Awesome Salads?

NODe

Anyone have any good salad recipes that aren't instant artery cloggers? Something with a light dressing that's still tasty?
Trying to add some variety to the diet I'm on at the moment and I've exhausted my capacity for inventive salads.

claypoolfan

I like a good spinach salad with some balsamic vinagrette, broccoli, carrots, celery, red onions, garbanzo beans, some blue cheese, chicken and avocado.

DirtyDirtyVagrant

Not the be all and end all, but a very good starting point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ly69q7Ik4

MindLib

Probably not what you're looking for exactly but this:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Salad/SpinachBalsamic.htm

is delicious. I add kalamata olives to it too.

Jasconius

I like Newman's Own salad dressing. They make some vinaigrette and so forth that are pretty light.

No matter what, and the end of the day, salad dressing is still just oil and vinegar, but yeah, at least you can get one that doesn't have cheese in it.

Plus, allegedly, all the profits go to charity soooo.

NODe

Thanks folks.
Can't access YouTube at work so I'll check that one out later.

MindLib: Pretty much what I'm looking for. I'm limiting my sodium intake so I might have to watch the quantities there a little but it looks good.

claypoolfan: Thanks, similar to something I've tried before but a little more savory. Not sure why I'd forgotten about the existence of chick peas.

Tag

I've been doing vegetable roasts recently; they're not technically a salad but made from mostly the same things you would use for one so it might still work for your purposes.

My favorite is a few sprigs of Kale, 1/6-1/3 can of chickpeas, 1/2-1 head of broccoli, 1/2-1 turnip (cut into chunks, its like a healthy potato), 2-4 brussels sprouts, and 1/4-1/2 chopped onion. Throw them into a bowl and toss with a small amount of oil (just enough to get them coated so that they will brown). If you're a fan of spice (like me) you can add peppers and/or curry powder at this point, though the latter will be hard to do with low sodium probably.

Then just wrap it all in foil (I spread it evenly on a foil lined pan and wrap foil over the top), make a few slits on the top to let steam out, and toss it in the over at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. Everything will cook down as the water evaporates (so you end up with a lot less volume than it originally looks), but the veggies themselves will be absolutely delicious, and will go well with hummus or just on their own. Takes me about 10 minutes of prep time, and you can cut down the number of ingredients to shorten it; a favorite simple one for me is just roasted broccoli and hummus. Most veggies will also work, so feel free to substitute as you want, though I wouldn't recommend plain lettuce (kale works better and tasted much better when I tried).

Edit: You can also make a pretty healthy and filling stew with the above method. Instead of putting them in a pan, throw them in a pot (I use a Wok), add about 1/2 cup water and let cook covered on medium for ~10 minutes. Then uncover, add any sauce you want (soy, tarriaki, curry powder, chipotle, whatever), any peppers you want (don't add them before this, they lose their spice in the steam), add a small amount of water if things are drying out and let it cook on high for few more minutes. This gets you a lot more volume and a different taste than the roast since you prevent things from cooking down or burning/browning.

vonPoonBurGer

Lentil salad:
1 can of lentils, drained and rinsed
1 can of mandarin orange segments, drained
a few green onion shoots, chopped fine
half a green pepper, chopped fine
a small handful of dried cranberries
salt, pepper, oil & vinegar to taste
(This one gets better if it's left to sit a while. Prep it an hour or two before dinner and leave it in the fridge. If you've still got some left the second day, it'll taste even better then.)

Bean salad:
1 can of mixed beans (I usually get one that has mostly chick peas & kidney beans, with a few other kinds for color and variety), drained and rinsed
a few green onion shoots, chopped fine
half a green pepper, chopped fine
1 tomato, diced
3 or 4 marinated artichoke hearts, leaves (shoots? whatever you call 'em) separated from the root bit so you don't end up with a fat gob of artichoke in your salad
salt, pepper, oil & vinegar to taste

Pear salad:
leaf lettuce greens, washed and torn
1 ripe pear, chopped into 1/4" thick slivers
a handful of blue cheese, crumbled
a small handful of walnut pieces
oil, vinegar & maple syrup for the dressing

Strawberry salad:
leaf lettuce greens, washed and torn
a big handful of strawberries, washed, stems/leaves removed & cut into halves
a small handful of almond slivers
a small handful of fresh rosemary, washed & plucked from the stem
(Fresh rosemary is the key, dried doesn't turn out as nice. Rosemary and strawberries really complement each other flavor-wise. I thought it would be weird when my girlfriend first put this together, but I was dead wrong. This is why she's in charge of salads and I'm mostly on raw-meat-handling duty).


The lentil & bean salads are particularly heart-healthy because they're both high in fiber.

