Salad

Salad #52 – Healthy Taco Salad

September 21, 2014 by danawyyc Leave a Comment

I’m a big fan of taco salads. I find the ones that you can get at a restaurant tend to be really high in calories though. Taco Salads don’t have to be in order to be filling and delicious.

Increase the nutritional content by swapping the traditional iceberg for romaine lettuce.
Reduce the meat but none of the taste by making it into a dry chili with salsa, tomatoes, red kidney beans and spices.
Or swap the ground beef for lean ground turkey.
For creaminess, add avocado or just a tsp of mayo or sour cream to the chili.
Use a small amount of a strong cheese like old cheddar.
Crush just a tortilla chip or two for crunch.

Salad #52 - Healthy Taco Salad

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

Romaine lettuce, ripped into bite sized pieces
Cooked ground beef
Chopped tomatoes
Red kidney beans
Salsa
Taco Seasoning
Avocado
Old Cheddar, shredded
a tsp of mayo or sour cream (optional)
A couple of tortilla chips (optional)

Instructions

Mix up the ground beef, chopped tomatoes, red kidney beans, salsa and taco seasoning. Heat in a frying pan until cooked through or just mix cold.
Layer your salad starting with the lettuce then add the dry chili and top with avocado, cheese, and optional ingredients.

Healthy Taco Salad - talkinginallcaps.com

Did They Eat It?

Stephen: It was good.
Nicky (2 years old): Liked the meat, beans and peppers.
Gordie (5 years old): “Too spicy!”
Dana: I love this salad. I like adding just a little bit of mayo for some creaminess.

Salad #51 – Pizza Salad

August 28, 2014 by danawyyc 4 Comments

When I told one of my friends that I wanted to make a pizza salad, she thought it sounded like the grossest thing she had ever heard. I have no idea what she had been imagining because when I told her what I was thinking she actually thought it sounded pretty good. This salad in no way will make you feel like you are eating a pizza. It’s definitely a salad. But a good salad. It’s easy to put together and you can mix it up by trying different dressings on the salad (maybe salsa or pesto?) or adding in different ingredients like mushrooms or olives. It would make a great salad for a light lunch.

Salad #51 - Pizza Salad

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

Pizza Salad Ingredients
Leafy Greens, ripped into bite sized pieces
Tomatoes, diced
Pepperoni slices
Shredded Cheese
Green Pepper, diced
Croutons (optional)
Catalina Dressing
2 TBSP ketchup
1 tsp sugar
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
4 TBSP canola oil
a few drops of worchestershire sauce
sprinkle of paprika
sprinkle of onion power or a tbsp of minced onion
salt and pepper

Instructions

Mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
Toss the salad ingredients with the dressing.

Did They Eat it?

Dana: I didn’t actually share this salad either. But I liked it. The catalina was my favorite, but I also tried it with thousand island and zesty Italian.

Salad #50 – Spinach, Tomato and Avocado Salad

August 21, 2014 by danawyyc 9 Comments

Some of the best salads are simple and just rely on a great combination of good foods. This salad could hardly be easier but I just can’t get enough. It’s a perfect dinner salad because it looks lovely but takes very little work. It’s also easy to make for 1 or for a large crowd.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Salad #50 - Spinach, Tomato and Avocado Salad

Author: Dana

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

Tomatoes
Avocado
Spinach
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar

Instructions

Cut the tomatoes and avocados into bite sized pieces.
Toss the tomatoes and avocados with the spinach and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Did They Eat It?

Dana: I love this salad. Actually I think I’m going to go make it for lunch again right now.
Nicky (2 years old): Loved the avocado.
Gordie (5 years old): “I like the tomatoes. But not with sauce.”

Salad #49 – Asian Lentil and Mango Salad

June 4, 2014 by danawyyc 1 Comment

I was looking over the salads I had written so far and I could hardly believe that that after 48 salads, none of them contain lentils! Lentils are great in salads so I couldn’t let that stand. This salad is fresh, delicious and unexpected. I love it and and I bet you will too.

Salad #49 - Asian Lentil and Mango Salad

Author: Dana

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

1 can of lentils rinsed and drained
2 ripe mangos
2 bell peppers (I used yellow and green)
2 large carrots
3 green onions (1 reserved for topping)
cashews chopped or whole
Spicy Citrus Vinaigrette:
Juice of 1 small orange
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp chili sauce (sambel oelek)
1 garlic clove minced fine
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Dice mangos, carrots, bell peppers and green onions.
Mix together with the lentils in a large bowl (reserve some of the green onion for garnish).
Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a bowl or shake in a small container with a lid. If you want a smoother dressing you could blend it together instead.
Toss the vegetables with the dressing.
Top each bowl with cashews and green onions.

Did They Eat it?

