Category: Salad

Quinoa Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

quinoa_fruit_salad
What a delicious summer salad from TwoPeasAndTheirPod.com. Loved the dressing of this and the combination of quinoa with the fruit made a yummy side salad. As indicated in the original recipe, it is very adaptable to the fruit on hand.

 

Quinoa Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from TwoPeasAndTheirPod.com
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Salad
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup Quinoa
  • 1 Lime
  • 3 Tbs Honey
  • 2 Tbs Fresh Mint leaves
  • 1 1/2 cups Blueberries
  • 1 1/2 cups Strawberries sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups Mango diced

Instructions
 

  • Cook the quinoa according to directions and cool
  • Juice the lime
  • Add the honey to the lime juice and mix
  • Toss everything together in a bowl
  • Serve cold

 

Brown Rice Salad with Grapes

Brown rice salad with grapesSomehow I ended up picking a bunch of rice salads a few weeks ago. I think there were 3 on the menu in a couple of weeks–kind of odd given that we rarely make salad with rice…

But they were yummy and I made a couple of cups of brown rice early in the week and put it in the fridge and dinner was ready in no time! Worked out well. Also no cooking, which is always nice on a hot summer day.

This one came from TheKitchn. We switched out the walnuts for sunflower seeds due to allergies and maybe simplified things a bit here and there. With rice in the fridge, this can be ready in about 10 minutes. It’s a very hearty salad that could be a main dish.

Brown Rice Salad with Grapes

MealsWeLike.com adapted from theKitchn
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Salad
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

For the salad:

  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 1 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1 bag salad greens
  • 2 cups red grapes sliced in half
  • 1 cup crumbled ricotta salata Trader Joe's has this

For the vinaigrette:

  • 3 Tbs white wine vinegar
  • 3 Tbs olive oil
  • 1 Tbs brown mustard
  • pepper

Instructions
 

  • Cook the rice and cool. I found it easiest to make up a batch of rice in the morning, put it in the fridge for the evening or a day or two later.
  • In a large bowl combine the cold rice, sunflower seeds, salad greens. Toss.
  • In a small bowl mix the vinaigrette, whisking to mix.
  • Pour vinaigrette over the salad and mix.
  • Add the grapes and ricotta salata, toss a bit and serve cold.

 

Zucchini Carpaccio Salad

Spinach Quiche with Zucchini Carpaccio SaladThis salad goes really well with the Spinach Quiche, though would be great anytime you have extra zucchini. Both the quiche and salad are originally from SmittenKitchen. The salad can be made while the quiche is cooking.

This is a great recipe for pulling out the mandoline, without which I think it would be hard to get the zucchini sliced thin enough. But with the mandoline, it takes only a few minutes of hands on time to quickly slice up a couple of zucchinis. Then you just throw some salt on them and let them rest for a while. Drain and dry them off and toss with parmesan, lemon juice and olive oil. Even the zucchini-disliking kids liked zucchini in this form.

Zucchini Carpaccio Salad

MealsWeLike.com adapted from SmittenKitchen.com
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Salad
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 lbs zucchini about 2 large
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 pound arugula lettuce mix, spinach or other greens
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 3 Tbs olive oil
  • 3 Tbs lemon juice ~1 lemon
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions
 

  • Cut zucchini into paper-thin rounds with a mandoline adjusted about as thin as it can be.
  • Toss zucchini slices with one teaspoon salt in a colander set over a bowl or in the sink to drain 20 minutes.
  • Rinse zucchini slices well, and drain. Pat dry with a clean towel or paper towels.
  • Put greens in a large bowl.
  • Add the zucchini.
  • Sprinkle with cheese and pepper.
  • Drizzle oil and lemon juice over greens and toss.

 

 

 

Spicy Sunflower Seed Noodles with Veggies and Chicken

Pink Parsley had this yummy sounding recipe with peanuts, to which our son is allergic. So we substituted SunButter in the recipe. I also had imagined this more like a stir fry than a salad, so we stir fried the veggies a bit and added the dressing and put it on top of soba noodles. It turned out great!
Spicy Sunflower Seed Noodles with Veggies and Chicken
adapted from Pink Parsley, adapted from Pinch of Yum, originally from Food Nouveau

For the dressing:

  • 3 Tbs soy sauce
  • 2 Tbs water
  • 2 Tbs Crunchy SunButter
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 1 Tbs rice wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbs minced fresh ginger
  • 1/2 Tbs honey
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp sugar

For the stir fry (or don’t cook it and make it a salad…)

  • 1 cup julienne yellow pepper
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 1 medium shredded zucchini
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions
  • 1 cup chopped or shredded cooked chicken breast
  • 8 oz. cooked soba noodles or linguine
  • 2-3 Tbs minced fresh basil
  • 2-3 Tbs minced fresh cilantro
  • crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Mix all the dressing ingredients. Stir fry the veggies. Add the dressing and serve on top of the soba noodles.

Cornbread salad

This cornbread salad recipe came from two of the sites I use a lot in planning menus, Pink Parsley and Smitten Kitchen. The buttermilk-lime dressing was really good, especially when soaked into a piece of cornbread! Even the cornbread recipe would be a good one to come back to–this one is all cornmeal, which I liked more than most that are usually about 1/2 regular flour.

We added 1/2lb of bacon, cooked and crumbled, to make this a main course salad.

Wild rice with chicken, oranges and cranberries

This ended up not being a salad as originally planned, since we had already eaten up the salad mix. But I can see how it would be god served over a bed of lettuce…Two Fat Als had an interesting recipe for Wild Rice Salad with Chicken, Fruit and Cashews. We aren’t big fans of dates, and cashews are out due to allergies, but it seemed like a good idea. So here’s my version

Wild Rice with Chicken, Oranges and Dried Cranberries

  • 2 chicken breast, grilled and dicedWild rice and chicken with oranges and cranberries
  • 2 cups Lundberg Wild Rice Blend
  • 2  oranges, peeled and cut into small pieces
  • 3 Tbs olive oil
  • 3 Tbs lemon juice
  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/4 cup torn fresh mint

Cook the chicken, or use leftovers. Cook the rice as directed. Combine the oil, lemon juice, vinegar and sugar in a small bowl. In a large bowl, mix the rice, chicken, dressing, oranges, cranberries and mint. The original called for serving this over a be of lettuce, which would be nice, but we ate it straight, which was good too.

Blueberry chicken salad

Blueberry chicken saladThis recipe for blueberry chicken salad from Allrecipes.com was fast, easy and really good. The dressing is lemon yogurt (6oz) and mayonnaise (3 Tbs), which sounded odd, but is really good, especially with the sweetness of the blueberries. Throw in some diced cooked chicken breast (we grilled a bunch earlier in the week and used it in several recipes), red pepper, celery and the blueberries. This was one of the only times the kids eat up a salad, including the lettuce!