A Big Fresh Summer Salad

After a bowl of my Lemon Chicken Rice Soup and some of the Focaccia I made today, for lunch, a big salad sounded just perfect. I grew red romaine and three types of basil plus a couple other vegetables on my deck this year. Next year I hope to expand it and grow more.

This salad will have Genovese and Boxwood Basil. The Boxwood variety is a little milder. Genovese Basil is the one I think every home cook and Italian chef would choose if they could only have one variety. The leaves are a bright, shiny green, very tender and so full of beautiful flavor and scent! The vegetables here are red romaine, orange pepper, cucumber, the basils, tomato, mushrooms, avocado and sweet onion. Drizzle with your favorite citrus vinaigrette. 

I was going to make a layered salad, on a pretty glass plate, then I thought -hey- it's only me, this doesn't have to be fancy. A tossed salad is more efficient and easier to eat. Everything gets a light coating of dressing, just to highlight the fresh flavors. 

Crunch Away!  It's Summer-Salad-Time! . .Lin

Spicy Corn & Bean South-Of-The-Border Tossed Salad

With a little bit of vegetable prep work, this salad is easy to put together in just a matter of minutes.  Today, mine is made up of:  Mixed Greens - romaine, thin-sliced green cabbage, onion, sliced pickling cucumber, 3 Large Quartered Cherry Tomatoes, Half a firm Avocado, Fresh Cooked Corn - cut off the cob, Black Beans.  For dressing I used a little Buttermilk Ranch with a squirt of Sriracha Sauce.  To balance that, I added a splash of Walmart's Sweet Cilantro Lime dressing.  Oh, this was good!  It's still Summer!  Salad Days are here! . . Lin

Steamed and Raw Vegetable Salad

½ sm. head of cauliflower

½ sm bunch of broccoli

3 med. carrots - scrubbed

½ tight, heavy head of iceberg lettuce

3 mini English cucumbers

Slice the carrots diagonally in thin-medium-thick slices.  Put in a 2qt. pot with a little water.  Steam for about 4 minutes.  Add the cauliflower and broccoli and steam another 4 minutes.  Immediately drain and rinse in cold water, then put everything back into the pot and cover with very cold water to chill 5-10 minutes.  Drain in a colander, shake occasionally.  Put paper towel in the bottom of the colander and let stand a few minutes longer, until they're well dried.

Cut the lettuce into cubes, break them up a little, wash in your salad spinner.  Spin-dry well, then transfer to a large bowl.  Scrub and partially peel the cucumbers.  Slice lengthwise twice, then cross cut into ¼" quarter pieces, and add to the lettuce.  Once the steamed vegetables are cool and dry, toss them with the fresh vegetables, add tomatoes, croutons, grated cheese, etc.  Top with your favorite dressing.  This is a nice color and texture change from a regular tossed salad. . .Lin

Salad With Beets And Beans

Lettuce Mix:

1 romaine heart

4oz. fresh spinach

½ med. sweet onion

½ sm. head of radicchio

I always have a fresh lettuce mix made up in my 'fridge.  In doing this, I can grab a handful, add a few other ingredients and make a salad in no time at all.  This is my current one.  To a big bowl of this, for a hearty salad tonight, I've added:

½ sm. golden beet scrubbed-grated

½ can black beans rinsed-drained

½ avocado slice-chopped

1 sm. Roma tomato

I tossed this then topped it with a dressing I made last week, using orange zest, raspberry balsamic vinegar, olive oil, fresh ground black pepper and ground garlic sea salt.  I got busy and never blogged this recipe.

If you like crumbled bacon, you could use that, cashews, hard boiled egg, Italian parsley, chopped cucumber, cilantro, artichoke hearts, red olives. . .So many possibilities!  Be Creative . . . Lin  

Creamy Chili Garlic Dressing (and a salad)

2T chili garlic sauce

2T white balsamic vinegar

6-8oz. mayonaise

If you like things hot and spicy, just combine these 3 ingredients in a shaker container, shake, and you're done!  If you're not fond of the idea of all those chili pepper seeds surprising you with a blast of heat, strain the sauce, rubbing it with the back of a spoon, into a little bowl,  Stir the strainer contents a bit, then press, repeating until you've extracted all the sauce and are down to seeds.  Drizzle a teeny bit of vinegar over the seeds, stopping to stir and press again.  Continue with this until you run out of vinegar.  Pour this into your shaker jar.  Add mayonnaise and shake well. . .Lin

¼ sm. head of purple cabbage

1 baby romaine heart

3-4oz. baby kale

6 green onions

1 big carrot

lentil sprouts

Those of you who follow my blog probably know that my ultimate definition of A Salad is this one *  Today my lentil sprouts were ready to eat, and the lettuce mix I made a few days ago was gone.  I have no tomato, avocado or cucumber, so I was forced to totally deviate from my usual 5 Ingredient Salad.  This ended up being sort of a "clean-out-the-'fridge" salad!  It's good to do that once in awhile, to expand our brains which seem to like to be fixed on one or just a couple ways, of doing things.  Use your salad spinner for the romaine, baby kale and cabbage.  Scrub the carrot then slice lengthwise into long julienne strips and cut them about 1" long.  Add the rest and toss.



This all turned out wonderful.  A nice lunch.  There was enough leftover, for another 3 bowls of salad this size. . . Ahhh, more for later!  Be Bold, Be Adventurous, Think Outside Your Normal Routine, Happy Cooking! . . . Lin

Mixed Vegetable Salad

tomato

cucumber

onion

mushrooms

crunchy lettuce

avocado

cauliflower

Determine the amounts, based on size and number of servings you want. Chop the vegetables into an individual bowl, or larger mixing bowl. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a good quality, dark, fruity balsamic vinegar. (Napa Valley Naturals makes a wide variety of these, but their Cherry Wood Aged balsamic is very good.) Sprinkle with coarse ground pink Himalayan salt, black and red ground pepper. Toss and serve. . .Lin