Salads for the non-salad eater?

[Nimblicity]

We eat fairly healthy, and we eat a lot of salads!  Here's our favs, they are super easy and tasty!:

Warm zucchini salad

Dice a zucchini.  Chop or press some garlic (depending on how much you like it).  Throw the cubes and garlic into some hot olive oil in a pan, roast until soft.  Pour into a bowl, dress with S&P and balsamic vinegar.  Viola!

Thai-ish noodle salad

Dressing: minced or pressed ginger, chiles to taste, peanut butter (chunky or smooth), olive oil or peanut oil, vinegar, soy sauce

Prepare a ramen-sized portion of rice noodles.  Drain and combine with baby spinach or other greens.  Dress.  Toss.

[Mazdoy]

The cous cous salad sounds great but what is EVOO? 

[Bob Ducca]

The cous cous salad sounds great but what is EVOO? 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil- it's Rachael Ray's preferred abbreviation, though she usually follows it with, "That's extra-virgin olive oil..." defeating the purpose of abbreviation.   

[Mazdoy]

Extra Virgin Olive Oil- it's Rachael Ray's preferred abbreviation, though she usually follows it with, "That's extra-virgin olive oil..." defeating the purpose of abbreviation.  

Thank you!  I've no idea who Rachael Ray is and I never heard that abbreviation before but I'd say I'll end up using it now and driving everyone mad!

[Bob Ducca]

Extra Virgin Olive Oil- it's Rachael Ray's preferred abbreviation, though she usually follows it with, "That's extra-virgin olive oil..." defeating the purpose of abbreviation.  

Thank you!  I've no idea who Rachael Ray is and I never heard that abbreviation before but I'd say I'll end up using it now and driving everyone mad!

RR is a tv-show host.  She has a show on the Food Network called "30 Minute Meals" where she cooks a meal in real time that only takes around 30 minutes.  It's pretty entertaining, and she has some good ideas.  It just drives my husband crazy that she says "...then stream in some EVOO, that's extra-virgin-olive-oil..."  He yells at the TV, "Why didn't you just say 'extra virgin olive oil!'"  It always makes me chuckle.

[minnaloushe]

"Extra Virgin Olive Oil- it's Rachael Ray's preferred abbreviation, though she usually follows it with, "That's extra-virgin olive oil..." defeating the purpose of abbreviation."

And that's why I didn't say EVOO... that's extra virgin...

Cold steak sliced against the grain served on top of a simple green salad drizzled with your choice of vinigrette, and a warm crusty roll?

Do you like lentils? I have a great one for a salad of French Green Lentils, but lots of people don't like them so...

[lovinAZ]

Do you like lentils? I have a great one for a salad of French Green Lentils, but lots of people don't like them so...

I like lentils   

[Mazdoy]

I like lentils too.

[minnaloushe]

Green Lentil Salad

2½ cups French green lentils (not the bigger brown kind)
3 carrots, peeled - dice two, chop the third into quarters
1 celery rib, cut in 4 pieces
bouquet garni of bay leaf, parsley, thyme, and tarragon
freshly ground pepper
salt
¼ pound bacon, diced
1 onion, minced

Dressing:
1 shallot, finely minced
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
2 to 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
5 to 6 tablespoons EVOO
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Sort through the lentils, discarding any pebbles or whatnot. Place in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile bring a second kettle of water to a boil.
Drain the lentils and pour them into the boiling water.
Add the quartered carrot and the celery, bouquet garni, and pepper to the lentils (but not the salt, makes them tough).

Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the lentils are soft but still hold their shape. Add a teaspoon of salt and simmer for 2 more minutes. Drain and allow the lentils to cool, then move them to a large serving bowl.

Sauté bacon until soft. Add to the lentils, leaving the grease in the pan.

Dice the remaining carrots and sauté them in the bacon grease, stirring often. Add the minced onion. Sauté until everything is soft, then stir into the lentils.

Mix the dressing ingredients together and pour over the lentils. Gently toss well and adjust the seasonings.
 

