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Side Dishes

Pesto Potato Salad

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My father-in-law is from PEI so potatoes are basically considered their own food group in their house. Baked, mashed, fried, you name it. My son seems to be taking after him, he will often grab cold leftover potatoes out of the fridge for a snack and eat them straight up.

My favorite potatoes have always been little potatoes. I like that they require so little work – they don’t need to be peeled and they can be used whole or cut into bite sized pieces with just a slice or two. The other thing I like about little potatoes is because you don’t peel them, you keep all the good nutrients that are found in the peel.

Pesto Potato Salad - Little Potato Company - talkiginallcaps.com

When I was thinking about what else I should make with them today, I remembered a dish that I’ve made before that contained pesto, gnocchi and vegetables. I figured that a variation on that would make a fantastic warm potato salad and I was right.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Little Potato Company
 
Ingredients
  • 1.5 lbs of little potatoes
  • ½ cup of peas
  • ½ cup of asparagus or green beans chopped
  • ½ cup of grape tomatoes cut in half
  • 1-2 Tbsp of pesto
  • 4 slices of monterey jack cheese cubed or shredded
Instructions
  1. Boil little potatoes for approximately 15 minutes.
  2. Drain the potatoes toss with pesto.
  3. Add peas, asparagus (or green beans), grape tomatoes and cheese.
  4. Mix together and serve warm.


Pesto Potato Salad - Little Potato Company - talkiginallcaps.com

 

Did They Eat It?

Gordie (5 years old): Are there any plain potatoes? I’ll just eat those.

Nicky (2 years old): I want ham.

Stephen: Good.

Dana: I liked this a lot. I would definitely make it again. I might not even try sharing next time!

Salad #49 – Asian Lentil and Mango Salad

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Asian Lentil and Mango Salad 3 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. Asian Lentil and Mango Salad 3

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Salad #49 - Asian Lentil and Mango Salad
Author: 
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
  1. Dice mangos, carrots, bell peppers and green onions.
  2. Mix together with the lentils in a large bowl (reserve some of the green onion for garnish).
  3. 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.
  4. Toss the vegetables with the dressing.
  5. Top each bowl with cashews and green onions.

Asian Lentil and Mango Salad 3

 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

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rainbow fruit salad

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

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Salad #48 - Rainbow Fruit Salad
Author: 
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
  1. Cut the strawberries in half and cut the cantaloupe, honeydew and mango into chunks. Leave the grapes and blueberries whole.
  2. Put them all into a large bowl.
  3. Mix the honey and lie juice together and pour over the fruit.

rainbow fruit salad

 

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.

 

rainbow fruit salad

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

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retro cauliflower salad - with easy homemade thousand island dressing

 

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

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Retro Cauliflower Salad
Author: 
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
  1. Cut cauliflower into florets. Cut green and red peppers into chunks. Put them all into a large bowl.
  2. Mix thousand island ingredients together in a small bowl. Pour over the vegetables.
  3. Top each bowl with shredded cheese, crushed chips and sliced green onions.
Notes
http://www.familycookbookproject.com/recipe/2454018/cauliflower-salad.html

Retro Cauliflower Salad

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

Thai Fried Rice- Khao Phat – Around the World in 30 Dishes – Thailand

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Come along with me as I explore the world through my kitchen. For each region, I’ll be trying about 5 dishes, drawing inspiration from authentic dishes, ingredients or techniques from that region but adapting them for a North American home cook. All the ingredients in this series will be ones I can find in my local (Calgary, Alberta) grocery store and use cooking tools I already have at home. 

Thai Fried Rice - Around the World in 30 Dishes - talkinginallcaps.com

I’ve always quite liked fried rice, but I’d never heard of Thai fried rice before. It’s not too different from the fried rice that you might get at a chinese food restaurant in many ways. The There are many variations on the dish and it is a perfect dish for using up whatever you have on hand – don’t be afraid to improvise. I really love this dish. I’ve is now my go-to recipe if I have leftover rice. If you would like to try out some Thai flavors but are a little nervous, this dish would be a perfect recipe to start with.

Thai Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients and Substitutions:

    • Fish Sauce – is a condiment made from anchovies. That may not sound awesome, but it actually is. You can usually substitute soy sauce with good results. You will probably lose a little of the uniqueness in this particular dish. If you are hesitant because it says ‘fish sauce’, give it a try anyway. It doesn’t seem fishy at all. Worchestershire sauce is also made from anchovies.

Thai Chicken Fried Rice

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Thai Fried Rice
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Thailand
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups cooked rice (I used brown basmati, jasmine would be traditional) - using cold rice from the day before is best
  • 2 cups cooked rice (I used brown basmati, jasmine would be traditional) - using cold rice from the day before is best
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoons fish sauce
  • 1 teaspoons fish sauce
  • 1 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 cloves minced garlic
  • 2 green onions
  • 2 green onions
  • pinch ground pepper
  • pinch ground pepper
  • 1 lime
  • 1 lime
  • 1 chicken breast chopped
  • 1 chicken breast chopped
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1 thinly sliced tomato
  • 1 thinly sliced tomato
  • 3 tablespoon cooking oil
Instructions
  1. Prep all your ingredients before you start.
  2. Heat oil in a large pan or wok on high heat.
  3. Add garlic and stir then add meat if uncooked and continue to stir.
  4. When the meat is cooked, add the rice. Break up any clumps and coat with the oil. If you are using cooked meat, add it now.
  5. Stir in the fish sauce and soy sauce.
  6. Add the white parts of the green onion and the tomato slices.
  7. Push the rice mixture to the side of the pan and turn down the heat.
  8. Cook the scrambled eggs on the open side of the pan.
  9. Once the eggs are dry, break them up and mix them in with the rice.
  10. Remove the pan from heat. Top the rice or individual bowls of rice with fresh lime juice, pepper and green onions.
  11. It is often served with cucumber slices, tomato slices, lime, chili fish sauce, and cilantro.
Notes
Adapted from Thai Table's Thai Fried Rice - http://www.thaitable.com/thai/recipe/fried-rice

Thai Chicken Fried Rice

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

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Easy Thai Cucumber Salad

 

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.

