Salads and I have a funny relationship. I love them when the weather is warm and the sun is shining, but not so much during cloudy, rainy or cold days. On those days I just want soup. A few weeks ago when we had several days in a row of great weather I challenged myself to make a different salad everyday for lunch. A couple of the recipes I made were from my own recipe book while a few others were new to me.
I have always loved caprese salad and make it often for dinner, but adding the diced avocado really put this concoction over the top. This was definitely my favorite of the week.
I sliced grape tomatoes in half and paired it with mozzarella pearls and diced avocado. For the dressing I drizzled with olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Super easy!
For day two I made this Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing from damndelicious.net but added some leftover grilled chicken that I had in the fridge. So good….
The salad is romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, corn, black beans, avocado, fresh cilantro, toasted tortilla strips and grilled chicken. For the dressing, 1 cup cilantro leaves, 1/2 plain yogurt, 2 cloves minced garlic, juice of 1 lime, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 T apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt combined in the food processor. Neither Dave or I were fans of this dressing, a little too tart for us, but there are many versions of Cilantro Lime Dressing on the web so next time I am going to try a different one.
Day three consisted of a fruit salad inspired by the Orange Honey Rainbow Fruit Salad @ theslowroasteditalian.com, however her recipe serves twelve and with just Dave and I around much would go to waste so we cut it down and modified it a bit.
I included sliced strawberries, green grapes, blackberries, bananas and kiwis for my salad and altered the sweet dressing a little since I am not a fan of mint leaves. My dressing included 1/4 cup of orange juice, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of honey. This was a great lunch!!
On the fourth day I made a version of the Strawberry Spinach salad with Strawberry Lime Vinaigrette as found on the blog bakingwithblondie.blogspot.com.
The salad was awesome with strawberries, spinach, blue cheese, thin sliced red onion, sliced almonds and bacon crumbles. The dressing consisted of 1/2 c chopped strawberries, 1/4 c lime juice, 1/4 c olive oil, 1 Tablespoon of honey and salt/pepper all pureed in the food processor. Yummy!
For the final day I made one of my own recipes I have been making for years, Broccoli and Cauliflower salad.
The salad is 2 cups each of raw broccoli and raw cauliflower cut into small bites, along with 1/2 cup celery, 1/2 cup red onion and 1 cup peas. I usually just toss those ingredients with 2 cups of ranch dressing and then top with parmesan cheese. I think this taste much better if it chills for a few hours in the fridge before eating.
This was a fun way to lighten up my lunches and try new recipes. I still have many other salad recipes I would like to try so I might need to do this again sometime.
All the salads look wonderful. Very well plated also!
Thanks Linda!