions.)
5. Dressing! There are so many, get out there and experiment. Just remember that salad dressing is a condiment, not an integral part of the salad. Don't go nuts, or you could negate the entire low-calorie point of a salad. Just stick to the portion size on the label, and you'll be fine.
If I ever feel stuck, I just think of an underlying theme I want to go with. Greek? Easy. Feta, olives and cucumbers with tomatoes and lemon juice and olive oil as a dressing. Mexican? Ground beef/pollo preparado, tortilla chip strips, tomatoes, salsa, and ranch dressing. The possibilities are totally endless.
Happy Salading! Share your favorite salads in the comments, if you like.
11
Replies
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Great topic! Some of the things I tried recently were worth mentioning here. I made a salad with spinach, a little red onion, pear slices, Gorgonzola, white balsamic, olive oil, salt and pepper.
A tip I just learned is to always dress a salad with seasonings and vinegar first. Your oil should be very last. If you put the oil first it will coat everything and the vinegar will not get a chance to season anything.
I also just made a ginger dressing this week. It was so good! The recipe found here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yjb963OqY_8
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Thanks for doing this topic! I'm very new to salads, but as you say they're brilliant for a calorie budget, and are so customisable.1
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I love this!
My favorite salad recently is hamburger salad. I do a mixture of iceberg/romaine lettuce topped with tomato, onion, cheddar cheese, croutons and ground beef. I mix together mayo (or Miracle Whip) and ketchup for the dressing and it's amazing!5 -
I also love salads. My tips!
If you're roasting veg for dinner, cook lots extra and use leftovers for salads. Tomorrow my salad will have leftover roast cauliflower and beets. I also love to add bits of salty pickles, capers, marinated artichoke hearts, olives--something with some bite.
Easy to make dressings:
Tahini, lemon juice, maple syrup, bit of water, cayenne or other spices. I tend to do around one tbs of each (except the spices), and then thin it a little more with lemon or water if it's still too thick.
Peanut butter, siracha, soy sauce, water. Satay dressing! Again, similarish sort of ratios until it's the texture and amount I want.
Houmous as a dressing--it mixes in pretty well and is delicious
Pesto as a dressing--same.
Nonfat yogurt and ranch dressing seasoning.
Lemon and olive oil with pepper.
I tend not to buy bottles of premade dressings as I get bored and prefer to mix it up.
My protein go-tos (I'm pescatarian):
Salmon, quorn pieces, quorn fillets, chickpeas, black beans, crumbled veggie burger patties, cheese, veggie sausages, tuna
I sometimes spiralise veggies and put them in that way if I want to change up the texture.5 -
Recently, my favorite salad has become a combo of (mostly) raw chopped vegetables. Bell peppers, cauliflower, blanched broccoli, blanched green beans, cucumbers, cabbage, onions/green onions, radishes, jicama, celery, fennel, carrots. No tomatoes, they decompose. No lettuce, either.2
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I love putting roasted sweet potatoes or squash in my salads as well as steameed green beans and avocado with some protein mmmm1
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My salads have to also have toasted nuts. Also, that wonderful vegie, fennel! And @Redhededkewty 's too-often forgotten root vegetable -- jicama. And is a salad legitimate without avocado?1
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Romaine with roasted chicken, feta, walnuts, green apple, and poppy seed dressing is my staple.2
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