interesting salads?

Does anyone have an interesting salad idea? It seems I just eat chopped salads all the time and I'm bored with them...that or the mandarine orange-dried cranberry-walnut things that are so popular right now.

I'm not picky, so odd combinations are ok by me!

Thanks!

My fave?

Romaine
Baby Spinach
Raw Mushrooms
Plum Tomatoe
Black Olives
Green Olives
Tomatoe and Basil Feta Cheese
Broiled Seasoned Salmon Fillet (or Steak or any other protein)

You honestly can't go wrong with that.  I also like sun flower seeds, crunchy chinese noodles, sugar snap peas, and cucumbers :)

This Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad is wonderful!  Takes a bit more preparation maybe, but worth it.  (Oh, and 1/2 the recipe was enough for 2 of us, plus leftovers.)

Also, someone once suggested to me black beans, tuna, red onions, and balsamic vinegar over spinach.  Yum :-)

For fruit salads, yogurt makes a great dressing too - vanilla or some kind of berry are my favs for that.

I like Strawberry Spinach Salad

Baby Spinach, Strawberries, Fat Free Feta, Peppers, Sliced Almonds and Raspberry Vinagrette....yum!

a salad of a different sort - and one to bring to a pot luck

Jello salad with Carrots: Lemon lime jello (sugar free if you want).  Make it according to the pkg directions and when it's slightly chilled add shredded carrots to it (about a cup for 1 large pkg of jello, or until it looks right).  You can also jazz it up by adding both carrots and canned crushed pineapple.  Then chill till firm.  I've already brought it to a pot luck and someone said "oh nobody likes jello salads"... well, lol... it was gone in no time...  

My favorite

greens from Costco organic spring mix

small sprinkle of feta cheese (it does not take much)

a couple of sliced strawberries

Maple Grove Farms Fat Free Raspberry Vinegrette dressing (I just wish they would leave the dang corn syrup out too)

Chicken salad

cut up chicken breast (the smaller you cut it up the less stuff you need to make it moist.........ff mayo or ff miracle whip)

chopped apples, celery slices, halved grapes, chopped onion, craisons, and as little of the ff mayo or ff mircle whip as you can

My fave 3 salads:

Spinach Salad with hard boiled sliced egg, fakin bakin and red onion rings with lemon juice and olive oil vinegraitte.

Chinese Chicken Salad with torn romaine, sliced water chestnuts, scallions, mung bean sprouts, pea pods, slivered carrots and celery and sliced boneless breast of cooked chicken topped with sesame oil dressing: sesame oil, ginger root, mustard, honey, rice wine vinegar and a bit of shoyu.

Tunutty Salad is made with water packed drained tuna, half TBSP. each low fat mayo and half low fat yogurt, chopped walnuts, dried cranberry, chopped jicama, chopped red onions, chopped fresh parsley, and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt-pepper. Serve on greens.

I just got Moosewood's Daily Special book for Christmas, and there's all sorts of interesting Salads. 

We made something they call North African Couscous Salad (which is Salad the same way that Macaroni Salad and Potato Salad is)

I just made up a new salad recipe

Crunchy Tuna Nicoise

No sardines in this recipe and 1 cup is only 130 calories. The crunchy part comes from slivered almonds.

I love salads, here are some ways I stay motivated...

Confetti Salad, http://www.calorie-count.com/recipe/15035.htm l -- What I do with this salad is make a large batch of the confetti part, store it in tupperware, prepare the lettuce and store it in tupperware on the weekends. Then, I can easily assemble the salad to take for lunch, or before a meal.

Greek Couscous Salad, http://www.calorie-count.com/recipe/15043.htm l -- Fancy enough for potlucks. Forgiving enough to be eaten as a snack or part of lunch.

Oven Roasted Veggies, http://www.calorie-count.com/recipe/15036.htm l -- Not necessarily a salad, but once refridgerated, I'll sprinkle with parmesan cheese and eat like a cold salad. Yum!

Red Wine Vinegarette, http://www.calorie-count.com/recipe/15032.htm l -- Something I'm always doing is making small batches of homemade salad dressings to keep things interesting. They are tastier than store bought, you can make them healthy, and in small batches, you're finished with it before it gets old. This is my latest, and I absolutely love it.

I love the confetti salad idea. I'm going to try that sometime soon with yellow summer squash, red peppers and a bit of red cabbage too. It will be so colorful. Great recipe thanks for posting!

One of my favorite salads (that I JUST had BTW!) is a spinach/romaine salad with cucumbers, green peppers, onions, and Starkist Tuna Creations (I buy the Herb & Garlic and Lemon Pepper varietys)  The only "dressing" I use is red wine vinegar bc the tuna is seasoned enough for me.  I even got past not using any type of oil in it and I've been okay with that.

Another thing I do when using chicken in my salads is to buy a pre-roasted chicken (I get mine @ Sam's Club for $4.99 each) Pick all the meat off then freeze in snack sized baggies.  Pull out and defrost as needed!  This makes it so much easier (for myself) to add some protein to salad.

I'm a huge fan of caprese salads.

