Another Take on my 5 Ingredient Salad

Salads should be a year-'round part of our diets. My original 5 Ingredient Salad is made with tomato, cucumber, avocado, onion and a lettuce mix usually containing romaine, cabbage and spinach. Today I skipped the lettuce but added fresh mushrooms and some peanuts.

This was lunch today, a late lunch, after grocery shopping, voting and a few other stops in town. I found a new tea at Aldi's today.  Pomegranate, Blueberry, Acai berry. I added lemon juice, zest and honey. That was really good with the salad and a ciabatta I made a while ago and froze. I heated up a big piece of that and spread it with Swiss almond cheese spread. Today's salad dressing was Lemon-Olive Oil Dressing. . .Lin

Mediterranean Chicken Pasta Salad

1# chicken breast cut in 1" cubes

Saute' in some flavored olive oil and vinegar.  Season with your favorite Mediterranean seasonings.  This can be done a day ahead then stored in a small zip-type plastic bag to keep it moist.

Into a big bowl, chop the following:

1c mixed colorful sweet peppers

1½c celery hearts and greens

1 med.-lg. Vidalia onion

These can be mixed together now, with the chicken in a big bowl.  Pour half a recipe of Lemon-Olive Oil Salad Dressing * over these and mix well several times while assembling the other ingredients, to marinate the vegetables and hopefully help rehydrate the chicken a bit, since breast meat tends to be dry.  Cook 1# of your favorite medium pasta to al dente' stage.  Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.  Continue to drain, combining the pasta right before serving.   

Add the following to the bowl:

½-¾c drained-rinsed capers

1 6oz. jar of Kalamata olives rinsed-sliced

1 can drained-rinsed hearts of palm - sliced

1 can drained-rinsed quartered artichoke hearts

Mix everything GENTLY, with the pasta, since the hearts of palm will break up if tossed too much.  Top with shredded parmesan or gorganzola crumbles. . .Lin

A Big Sorghum Tabouli Salad (gluten-free)

1½c sorghum

Rinse, then cook the sorghum according to the package directions.

1 recipe of Lemon-Olive Oil Dressing *

~ with ½t of ground oregano added

2 cans garbanzo beans

~ drained and rinsed

1c chopped celery

¾c sliced green onions

¾c drained-rinsed capers

¾c sliced kalamata olives

¾c chopped green peppers

¾c Lemon-Olive Oil Dressing

Make up a fresh batch of the dressing.  Put the drained, still warm sorghum, garbanzos and all the chopped vegetables and ingredients in that group in a large container, drizzling with the dressing.  Gently mix it all with a big wooden spoon.  Cover and refrigerated to marinate, at least a couple hours or as long as a day ahead.

Just before serving, prepare the following vegetables; according to directions below; then chop into a big bowl:

3 lg. tomatoes

3-4 med. pickling cucumbers

~ or one long English cucumber

2-3 hearts of Romaine lettuce

1 bunch of parsley

Wash 3 large tomatoes.  Drop them into rapidly boiling, water to cover them.  Gently stir until the skins split.  Immediately plunge them into icy water.  After about 10 minutes, cut them in quarters and slide the skins off.  Remove the wet seedy parts.  This will give you a meatier-drier tomato which will keep the salad fresh longer.  Additionally it removes the main source of lectin in tomatoes, found in the skin and seeds.  Lectin is responsible for much inflammation in the body.  Scrub, peel, seed and chop the cucumbers.  Lectin is also found, to a lesser degree, in cucumbers (and zucchini).

