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Post by daylilydude on Mar 6, 2018 5:58:21 GMT -5
All the regular vegetable stuff... different vegetables that you like adding... what about meats, and what your favorite dressing to go on it?
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Mar 6, 2018 6:26:53 GMT -5
Depends...I ain't much of a salad eater to be honest, but I can eat one if forced.
Lettuce, Spinach, Kale, bacon bits, pepperoni, cheese, croutons and French.
Or a plain Caesar salad.
No carrots, Cucumbers, or anything else in my salads.
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Post by brownrexx on Mar 6, 2018 8:33:31 GMT -5
I love spinach salads with hard boiled eggs and croutons.
I also like those fried chicken salads with cut up pieces of fried chicken tenders or even grilled chicken pieces on a mixture of greens. I also add colored bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. Sometimes I have this as my dinner when hubby has something that I don't care for.
I have a local store that sells their own signature dressings and my favorite is peach vinaigrette. I like the lighter vinaigrette dressings. Occasionally I eat ranch dressing but usually I find that it overpowers the flavor of the salad.
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Post by september on Mar 6, 2018 9:21:18 GMT -5
Most nights we eat a tossed green salad with supper. Usually just romaine (or iceberg lettuce if romaine is too pricey at times) with cucumbers, green or colored bell peppers, broccoli or cauliflower bits, onion and tomatoes (yes, store tomatoes in winter for visual color!) I most often use a bottled Italian light dressing, my husband uses nothing but Western non-fat brand. My mom used to make a buttermilk/sour cream/mayo/milk dressing with chives and dill that was fabulous, but I never got her exact recipe, and mine never turns out like hers was.
If I run out of lettuce, I may shred some cabbage very thinly and toss it with the rest of the same ingredients as above. Once in a great while I may make coleslaw.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Mar 6, 2018 9:54:35 GMT -5
At home, we have a pretty basic green salad most of the time. We use one or more lettuces (usually leaf and/or romaine), sometimes with spinach or other greens. Tomatoes, cucumber, and red or yellow bell pepper are almost always included. We may have carrots, mushrooms, or other veggies from time to time. We usually do not add any meats since we typically eat salad as an appetizer before or a side dish with a protein-based entree. DH likes ranch or honey mustard, and will eat Caesar dressing without complaints. I will eat any of those (plus a whole lot of other dressings...I like most salad dressings as long as they are not super-sweet), but my favorite dressing is a Greek-type vinaigrette. I like to add a little feta cheese and a few Kalamata olives to "Greekify" my salad a little more. DH is not a huge fan of the Greek dressing, feta, or Kalamata olives, though he will eat them once in a blue moon. When I go out, sometimes I will have an entree salad that comes with grilled or fried chicken on it, like a chicken Caesar salad, a buffalo chicken salad, or some variant on a Southwestern salad. But I rarely make entree salads at home since the kids don't like salads, so I'd also have to fix something different for them. On the rare occasions that I go to a well-stocked salad bar, I go nuts with every veggie there, plus bacon bits, croutons, nuts and seeds, cheeses, olives, pickled veggies, etc., etc., etc. By the time I pile the plate high and pour plenty of dressing on top, it's not saving me any calories versus ordering off the menu. (I'm terrible about wanting to try everything at buffets, too - that's why I avoid them! If I went to buffets very often, I'd be too fat to walk. )
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Post by spike on Mar 6, 2018 10:09:55 GMT -5
I love salads! My most favorite of all time is 1/2 baby spinach and 1/2 baby kale! Just need salt, pepper and a spritz of red wine vinegar.
