Salad Recipes

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notquittingthistime1984
notquittingthistime1984 Posts: 96 Member
in Recipes
Hey everyone!
Does anyone have any good salad recipes? I'm trying to up my veggie intake, but suck at salads. Like seriously, I do lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and ranch dressing. So, I'm looking to expand my salad horizons. TIA!

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  • amandapawelk
    amandapawelk Posts: 96 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I know pinterest has a lot
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    Spinach salad is still my favorite. Spinach, egg, bacon, sometimes pecans...and I make a dressing with the warm bacon drippings (1 tbs) water and a pinch of sugar.

    I also like arugula with fruit (strawberries or peaches is my favorite) walnuts, and goat cheese. I usually do a balsamic dressing with that one, but poppy seed would be good too.

    If you get super tired of your salad switch out lettuce for a different base, like rice, quinoa, or vermicelli noodles. I make a deconstructed summer roll salad with vermicelli, mint, basil, cilantro, cucbumber, shredded carrots, and protien...for dressing a peanut butter, hoisin dressing. so good or a Nuoc Cham dressing. Maybe put some crushed peanuts on top. Just google Vietnamese Summer Rolls and don't put them in the wrappers.
  • WendyLaubach
    WendyLaubach Posts: 518 Member
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    It may sound weird, but I really like a salad with beets, apples, feta cheese, pine nuts, and a vinaigrette. You roast or microwave the beets until they're tender, then cube them small, ditto for the apples, and just mix it all together. Beets alone can be a bit cloying, but with the tart apple and the salt cheese they're phenomenal. Nobody believes this salad until they taste it.

    For my dinner salad every night, I start with salad greens and add chopped up red bell peppers, carrots, fresh corn cut off the cob, sliced hearts of palm (they come in cans or jars), jicama, and cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle some salt on there and you won't even need much dressing. It's a lot of fiber without a ton of calories.

    I second all of Enterdanger's suggestions. We put supremed orange slices in a spinach salad like that, and chopped up green olives, which makes a nice combination of chewy and salty and crunchy.

    A simple pickling for cucumber slices makes them a good salad by themselves, or added to another salad: just cover the cucumber slices with whatever vinegar you have handy, perhaps diluted with some water, and add generous amounts of salt and sugar. (Unless you drink the vinegar when you're done, not that much of the salt and sugar is going into you, so don't worry. But I must say that drinking the vinegar is pretty darned tasty.)

    Carrot salad is an old standby. Shred or grate the carrots and add mayo, plus some combination of nuts, dried fruit (raisins? cranberries?), and maybe an undried fruit like pineapple, then salt and pepper to taste.

    Ever tried lentils? Easy to cook and good to add to salads. Like most legumes, they'll take on all kinds of flavors, and you can get lentil recipes out of nearly every cooking tradition in the world. They cook much faster than most beans.

    Melon, avocado, and cherry tomato with honey-lime dressing is terrific. So is grapefruit and avocado.
  • NaturalNancy
    NaturalNancy Posts: 1,093 Member
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    Seedless cucumber sliced thin
    Green apples sliced thin
    Onions (red or white) sliced thin
    (Chopped green onions if you want)
    Roasted peanuts
    Tablespoon of vinegar (any kind)
    (Tablespoon of olive oil if you want)
    Salt
    Pepper
    Onion and garlic powder
  • ejbronte
    ejbronte Posts: 867 Member
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    I tried this in France a few years ago and really liked it - easy to make: localfoods.about.com/od/tossedsalads/r/Goat-Cheese-Salad.htm

    Salade Nicoise:
    marthastewart.com/313979/tuna-salad-nicoise

    Pipirranas:
    spanishfood.about.com/od/salads/r/Spanish-Pipirrana-Salad-Recipe-Ensalada-Pipirrana.htm

    Liquify the Pipirranas and you get gazpacho.

    Related to the above: Salmorejo:
    spanishsabores.com/2011/09/22/antonias-salmorejo-recipe/
  • kimmie2128
    kimmie2128 Posts: 16 Member
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    I had a salad at a restaurant once that was chicken, egg, cucumber, green bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, and celery.
  • skinnyutahgurl
    skinnyutahgurl Posts: 19 Member
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    Cheeseburger Salad: I put all of the things you would put on a cheese burger in a bowl. So, lettuce, tomato, chopped bacon, red onion, chopped dill pickles, shredded cheddar and cut up cooked lean burger or ground meat. What ever dressing you like, I like to use bottled mustard as my dressing. Yum!
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    edited August 2016
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    notquittingthistime1984 wrote: »
    Hey everyone!
    Does anyone have any good salad recipes? I'm trying to up my veggie intake, but suck at salads. Like seriously, I do lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and ranch dressing. So, I'm looking to expand my salad horizons. TIA!