Heir

I make this a couple times a week, I love it:

Baby Spinach mix (usually has a few other kinds of greens in it too...Dole makes bags of them in your produce aisle)
Pine Nuts
Goat Cheese
Dried Cranberries
Cucumbers
And some Raspberry Vinagrette

ZEROID

Greens (get dark greens, not like ice berg lettuce)

Nuts (walnuts, pecans, pine nuts)

Fruit (mandarin oranges, raisins, dried cranberries)

Beans (kidney beans, chickpeas, tofu if you like asian stuffs)

Add onions if you like.

Optional croutons, cheese, meat. But really you don't even need these.


I used to eat lots of thousand island dressing with it. But now, I don't even need dressing. Sometimes I add balsamic vinegar but that's not every one's cup of tea. These salads are FILLING, DELICIOUS, and sooo HEALTHY. I don't even like beans all that much, but with these salad, I eat them up like its nobody's business.

dukederek

I make a variation of Nicoise salad involving:

lettuce
cucumber
red pepper
tinned tuna
red kidney beans
red onion
balsamic vinegar

I've possibly mangled the concept of Nicoise beyond recognition but frankly, I don't like salad but I love tuna and beans. I think maybe hard boiled eggs are part of a proper Nicoise salad as well but that sounds far too much like cooking to me...

King Kong

I just rock some iceberg with a packet of tuna thrown in. If I'm feeling fancy maybe some shredded cheese.

CooterTKE

My salad dressing consists of Fresh Garlic, Olive Oil and maybe some balsimic vinager.

Sheep

We make a spinach salad. Skip the dressing and use goat cheese instead. Add cranberries, walnuts, etc.

I also highly recommend tabouleh

How I make it:

2 big bunches of parsley. Chop it up with about a quarter of it's size in mint and either green or red onion. Roughly chop a can of chickpeas and add. Add pine nuts.

Mix up a quarter cup of lemon juice, ad a bit of good olive oil and garlic. Salt and pepper the greens and mix thoroughly.

Add tomato, cucumber, etc.

virgilsamms

I make salad dressing in a mortar and pestle and it always turns out great. Pound a whole clove of garlic into mush with some wasabi, add olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mmm tangy.

Scalfin

I'm partial to honey mustard vinaigrette.

Of course, whitefish salad is the best type of salad, but I don't think that's what you're looking for.

For stuff to put in it, I tend to like a mix of finely cut romaine and destemmed baby spinach (shut up, I'm picky) with nuts, asian pear, goat cheese, and Gorgonzola.

bsjezz

if you can get a hold of good avocados and mangos, you can make them into a really easy really good salad with butter lettuce or red lettuce, some walnuts and balsamic vinegar

that's it

Noquar

We like to slice strawberries and almonds into a bed of spinach and romaine, then sprinkle feta cheese over it. For dressing we use just about any that strike your fancy from the brand Walden Farms. They claim 0 calories, 0 sugar, 0 fat, 0, 0, 0. So far every flavor we have tried, we have liked.

The_Glad_Hatter

When i'm in a superhurry, i just get some mixed lettuce bags/ salad mix from the store, throw in some raisins and a chopped up red apple. Add some honeymustard and presto. speedsalad. (light honeymustard offcourse...)

mully

one that a restaurant i like serves is called chicken veronica and has

grilled chicken
grapes
cucumber
red pepper
mixed greens
cashews
and raspberry vinaigrette

i was unsure about the grapes but they were delicious

another restaurant salad ive had and loved just had

spinach
boiled eggs
feta
onions
prosciutto

i hate prosciutto on its own but in the salad its great

Richy

Two of my favourite salads:

Roquefort Pear Salad

Ingredients:
• 1 head leaf lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
• 3 pears - peeled, cored and chopped
• 5 ounces Roquefort cheese, crumbled
• 1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and diced
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a skillet over medium heat, stir 1/4 cup of sugar together with the pecans. Continue stirring gently until sugar has melted and caramelized the pecans. Carefully transfer nuts onto waxed paper. Allow to cool, and break into pieces.
2. For the dressing, blend oil, vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, mustard, chopped garlic, salt, and pepper.
3. In a large serving bowl, layer lettuce, pears, blue cheese, avocado, and green onions. Pour dressing over salad, sprinkle with pecans, and serve.

Baby Spinach Salad

Salad :
• 1 pack of baby spinach
• 1 orange cut in cubes
• 1 green apple cut in cubes
• ¼ cup dry cramberries
• ¼ cup of your favourite nuts (almonds and pecans work well)

Dressing:
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 to 2 tsp fruit vinegar (like apple vinegar or raspberry vinegar, but balsamic vinegar can work in a bind)

theclam

I had this last night:
Walnuts, Dried Apricots, Feta, Apples, Mixed Greens, Italian Dressing

swiftfix

A very good side salad I had the past two nights:

favorite lettuce
red onion
gorgonzola cheese crumbles
red pepper
cucumber
dried cranberries/craisins

Great home made salad dressing to go with it:

1/2 t salt
dash pepper
2 T sugar
2 T vinegar
1/2 cup oil
dash red pepper sauce
1 T parsley flakes