Anne: Oh, that’s good. Stephen: Good. Gordie (5 years old): uh, no thanks. Dana: Early to make, full of nutrition, fresh and delicious. This would be a great salad for lunches or to bring to a potluck.

Salad #48 – Rainbow Fruit Salad

May 29, 2014 by danawyyc 2 Comments

I decided to make a fruit salad for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. Her very favorite thing to eat is fruit so I thought it would be perfect. (I did make other things too). For some reason she likes berries and grapes, but not in her fruit salad. Who knew?

rainbow fruit salad

Salad #48 - Rainbow Fruit Salad

Author: Dana

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

1 tablespoon honey
juice of 1 lime (adding the zest would be nice too)
strawberries
cantaloupe
mango
green grapes
blueberries
purple grapes
yellow honeydew

Instructions

Cut the strawberries in half and cut the cantaloupe, honeydew and mango into chunks. Leave the grapes and blueberries whole.
Put them all into a large bowl.
Mix the honey and lie juice together and pour over the fruit.

Did They Eat It?

Gordie (5 years old): I liked all the strawberries and the grapes.

Nicky (2 years old):Loved everything but the strawberries and the grapes.

Stephen: Awesome. [I think he is making fun of me but I’m pretty sure he liked it].

Dana: Really pretty and easy to make.

Salad #47 – Buffalo Shrimp Salad

May 22, 2014 by danawyyc 1 Comment

This salad is filling, spicy and delicious. You can put it together in just a few minutes and you will be glad you did. Feel free to play around with it. Mix up the veggies, try different greens or a different kind of hot sauce.

Buffalo Shrimp Salad

Author: Dana

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

shrimp devained - take off the tails (fresh or defrosted)
greens - I used baby kale
yellow pepper, diced
baby cucumber, sliced
Frank's Red Hot Buffalo sauce
feta or blue cheese
Oil
Garlic (optional)

Instructions

Heat some olive oil in a large pan.
If you are using garlic, add it and saute until fragrant. Otherwise just add the shrimp. Saute until pink, it should only take a few minutes.
Add Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce to coat and cook for another couple minutes until heated through.
Remove from heat.
Put the greens, cucumber and bell pepper in a bowl. Add the shrimp and top with the cheese.

Notes

http://addapinch.com/cooking/2014/01/13/buffalo-shrimp-salad-recipe/

Did They Eat It?

Dana: I actually didn’t share this salad. Only I ate it. Ask my husband he will tell you all about it. It is totally delicious.

Buffalo Shrimp Salad

Salad #46 – Retro Cauliflower Salad with Easy Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

May 15, 2014 by danawyyc 2 Comments

I had some leftover cauliflower and wanted to make a salad but I wasn’t really sure what to make. I am not the biggest fan of raw cauliflower. A friend of mine suggested a salad that included cauliflower, cheese, thousand island dressing and Doritos. At first I wasn’t going to make it, but I couldn’t get it out of my head. I’ve always loved thousand island dressing – I used to order it all the time when I was a kid.

I recently discovered that it is shockingly easy to make your own thousand island dressing with ingredients that you might already have in your fridge. I like to say that I make it from scratch. When you make a condiment by mixing other condiments together, you totally made it from scratch, right? Anyway, I made the salad and it is pretty darn good. I would absolutely throw it together again if I found myself with some extra cauliflower. It would also make a great pot luck salad (as long as it is not sitting in the sun).

Retro Cauliflower Salad

Author: Dana

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

½-1 head of cauliflower
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
2 or more green onions
tortilla or dorito chips
shredded cheese (tex mex)
Thousand island dressing:
½ cup mayo or miracle whip
2 tablespoons ketchup
½ tablespoon rice wine vinegar (or cider)
1 tbsp relish (any kind)

Instructions

Cut cauliflower into florets. Cut green and red peppers into chunks. Put them all into a large bowl.
Mix thousand island ingredients together in a small bowl. Pour over the vegetables.
Top each bowl with shredded cheese, crushed chips and sliced green onions.

Notes

http://www.familycookbookproject.com/recipe/2454018/cauliflower-salad.html

Did They Eat It?

Nicky: liked the cauliflower. “flower”

Gordie: liked nibbling on the cauliflower and peppers while we made it.

Stephen: Tasty. Reminds me of crab dip.

Dana: I love thousand island dressing. Definitely worth making if you have some cauliflower lying around.

Retro Cauliflower Salad

Salad #43 – Easy Thai Cucumber Salad (Tam Taengkwa)

March 28, 2014 by danawyyc Leave a Comment

This salad is a variation on the Thai green papaya salad (Som Tam). This version uses cucumbers instead of the harder to find and less familiar (to me) green papaya’s. It reminds me a lot of the cucumber salad that my Danish grandmother used to make which was flavored with salt and pepper and used cucumbers cut very very thin. It was both familiar and novel. In Thailand it would be served very hot, but at home you can adjust the heat to suit your families tastes.