    Here's things I've tried and really enjoyed, but um, not all at once: :laugh:

    Various greens
    Shredded cheese/cheese chunks/goat/feta/blue cheese any cheese crumbles are awesome!
    hard boiled eggs
    red onions sliced
    garbanzo beans
    green peas
    red peppers sliced or chopped (other colors are great too)
    bacon bits
    baked chicken chopped
    walnuts or almonds
    sunflower seeds (I use raw/unsalted mmm)
    chia seeds
    flax seeds
    quinoa
    brown rice
    cucumbers
    tomatoes
    zucchini
    cabbage red or green
    carrots
    black beans
    celery
    mushrooms
    fruit - sliced strawberries
    cuties squeezed over salad or some sections tossed in. :p
    whole blueberries etc.

    and the list goes on... but I'm falling asleep.. :sleeping:
    The sky is the limit on salad add-ins but sometimes I get stuck too and start using the same things over and over.

    I find it really helps to prep the salad add-ins. I don't toss everything in at once.. depends on how it will store. I find it far easier to chop and store separately so I can measure and weigh when I make a salad.

    Have fun creating salads with your new ideas from the thread! ;)
  • AnarchistKitchen
    AnarchistKitchen Posts: 139 Member
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    I ate this kale salad every day for years then forgot about it for the last 6 years. I made this again recently and it was great! Nutritional flakes with avocado is magical for sure. I often add cheese to my husband's bowl. #1 key: make sure the kale is wilted by either massaging the greens or just letting it sit for a minute with salt all over it to help break it down. 97nurk6bo4u5.jpg

    https://richbitchcooking.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/simple-raw-vegan-cheesy-kale-salad-the-best/

    This is a homemade chipotle bowl. I haven't made this in a while but this has all of the elements of a good salad but way more substantial. 9wswt3b41w9v.jpg

    https://richbitchcooking.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/better-than-chipotle-my-veggie-bowl-vegan-fat-free-optional/
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    WendyLaubach wrote: »
    It may sound weird, but I really like a salad with beets, apples, feta cheese, pine nuts, and a vinaigrette. You roast or microwave the beets until they're tender, then cube them small, ditto for the apples, and just mix it all together. Beets alone can be a bit cloying, but with the tart apple and the salt cheese they're phenomenal. Nobody believes this salad until they taste it.

    For my dinner salad every night, I start with salad greens and add chopped up red bell peppers, carrots, fresh corn cut off the cob, sliced hearts of palm (they come in cans or jars), jicama, and cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle some salt on there and you won't even need much dressing. It's a lot of fiber without a ton of calories.

    I second all of Enterdanger's suggestions. We put supremed orange slices in a spinach salad like that, and chopped up green olives, which makes a nice combination of chewy and salty and crunchy.

    A simple pickling for cucumber slices makes them a good salad by themselves, or added to another salad: just cover the cucumber slices with whatever vinegar you have handy, perhaps diluted with some water, and add generous amounts of salt and sugar. (Unless you drink the vinegar when you're done, not that much of the salt and sugar is going into you, so don't worry. But I must say that drinking the vinegar is pretty darned tasty.)

    Carrot salad is an old standby. Shred or grate the carrots and add mayo, plus some combination of nuts, dried fruit (raisins? cranberries?), and maybe an undried fruit like pineapple, then salt and pepper to taste.

    Ever tried lentils? Easy to cook and good to add to salads. Like most legumes, they'll take on all kinds of flavors, and you can get lentil recipes out of nearly every cooking tradition in the world. They cook much faster than most beans.

    Melon, avocado, and cherry tomato with honey-lime dressing is terrific. So is grapefruit and avocado.

    I love beets. I make a beet salad with roasted beets, orange segments, goat cheese, and candied pistachios. so good. Yours sounds yummy too. I do recommend that you wear gloves and cut your beets on a paper plate if you get purple beets. Beets stain bad. I cop out and get golden beets when I can find them.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Harvest salad - Spring mix, grilled chicken, feta or gorgonzola, chopped tart apples, craisins & pecans. Vinaigrette is nice.

    Caesar - romaine, grilled chicken, Italian blend cheese, croutons & Caesar dressing.

    Instead of lettuce I like matchstick carrots, sliced celery, (thawed) green peas & Newman's Light Sesame Ginger dressing.

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