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Post by september on Mar 6, 2018 10:14:58 GMT -5
Exactly !!!! I have to watch it, or by the time I finish my giant salad with everything on it, I don't have room for the main meal! Which is actually not bad for me, but I feel like I'm not using my money wisely if I pay for a meaty meal and then only eat the salad items.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Mar 6, 2018 11:43:11 GMT -5
Over the last few years I've gotten my kids into salads for dinner, but it is a seasonal thing here. Once it warms up, we love having a big salad topped with something off the grill. Chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, thinly sliced flank steak and taco meat are all candidates for a salad. We start with the greens- usually romaine and butter lettuce, but if I'm buying some I also like to buy the Earthbound Farms blend that has herbs in it. Then we add cucumbers, carrot shreds, cherry/grape tomatoes, strips of bell pepper, and broccoli bits. At any time we may also add shredded cheeses or feta cheese, olives, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, craisins, blueberries, strawberries, tortilla chips, croutons, chow mein noodles, snap peas, snow peas, radishes, chickpeas or black beans. Oh, and bacon, of course. We all have our favorite dressings. If fruit is in season I tend to make fruity vinaigrettes for a little while. Normally though, I have a bottle each of Honey-Mustard, Ranch, French and Caesar dressing to make all four of us happy. I prefer the honey mustard myself- especially with chicken on the salad. Great. Now I want salad!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Mar 6, 2018 12:03:30 GMT -5
It depends on what (and if) I'm growing at the time.
In the summer, I live on salads! That lentil salad with a lot of tomatoes, a habanero, some freekah, slivered almonds, feta, cilantro, and chives. Then there are all of those pasta salads with olive oil, basil, and garlic, and many variations on this. I always add some canned beans and some cooked grains to these - some spelt, quinoa, or whatever I have cooked up. For the leaf salads, to go with a more substantial meal (when I'm grilling things), to go with the leaf lettuce I sometimes use some of the leaves from the Asian greens, plus various herbs, depending on what I'm eating it with, and always a homemade vinaigrette.
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whistech
Pro Member
Posts: 300
Joined: April 2013
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Post by whistech on Mar 6, 2018 12:09:31 GMT -5
My favorite salad is cucumbers, bell peppers and onions with a vinegar and oil dressing. When I have tomatoes from the garden I also add them to the salad.
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Post by aftermidnight on Mar 6, 2018 12:15:30 GMT -5
I could live on salads, my eyes glaze over at salad bars, forget the main course.
I still remember how good the wilted spinach salad was at Jake O'Shaughnessy's in Seattle back in the 70's, haven't made one of those recently but it's a favorite. (Caesar salad), (chef's,) (Cobb),(shrimp, cucumber, onion and feta cheese), (tossed greens/carrot/red pepper/red onion), (Greek), (everything handy in the crisper drawer salad), (coleslaws), (fruit salads), (scoop out a fairly large tomato, stuff it with shredded lettuce/tomato/green onion/celery mixed with salad dressing).
Those are a few that come to mind, but there are more. I also add things like seeds, nuts, cranberries, strawberries and other fruits. I usually make my own dressings for most but buy poppy seed for a kale salad. Olive oil, I like light or extra light, I want the other flavors to shine through. Vinegars, either white wine or balsamic, I used a lot of the flavored balsamics but also have the good stuff $60 for a small bottle for special occasions.
My old standby is white wine vinegar, a couple or three of pinches of sugar, a tad of hot mustard, salt and pepper, mix well then stream in the O.O., sometimes I'll add minced shallots or Parmesan cheese to this. Sometimes croutons, sometimes not. Sometimes its just flavored balsamic and O.O. My Caesar, I don't use egg sub salad dressing, anchovy paste, lemon juice, minced garlic, Worcestershire sauce, Parmesan cheese and O.O.
Of course garlic toast goes well with any of these, nothing fancy just sub buns split in half spread with a mixture of margarine and minced garlic and popped under the broiler until it's bubbly and starting to brown around the edges.
After typing this my mouth is watering in anticipation and it's only just past 9 a.m. here.
Annette
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Mar 6, 2018 12:49:57 GMT -5
Ooh, I forgot one of my favorite simple summer salads:
Layer sliced cucumbers and tomatoes and drizzles of your favorite Italian vinaigrette dressing in a container, ending with the vinaigrette. Let sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to overnight. If your container is watertight, flip it over halfway through the resting time.
Delicious as a snack or salad course. Or serve with Italian cold cuts, fresh mozzarella, and olives for a no-cook meal. While it's good if you make it with even grocery store tomatoes, it's amazing with high quality homegrown tomatoes.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Mar 6, 2018 13:01:21 GMT -5
It depends on what is available. I always like something crunchy like carrots or good cucumbers but no radishes. Black olives, mushrooms, chopped eggs, peppers of all types, dark greens are favorites. Tomatoes only if they are vine ripened. Dressing favorites are Blue Cheese, Honey Mustard, and occasionally Caesar.