[aline]

Wow - EVERYTHING sounds fabulous. I'm printing all of these out and will try them out on my husband soon. Thanks everyone! 

[DottyG]

I'M HUNGRY NOW!!!!

[DottyG]

Lighthouse brand pomengranate-blueberry vinagrette (not sure if it's a local brand or not).

Was in the store tonight and happened upon this brand.  I recognized it from this post, so I got some!  Didn't find the pomegranate-blueberry but I did get 2 other kinds (they were a "buy one get one free" deal!)

[Cattaby]

How about a crunchy Asian noodle salad?

1 pack ramen noodles (instant noodles) - keep the flavour packet
2 green/spring onions, chopped
1/2 head small to medium sized cabbage, shredded
2 tablespoons sesame seeds (or just add a good few dashes of sesame oil to your dressing)
50g (a small handful) of almonds or cashews
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (you can use distilled white vinegar, but I like rice vinegar better)
Salt and pepper to taste


Crush the ramen noodles in their packet into itty bitty pieces (they don't have to be too small, just distinctly seperate)
Mix noodles with almonds/cashews, the spring onions and the cabbage. Mix in your sesame seeds here too if you're using them.

Combine the sugar, oil, vinegar (and sesame oil if you're using it instead of the sesame seeds) and the flavour packet from the ramen noodles. Pour over the salad and mix in.

Eat straight away if you like your noodles crunchy, or leave it to sit for a few hours (or even overnight) to soften. I've heard that lightly toasting the nuts, sesame seeds and the ramen noodles gives it a nice flavour too

[aline]

I made DottyG's Three Bean Salad and Bienchen's Thai salad over the weekend. Both were fabulous, thank you! I still want to make several of the others as well. Now that it's warming up here, I can convince my hubby to eat salads for dinner more frequently.

Cattaby, I just saw your recipe. Going to have to add that one to the list - thanks! 

[Bijou]

I'm not much on salad mainly because I hate to wash the greens and stuff, but when I eat salad, I prefer the spring mix, baby spinach leaves or shredded iceberg or other lettuce.  By shredded I mean about 1/2 inch shred.

When I eat salad I like to put the marinated green only in a dish and put additional stuff on top, not mixed in.  My favorites are diced avocado, steamed then diced red potatoes, chopped parsley, marinated garbanzo beans, sliced mushrooms, any kind of olives, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, nuts or seeds, finely chopped chive greens, hard boiled egg, cherry tomatoes (uncut), croutons and stuff like that.  Sometimes if I have thinly sliced beef that has been stir fried just with garlic and salt and pepper, I like to add that, too.  (I'm getting hungry). 

I like a vinaigrette that my dh makes.  It's very simple, with extra virgin Olive oil, vinegar or fresh lemon juice, a touch of dry Coleman's mustard, garlic, maybe a little sugar to cut the tartness.  (Cut a garlic clove in half and mash and smear it around the bottom of the salad bowl.  Throw the remaining garlic away.  Add extra virgin olive oil and make sure you get it all over the garlic.  Add the vinegar, and the dry ingredients to this and stir to blend it well.  If you are going to use Parmesan cheese in the salad, don't add salt, but you can add pepper.)   Add the salad to the dressing and toss it.  Sometimes he adds a little tarragon (which I hate).

I like taco salad,  made with shredded iceberg, diced tomatoes, fine chopped purple onion, chopped cilantro leaves, chopped olives, diced avocado and shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  The dressing which I serve on the side, is a mixture of mayo or yogurt and mayo, Pico Pica Hot Sauce or Herdez Salsa Verde and fresh lime juice, all to taste.  Then, I cut corn tortillas into wedges and fry them until they're crisp.  Even my dh, who hate iceberg, likes this stuff.

I like warm spinach salad.  I use baby spinach leaves, toasted pecans, sun dried tomatoes (the kind in olive oil, with no herbs added, blotted) and broken up pieces of Gorgonzola cheese.  The dressing is extra virgin Olive oil, raspberry vinegar, garlic and a little orange juice, heated then poured over the salad (make it to your taste and there are recipes on line for this).