summer salads please

Anyone have recipes for easy low calorie summer salads? Going beyond potato salad and macaroni salad... Thanks!:smile:

Replies

  • miracole
    miracole Posts: 492 Member
    current favourites:

    1. Spinach salad with nectarines, cucumber, goat cheese, almonds, a few dried cranberries and (sometimes) cherry tomatoes served with a vinaigrette of some king (mango vinaigrette is always good)

    2. Spinach base with pear, pecans and feta with a raspberry vinaigrette. (also good when you add chicken)
  • aghack
    aghack Posts: 107 Member
    Here's one of my creations...I love it.

    Chickpea salad

    2 cans garbanzo beans/chickpeas (rinsed
    1 clove of garlic minced
    2 red bell peppers, chopped into pieces about the same size as the chickpeas
    1 whole cucumber, seeds scooped out and cut into small chunks
    handful of raw spinach, shredded/ chopped into small bits
    handfull (small bunch) cilantro diced up very fine
    2 tablespoons of olive oil

    Mix all ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste.

    This salad keeps in the fridge for 4 days and has 7 servings (1 cup each) with only 168 calories per serving. It's my go-to salad for lunch, and it's packed with flavor and very nutritious.
  • My Cool Cucumber salad! Fat free and around 30 Calories

    •1/2 cup fat free/ light sour cream
    •3 tablespoons white vinegar
    •1 tablespoon sugar substitute
    •Pepper to taste
    •4 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced
    •1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings
  • aghack
    aghack Posts: 107 Member
    Another one:

    Cucumber salad

    3 large cucumbers, sliced thin
    2 tbspoons of fresh green onions, sliced thin
    1/4 cup of lite sour cream
    juice of 1/2 lemon

    Mix all ingredients and let sit in fridge for a few hours. this makes 6 1/2 cup servings with basically no calories. (1/4 cup of Breakstones light sour cream only has 80 calories, 3 whole cucumbers have 150 calories, lemon juice has 6 calories, so the 6 servings are splitting 231 calories for a grand total of 38.5 cal per serving).

    This one works great for picnics, grilling, etc when you want to skip potato salad or coleslaw, but still want the cool, creamy salad that remind you of summer.
  • plr150
    plr150 Posts: 10
    Are you making your own vinegarettes?
  • FairuzyAmanuzy
    FairuzyAmanuzy Posts: 221 Member
    Kale salad with walnuts, raisins, granny smith apples and red peppers. Tossed in olive oil and red wine vinegar. Season with a little pinch of salt and pepper....it's amazing,.
  • plr150
    plr150 Posts: 10
    this looks awesome thanks!
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Quinoa salad is great - try pomegrantae beads and mint.

    Dressing is dead easy - I like to use hemp oil, or walnut oil, especially if I have toasted walnuts in the salad. And either lemon/ lime juice or balsamic vinegar.
  • rides4sanity
    rides4sanity Posts: 1,269 Member
    My Favorite Summer Salad to take to picnics... Red White & Blue Fruit Salad serves ~ 20 people ( cals:37, carbs: 9, Fiber:12, fat:1, protien: 3, sodium: 10 - according to MFP recipe calc.)

    2 Containers of Fresh Strawberries - cut in halves or quartered
    2 containers of Fresh Blueberries (~2 C) - whole
    1 lb of white seedless grapes - whole or halved (when I was expecting a lot of small kids)
    1/4C Orange Juice with no pulp (I use Tropicana no pulp + calcium & Vit D)
    1/4C Honey

    Clean & prepare fruit, place in large bowl. Whisk orange juice and honey together. Pour mixture over fruit and toss. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Best if allowed to sit for 2-4 hours before serving.

    The OJ/Honey creates a very light glaze and just a hint of sweetness. Most of all I like that people like it and don't think of it as "healthy stuff" even though its kind of is. :flowerforyou:
  • paulwgun
    paulwgun Posts: 439 Member
    Salad Nicoise :bigsmile:
  • Rilke
    Rilke Posts: 1,201 Member
    With all the recommending I do of Smitten Kitchen's recipes, people are going to start thinking I'm affiliated. But I'm not. They're just great recipes.

    http://smittenkitchen.com/recipes/#Salad
  • lil_pulp
    lil_pulp Posts: 701 Member
    My family's current favorite (I'm cutting and pasting from allrecipes.com). I omit the olives and cut the olive oil down to about 2 Tbsp and use more like a whole bell pepper (usually orange because I like how it looks with the red tomatoes). We love this and it's so easy!

    Herb Vegetable Orzo Salad


    Ingredients

    1 cup uncooked orzo pasta
    2 cups frozen corn, thawed
    1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
    1/2 cup grape or cherry tomatoes
    1/2 cup pitted Greek olives, halved
    1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
    1/4 cup minced fresh basil
    2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
    3 tablespoons olive oil
    2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1/4 teaspoon pepper

    Directions

    Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and rinse in cold water. Place in a large serving bowl; add the corn, red pepper, tomatoes, olives, onion, basil and parsley. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper; shake well. Pour over salad and toss to coat.
  • haeffel2
    haeffel2 Posts: 34
    check out undressedskeleton.tumblr.com (I know the skeleton thing sounds iffy, but she explains on her blog that it's referring to the "real her" underneath) but she has links on the side for some seriously tasty recipes (they're my got-o for lunches) and she has a whole category for salads!
  • kssnyd65
    kssnyd65 Posts: 23 Member
    Your chickpea salad sounds awesome :)
  • Delicious Zucchini & Beat Salad!

    This salad is so colourful and tasty! Perfect fora summer bbq and super LOW CAL!

    http://lowcaloriecupboard.blogspot.ca/2012/12/zucchini-beat-salad.html
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I love quinoa salad - cooked quinoa (cooled), rinsed canned beans (or cook your own - I'm lazy), chopped vegetables of your choice. I dress with a homemade vinaigrette made from lime juice, olive oil, hot sauce, herbs and spices. I always get asked for the recipe when I take this to picnics or cookouts.
  • rwiersema
    rwiersema Posts: 9 Member
    When summer comes I love a melon salad that you can mix and match using cantelope or watermelon or both.

    1/2 watermelon cubed
    1 long english cucumber cubed
    red onion - to your own taste
    1/4 cup seeded sunflower seeds (or more or another seed choice)
    1 cup feta cheese ( again more or less if you like)
    fresh chopped basil or you can use mint leaves

    Dressing:
    grape seed oil
    white wine vinegar
    honey
    salt & pepper to taste

    This salad is so refreshing and is so veristile. the dressing is made to each persons liking I just made it up and don't really have a recipe. The salad I've tried a few combos this one is the best for me.

    thanks enjoy!
  • shannashannabobana
    shannashannabobana Posts: 625 Member
    Buy some of those awesome mini yellow tomatoes, halve them, add some mozzerella and basil! Yum, yum, yum! (I have a whole bunch in my fridge right now and I'm just eating them plain).

    Mark Bittman had a great list of salads a while back:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/dining/22mlist.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0