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Post by aftermidnight on Mar 6, 2018 14:38:00 GMT -5
Don't know if you can call this a salad, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil and some mozzarella, drizzled with balsamic and O.O, left in the sun to warm up and let the flavors marry, a piece of crusty bread to mop up the juices, yum.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Mar 6, 2018 16:23:38 GMT -5
Don't know if you can call this a salad, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil and some mozzarella, drizzled with balsamic and O.O, left in the sun to warm up and let the flavors marry, a piece of crusty bread to mop up the juices, yum. That is called a Caprese Salad.
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Post by bestofour on Mar 6, 2018 18:18:21 GMT -5
I eat more of a bowl of vegetables usually - no lettuce or kale or spinach - just chopped up tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, walnuts, blueberries or grapefruit pieces, a few slices of crisp bacon, chopped walnuts. I mix that with a little mayo and catsup.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2018 19:01:06 GMT -5
Most anything can and sometimes does, end up in a salad here. Mostly home made Ranch dressing, or home made bleu cheese/sour cream dressing. Seafood salads get Crab Louie dressing mostly. Have even used some leftover spaghetti with marinara sauce cut up into a green salad and tossed, served with garlic bread - very good.
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Post by octave1 on Mar 6, 2018 22:18:52 GMT -5
Not a fan of salads, generally speaking, but recently I discovered one I really love. It's made with raw lancinato kale. The stem is removed and the leaves cut up into bite size pieces. Then lemon juice is added, plus salt, small pieces (a really small amount!) of anchovies fillets and 1 chopped garlic clove. The kale must sit now for about 1/2 hour to 1 hour to wilt and blend with all the other ingredients, then some dry bread crumbs and grated pecorino cheese are added. Toss everything and serve. It is absolutely delicious.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Mar 6, 2018 22:36:09 GMT -5
Not a fan of salads, generally speaking, but recently I discovered one I really love. It's made with raw lancinato kale. The stem is removed and the leaves cut up into bite size pieces. Then lemon juice is added, plus salt, small pieces (a really small amount!) of anchovies fillets and 1 chopped garlic clove. The kale must sit now for about 1/2 hour to 1 hour to wilt and blend with all the other ingredients, then some dry bread crumbs and grated pecorino cheese are added. Toss everything and serve. It is absolutely delicious. This sounds like something I would eat. Thanks for posting!!!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Mar 8, 2018 16:58:18 GMT -5
I thought of this thread while cleaning out, or, rather, dusting out, my tuntable corner cabinet, when I take every jar and bottle from that cabinet to clean them and the cabinet. Turns out that I had 12 types of vinegar in there! Plus one, a homemade pineapple vinegar, that I keep in the fridge, since it is less acidic. It is amazing how different they are, and how much better some are in certain salads than others. The ones that I use the most, besides white, are sherry, a red wine, a red balsamic, a white wine, and white balsamic. And rice vinegar has a unique flavor, and the chenkiang is the best Chinese black vinegar - I sampled many brands, before settling on this one.
I didn't realize that I had this many of these in there!
White Apple cider 2 White wines 2 red wines 2 balsamic reds White balsamic Sherry wine White rice Chenkiang rice
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shelleybean
Junior Member
Posts: 20
Joined: December 2017
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Post by shelleybean on Mar 9, 2018 14:49:10 GMT -5
I LOVE salad! So many different ways to make it/order it.
A basic green salad for me has romaine, cucumbers, tomatoes (only cherry tomatoes in the winter, from the store) and onions with a vinaigrette. I like all vinegars. Shredded carrots if I have them. Maybe some feta and olives.
I also love greens with a fruit/cheese/nut combination. Like spinach with chopped apples and blueberries with goats cheese and some sunflower seeds or almonds, with a fruity vinaigrette.
And when I'm out to eat, I'll almost always choose potato salad or cole slaw over fries.
Vegetable salads like a homemade three bean salad or corn salad or Asian cucumber salad are other favorites of mine, along with Caprese salad, but I'm usually the only one here who eats much of that stuff. I do make a lot of salads like that for parties though.
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