Slice-chop the tomatoes and cucumbers into a bowl with the well cleaned Romaine and parsley.  Mix this, then combine it with the marinated sorghum and vegetables.  Add more dressing if needed.  This makes a giant container (about 6 quarts) of tabouli.  It's August!  Happy Salad Days! . . . Lin

Yet Another 5-Ingredient Salad

1½ romaine heart ~ cut off end

~ cut vertically then across

¼ sm. green or purple cabbage

~ slice thin or cut in ½ cubes

½ med. onion - sliced

2-3 pickling cucumbers ~ cubed

1 lg. carrot ~ scrubbed and grated

tomato and avocado

My Original 5-Ingredient Salad contained: lettuce mix, onion, cucumber, tomato and avocado.  Lettuce Mix is a loose term since it always contains more than lettuce.  I don't buy pre-packed, I make my own.  Cut or tear the lettuce of your choice into your salad spinner and get it squeaky-clean.  Enhance it with the addition of cabbage, carrot, spinach.  Balance these with thinly sliced kale, radicchio, or other bitter greens (even radish greens!) for a whole different pop of flavor.

Onion. . .Ohhh onion.  Todays salad has solidified my love-hate feelings about purple onion.  Love it cooked, in chili, dark soup or stew since cooking often turns it an odd blue-green!  I thought of Dr. Seuss the few times I used it in an omelette!  I tried once again today, but I stand by my original parting-of-the-ways with numerious TV Foodies regarding putting it in a raw salad.  I hear from several of them that purple onion is the 'mildest' of onions, therefore perfect for this.  Nope!  To me at least, it's the most aggressive of all the onions.  My hands down favorite for a tossed salad is a perfect Vidalia onion.  One that's short and wide...think puffy hockey puck!  They're the best!

I add the onion to the lettuce mix.  Cucumbers too, if they're in their prime.  Otherwise, don't put them in the lettuce mix.  Check them each day for freshness and slice them on the salad as you fix it.

Once the lettuce is spun dry, I put it back into the bowl of my spinner and add whatever else I'm using in the current mix.  I store it there, covered in the 'fridge.  Grab a handful, add tomato, avocado and dressing. . .So easy for a quick lunch or dinner side salad for the next several days.  Today I added gorganzola crumbles, sunflower kernels and my Lemon Olive Oil Dressing *  Summer is the perfect time for a big, colorful salad.  Remember to shop at your Local Farmer's Markets for the best, freshest locally grown vegetables. . .Lin

A Cucumber Salad UPDATE!

As much as I've always loved this salad, (scroll down) for me, it's just not one that keeps well.  It's more of a one-shot serve-it-now-and-be-done kinda thing.  Leftovers are usually a favorite of mine, but in regard to raw foods and salads, they aren't always very good, even just the next day.  I had quite a bit still in the 'fridge today.  Decided to jazz it up - with a little bean protein!  For this, garbanzos (chick peas) are my hands-down preference!

Rinse and drain, then put in a medium sized bowl bowl.  If you still have this dressing leftover, pour it over the beans.  Warm this just a touch in the microwave, toss it with the original salad, add some gorganzola crumbles just before serving.  Be Creative - Happy Cooking Everyone! . . .Lin

Updated Version of Millie's Cucumber Salad

My Mother-In-Law made this all the time for family dinners.  It was SO good, but really sweet.  Here's her recipe. . .

https://slowfoodhealthyfood.blogspot.com/2012/07/millies-much-requested-cucumber-salad.html

This version is way less sweet, using a healthier sweetener and lemon juice in place of the vinegar.  It's still a good idea to stick with a neutral oil, unless you really love the flavor of olive oil. . .if so. . .go for it 😉

5 pearl onions or equivalent

4 med.-lg. pickling cucumbers

1t dried cilantro

chopped chives or sliced garlic scapes

Lemon-Olive Oil Dressing *

add 1-2T pure Maple syrup to dressing - shake well
or use your favorite citrus vinaigrette dressing

1 med.-lg. vine-ripened tomato

Halve and slice the onions, rough peel the cucumbers, halve them lengthwise, and slice into a small-medium glass bowl.  Add dried cilantro and chives or garlic scapes, then pour about half a recipe of the dressing on top to marinate.  Gently stir several times over the next hour or so.  Add chopped tomato, stir again, and refrigerate an hour before serving.  This will keep several days, covered in the 'fridge. . .if there are leftovers. . .Lin