-fresh mozzerella

-variety of tomatoes (plum, heirloom, etc)- sliced

- fresh basil (chopped)

-cracked fresh pepper and salt

-drizzle of olive oil

ENJOY!

I really like to make a Cuban mojo-pork salad in the summer, but why not now? (serves 2 heartily)

Ingredients:

-Lean pork loin chop, grilled and sliced

-1 smallish, ripe papaya (2 tbsp seeds reserved), cubed

-1 cup frozen corn, roasted until lightly browned

-1 fist-sized waxy potato (like Yukon gold), boiled and 1/2" diced

-Bag o' spinach

Dressing (makes extra):

Whisk together the following:

1/2 tsp garlic, crushed and finely minced (or use a whole medium-sized clove)

1 tsp finely minced habanero (or other less-hot chile)

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

1/8 tsp ground allspice

S&P to taste

Juice and zest from one orange and one lime

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp. red or white wine vinegar

Marinade all ingredients except spinach (letting pork, corn and potatoes cool to room temp first) in the salad dressing for about 15 minutes. Then remove from dressing with slotted spoon and top spinach. Top with crushed papaya seeds for extra peppery crunch.

I Love Salad Nicoise Salads, especially because anchovies ROCK! haha! (Google recipes for it!!! I am sure if you write "Low Fat Nicoise Salad" there will be a low calorie dressing to go with it....


Other than that, when I make salads they are sort of random because I just throw everything in a bowl and call it a day....my add ins consist usually of:
- Arichoke Hearts
- Bell Peppers
- Olives
- Green Beans
- Water Chestnuts
- Straw Mushrooms
- Cherry Tomatoes 
- Some roasted veggies (oven baked eggplant or zucchini with onions) 


**MMM I am making myself hungry!!!

I Love Salad Nicoise Salads, especially because anchovies ROCK! haha! (Google recipes for it!!! I am sure if you write "Low Fat Nicoise Salad" there will be a low calorie dressing to go with it....


Other than that, when I make salads they are sort of random because I just throw everything in a bowl and call it a day....my add ins consist usually of:
- Arichoke Hearts
- Bell Peppers
- Olives
- Green Beans
- Water Chestnuts
- Straw Mushrooms
- Cherry Tomatoes 
- Some roasted veggies (oven baked eggplant or zucchini with onions) 


**MMM I am making myself hungry!!!

here are some great korean vegetable 'salads'...they're traditionally served as a side to a bowl of rice...

spinach salad: blanch 1 bunch of spinach, run under cold water and squeeze as much water as possible out...add 1/2 c. sliced green onions, 1T. garlic, 1T. soy sauce, , 1/2 T. sugar, 1tsp sesame oil, 1tsp of sesame seeds, and 1 tsp hot pepper flakes.  Mix until thoroughly incorporated

(do the same w/ blanched bean sprouts except substitute 1 1/2 tsp salt for soy sauce)

cucumber salad:  lightly salt 3 c. thin cucumber slices and let sit for 10 min.  drain thoroughly or squeeze.  add 1/2 c. sliced green onions, 1T. garlic, 1-2 T. unseasoned rice vinegar, 1 T sugar, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp of sesame seeds, 1 tsp hot pepper flakes .  Mix until thoroughly incorporated.

i also like to make a salad with shredded cabbage, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, avocado chunks, finely chopped onion, garlic salt, lemon pepper and a little bit of juice from a jar of pepperoncini peppers.  Sounds a little weird, but tastes great and very filling.

Forgot about my all time favorite salad-

Thai Green Papaya Salad...Here's a link to a recipe, but I usually just order it takeout from my local Thai restaurant...Add a few prawns, and you've got a meal. :o)

http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Green_P apaya_Salad.htm

I just had this one yesterday.  Steamed Vegetable Salad.  Slice carrots thin, on the diagonal, break broccoli into bite size flowerettes, cut small zucchini about 1/4 inch thick, and slice some red onion thick. Steam until crisp/tender.  Dress while warm with low fat raspberry vinaigrette.  Add a few sunflower seeds or slivered almonds.

I know it probably isn't everyone's favorite, but I love a good cabbage salad, especially during the winter when other salad vegetables aren't at their peak. I just chop/shred the cabbage (any color) and toss it with some white wine vinegar, lemon juice, a tiny pinch of salt and sugar and a drizzle of olive oil. If you're feeling fancy you can add other shredded veggies to it as well, like carrots. It's very feeling, and seriously cheap.

Some favorites of mine: 

Romaine and mixed greens, cucumber, tomato, broiled asparagus, reduced fat feta and grilled chicken breast with balsamic dressing.  (My version of the Bravo! grilled chicken salad.)

Romaine and mixed greens, cucumber, toasted almonds, dried cranberries and gorgonzola or blue cheese.

Spinach, spanish peanuts, diced apple, golden raisins and toasted sesame seeds.  This has a vinegar-dijon-soy sauce-curry dressing.  I'm sure you could improvise. 

I'm currently trying to deconstruct a salad at a local restaurant that has turkey, watercress, dried cranberries and pistachios in it and another at a different restaurant that is a roasted pear and beet salad.  Both are to die for.