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Salad #43 – Easy Thai Cucumber Salad
Author: 
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
  1. Place the cucumbers in a strainer and mix with the salt. Leave them in the sink for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Rinse with cold water and dry gently with paper towels and place in a bowl.
  3. Whisk the vinegar and sugar until dissolved.
  4. Toss the cucumbers, vinegar mixture, sriracha and cilantro together.
  5. Serve topped with peanuts.
  6. 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.
  7. 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/

 

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Thai Cucumber Salad

 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.

Thai Cucumber Salad

Salad #42 – Kale, Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

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Kale, Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

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.

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Kale, Quinoa and Black Bean Salad
Author: 
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
  1. Mix up the dressing by whisking the lime juice, chili powder, olive oil, white vinegar and salt and pepper together in a small bowl.
  2. 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.
  3. Chop the carrots (also great in the food processor) and the bell peppers (less awesome) into small pieces.
  4. 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.

Kale, Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

 

Salad #40 – Carrot and Raisin Salad (Danish Gulerodsalat)

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Carrot Salad

My dad is from Denmark so I thought I would see if I could find a Danish salad for my 52 Salads challenge. Denmark is not particularly known for their salads. The only one I could remember was Agurkesalat which is a pickled cucumber salad. I came across this shredded carrot salad that I don’t specifically remember having but seems very familiar.

It’s a very simple salad and a snap to put together especially if you have a food processor to do the shredding for you. You can make it with or without the apple – the apple adds some nice sweetness but it may also turn a bit brown if you aren’t eating it immediately. I used yellow carrots for this, but they taste exactly the same as the orange ones so just use whatever is handy.

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Salad #40 – Carrot and Raisin Salad
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Danish
 
Adapted from http://mydanishkitchen.com/2010/06/07/carrot-salad-gulerodsalat/
Ingredients
  • 3-5 Large carrots
  • 1-2 apples
  • 1 lemon
  • handful of raisins
  • 1-2 tsp sugar
Instructions
  1. Shred carrots and apples.
  2. Juice the lemon.
  3. Mix all of the ingredients together and let sit in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

 

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:15]


 Carrot Salad

Did They Eat It?

Nicky (almost 2): wouldn’t eat it

Gordie (4.5 years): I loved it!

Deb: nice gentle little salad

Dana: I really enjoyed this salad. It was even better when it had a bit longer to sit in the fridge.

Carrot Salad

 

Salad #38 – Tossed Greek Salad

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Tossed Greek Salad

This salad was inspired by one of my cousin’s favorite salads that she has made with me a couple of times. I usually make it without croutons but she would like you to know that it is much better with them. It’s simple to put together and really satisfying. It makes a great light lunch and can also be a perfect starter salad. Writing this one up is making me wish I had some lettuce so I could make it right now.

Tossed Greek Salad

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Salad #38 – Tossed Greek Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Greek
 
Ingredients
  • Feta
  • Tomatoes
  • cucumber
  • peppers
  • Greens
  • Balsamic Vinegar
  • Olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • croutons (optional)
Instructions
  1. Chop the cucumber and peppers into bite sized pieces. If the tomatoes are small cut them in half - if you are using larger tomatoes chop them into bite sized pieces as well.
  2. Place a bed of greens on each plate and top with the vegetables and feta cheese.
  3. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar and olive oil on top of each salad.

 

Tossed Greek Salad

Did They Eat It?

Dana: Get your own salad, this one is mine. [It is possible I did not actually make this salad for anyone but me…]

Tossed Greek Salad

Salad #36 – Bell Pepper and Grilled Corn Coleslaw

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bell pepper and corn coleslaw.JPG
I’m going to be honest with you. I actually made this in the summer and used grilled corn. Which is awesome. You could easily make this salad any time of year using either corn roasted in the oven or just some frozen corn from your freezer. If you are feeling enthusiastic, or have some cabbages laying around feel free to shred it for this recipe. I love using a bag of coleslaw  – it makes prepping this salad a breeze.

Bell Pepper and Grilled Corn Coleslaw Recipe

(adapted from My Invisible Crown’s Grilled Corn Cole Slaw with Tangy Lime Dressing)

13-DSC_3116

Ingredients

  • 2-3 ears grilled corn, kernels cut from the cob.
  • 1 red, yellow and orang pepper sliced thinly
  • 1 bag of coleslaw cabbage mix
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoons honey
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • squirt of sriracha sauce (or other hot sauce)

Directions

  1. Mix coleslaw, corn and peppers in a large bowl.
  2. Combine lime, olive oil, vinegar, honey salt and pepper and sriracha sauce together in a small bowl and whisk together or shake together in a small container with a lid until smooth.
  3. Toss the vegetables with the dressing.
  4. Serve cold or at room temperature.

11-DSC_3114

Did They Eat It?

Stephen: Oh, that is good.

Anne: This salad is great and not just because I’m hungry.

Bronwen: Deliciously refreshing.

Gordie: Liked the peppers before they were in the salad

Nicky: Liked picking the corn out of the salad

Dana: I loved this salad. I would definitely make it again.

10-DSC_3113