This salad coincidentally matches up with my new series Around the World in 30 Dishes.

Salad #43 – Easy Thai Cucumber Salad

Author: Dana

Recipe type: Salad

Cuisine: Thai

Ingredients

4 mini cucumbers sliced (or one large)
½ tbsp salt
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup rice vinegar
squirt sriracha sauce or ½ jalapeno
4 stalks cilantro
chopped peanuts for topping

Instructions

Place the cucumbers in a strainer and mix with the salt. Leave them in the sink for at least 30 minutes.
Rinse with cold water and dry gently with paper towels and place in a bowl.
Whisk the vinegar and sugar until dissolved.
Toss the cucumbers, vinegar mixture, sriracha and cilantro together.
Serve topped with peanuts.
Toss the cucumbers with the salt in a colander, and leave in the sink to drain for at least 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water, then drain and pat dry with paper towels.
Whisk together the sugar and vinegar in a mixing bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro; toss to combine. Sprinkle chopped peanuts on top before serving.

Notes

Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/thai-cucumber-salad/

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:24]

Did They Eat It?

Stephen: Oh, that’s good.

Anne: Very nice. A little spicier than I would normally eat but it was good.

Dana: Simple to put together and nice textures.

Salad #42 – Kale, Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

March 21, 2014 by danawyyc 4 Comments

This salad is packed so full of nutrition that you just can’t help but feel good about eating it. It will keeps well in the fridge for a couple days which is good because this makes a ton. If you like your food on the spicy side you’ll probably want to increase the amount of chili powder – the recipe is pretty mild as it’s written. You could easily turn this into a great lunch by having some chicken or a hard boiled egg on the side – or even throwing a fried egg right on top.

Kale, Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

Author: Dana

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

1 cup cooked and cooled quinoa
2 fresh squeezed limes
1 teaspoon chili powder
4 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP white wine vinegar
½ tsp salt and pepper to taste
2-3 handfuls of fresh kale or other greens
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained (about 1½ cups)
2 large chopped carrots
1-2 red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 avocado, sliced or cubed (optional)

Instructions

Mix up the dressing by whisking the lime juice, chili powder, olive oil, white vinegar and salt and pepper together in a small bowl.
Separate the leaves of the kale from the stems and cut them into tiny pieces. I ran mine through my food processor which worked really well.
Chop the carrots (also great in the food processor) and the bell peppers (less awesome) into small pieces.
Add all the ingredients together in a large bowl and mix well.

Notes

Adapted from http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2013/06/kale-and-quinoa-salad-with-black-beans.html

Did They Eat It?

Nicky (2 years old): “no.”

Stephen: Good.

Anne: Great. Tangy but not too spicy.

Dana: I liked it. It was easy to put together and it makes a ton.

Salad #41 – Thai Chicken Salad with a Spicy Peanut Dressing

March 15, 2014 by danawyyc 7 Comments

One of my favorite things in the world are those bags of pre-shredded cabbage. They keep well so you don’t have to use them right away, save time and effort and are really versatile. They are great in soups, stir frys, make an easy vegetable side dish or a perfect salad base. I had picked up a bag of cabbage (or coleslaw mix) and a rotisserie chicken while we were at the grocery store and decided to make a meal salad with them. This salad keeps well in the fridge for a couple days too so you don’t have it eat it all at once – the cashews will get a bit mushy though so you may want to put them on at the last minute.

Thai Chicken Salad

Recipe type: Salad

Cuisine: Thai

Ingredients

Salad:
chicken - I used 2 breasts from a rotisserie chicken
½ bag coleslaw cabbage mix
1 mango sliced
fresh cilantro (optional)
2 green onions
½ cup chopped peanuts or cashews
Dressing:
1 clove garlic minced
1 squirt hot sauce (sriracha is nice)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar (I used rice wine)
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon oil (I used canola oil)
½ teaspoon fish sauce
¼ cup peanut butter (if you are using natural peanut butter you may want to add some sugar)
approx. ¼ cup water

Instructions

Shred the chicken into long strips.
Add the chicken, coleslaw, mango slices and most of the green onions together in a large bowl.
Whisk the dressing ingredients together.
Toss the salad ingredients with the dressing.
Serve topped with peanuts or cashews and a little green onion.

Notes

Adapted from http://pinchofyum.com/chopped-thai-chicken-salad

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:21]

Did They Eat It?

Gordie: refused to try. no no no.

Nicky: liked the chicken

Stephen: It’s good.

Anne: Really good.

Dana: This is a kind of salad that makes me go back for seconds.

Salad

Did They Eat It?

Did They Eat it?

Did They Eat It?

Did They Eat it?

Did They Eat It?

Did They Eat It?

Did They Eat It?

Did They Eat It?

Did They Eat It?

Did They Eat It?

Footer