Caprese Salad with a Twist (tomato, mozzarella, blueberry salad)

This is one of my favorite summer salads, and it's the perfect salad to make this first week of July (very patriotic red, white, and blue!) - just add blueberries to some halved cherry tomatoes and small bites of fresh mozzarella (I found some very small bite-sized balls at the grocery store, if you can't find those you can cut up a larger ball), drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper. A traditional Caprese salad has fresh basil but I didn't have any on hand and we didn't miss it. Yum, love this dish!

Broccoli Salad

 I think of this as sort of an "old-fashioned" recipe, it feels like every church potluck I've ever been to has some version of this (along with cheesy potatoes!); I'd gotten out of the habit of making it but just the other day came across my tried and true recipe and since then have made it twice - I'm remembering how much I like it...sometimes oldies really are goodies! Here's my version:

1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled (I usually just use pre-cooked chopped up bacon 'cuz I'm lazy and it's just fine in this salad)
2 pounds broccoli, chopped into bite-sized pieces
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup dried cranberries (occasionally I use golden raisins but I prefer the cranberries)
1 cup mayo (light is fine, you could also substitute half with plain greek yogurt to lighten it up more)
2 T. white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar (I use a little less)
1/4 cup half and half (or I'll use whatever milk I have on hand)

Put the broccoli in a big microwaveable bowl and cook on high for a couple minutes (you can leave it raw but I like it cooked just a little bit - don't cook it all the way though or the salad will be mushy). Add the celery, bacon, cranberries or raisins and mix to combine.

In a small measuring bowl combine the remaining ingredients and add to the broccoli mixture, toss to combine well. Refrigerate 2 hours. Makes 6-8 servings

one year ago today: Moscow Mule

Spinach, Beet, and Goat Cheese Salad

This salad might seem pretty basic and traditional: toss fresh baby spinach leaves, chopped up cooked beets, and crumbled goat cheese in a big bowl - I added some toasted pine nuts for crunch but more traditional is walnut pieces if you like nuts. The killer part of this salad is the honey-mustard vinaigrette recipe - SO good!

1 T. balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 t. honey
1 1/2 t. Dijon mustard
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Whisk the first 5 ingredients in a small bowl then slowly whisk in oil until blended.

orignal recipe found here.

PS: if you want a different spinach salad with hard boiled eggs, bacon, and almonds try my sissy's delish version, click here for that post.

one year ago today: harvey wallbanger

Butternut Squash and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese

It's not every day that I hear "I think this is my new favorite salad" from the hubby, trust me when I say that means this is a VERY good salad! And I'm with him, it's also my new fave.

I came across "butternut spirals" at the grocery store, they are like the zucchini noodles that are suddenly everywhere (click here for a recipe) only made out of butternut squash. I made the recipe on the back of the package and didn't change a thing except I added more arugula and used cherry tomatoes - and I will be making it all the time now! Yum.

10.7 ounces butternut spirals (I think shredded, grated, or chopped in small pieces would also work)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 oz. crumbled goat cheese
2 cups baby arugula
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 diced roma tomato

Heat skillet over medium-high, add oil and butternut spirals and toss for 3-4 minutes until al dente (don't cook too long or they'll get mushy). Remove from heat, toss with arugula, pine nuts and tomato. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with goat cheese and enjoy with your favorite vinaigrette (optional. note I drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled on some white wine vinegar).

we had it as a side to grilled pork tenderloin. 

Sarge just waiting for something to leap out of the bowl and onto the floor :)

Burger Salad

I make this very easy salad all the time, Dave and I both love it - he doesn't usually want a salad for dinner but for some reason putting a grilled burger on top of it makes it acceptable haha!

This isn't really a recipe - just toss a bunch of things together...this is what I do, change it to suit your own taste. Put down a big base layer of chopped lettuce, top with rinsed and drained black beans, corn, chopped tomatoes, sliced avocado, and shredded cheddar cheese. Dave likes when I put tortilla chips on top of all that but I don't always have them. Drizzle with dressing and top with a grilled burger patty - I season the meat with montreal steak seasoning and a few dashes of worcestershire sauce before forming into patties for him to grill. Serve with additional dressing on the side.

For the dressing: mix together a big scoop of mayo and sour cream, thin it out with milk to get salad dressing consistency; then add a little ranch dressing and some kind of mexican seasoning blend (it changes depending on what I can find at the store) - if you don't have that or don't want to get it then add a big spoonful of salsa, I do that instead of the seasoning sometimes. Either way it's good! Drizzle over the salad before adding the burger patty.

Dave also really likes this using buffalo burger, which has quite a bit less fat in it - and you usually can't even tell the difference. Might as well go for less fat and calories!

Japanese Steakhouse Carrot-Ginger Salad Dressing

comparing 3 different recipes. 

Our family has a tradition to make birthday dinner your "favorite things" - and it means just that, the birthday person gets to pick whatever they want...and it doesn't have to go together. I will say that in years past we've had meals that consisted of KFC, crab rangoons, pizza, no vegetables, and lots of chips - now everyone is fairly good about coming up with somewhat of a balanced meal. Except there's Brooke, who just turned 13, and has picked out some things that really don't go together! So we are having beef stroganoff with make-your-own-sushi, crabby mushrooms and buffalo dip, Japanese salad and cheez-its....sounds good, right? Ha, yuck. Anyway...My sister is making or getting most of the meal, but I thought it'd be fun to try to make the traditional orange salad dressing we get when we go to a Japanese Hibachi/steakhouse for the salad - I think it's Carrot-Ginger so googled a bunch of recipes and experimented with 3 different ones  (I went and picked up a small thing of restaurant dressing so I have something to compare it to) and I think I got pretty close - here's the winning recipe:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 medium carrot peeled and roughly chopped (I used baby carrots, about 4 ounces)
1/2 medium onion, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Put all the ingredients in a food processor, process until smooth. Chill until ready to use. Makes about 2 cups.

Note: this has a little texture to it, tiny little specks of ginger and carrot - you won't get it totally smooth and that's what you want. Serve over iceberg salad with shredded carrots and cherry tomatoes.

to use fresh ginger - buy the size you want (it's ok to break off a piece at the supermarket, you don't have to buy the whole thing...kinda like bananas). then remove the brown part with a vegie peeler and discard.

 different stages of the ginger - remove and discard the peel (on the right) and then grate it (on the left)

PS: there are a bunch of recipes out there that call for ketchup, celery, lemon juice...it doesn't taste like the one we are used to and isn't my favorite for sure - it just tastes like ketchup!

White Beans in Marinara Sauce and Arugula Salad with Fresh Mushrooms

I got the idea for this dish when we went to Greece a couple years ago and had giant beans in a tomato sauce, and loved loved loved them. I found a couple recipes in cookbooks but then just sort of made this version up and it's stuck - I make them all the time.

sometimes I add a handful of halved cherry tomatoes 

 I don't know where to get giant beans here - for real, there are huge giant white beans out there! Get them if you find them - so I use canned white beans, usually Great Northern or White Cannelini and sometimes a mixture of both. Rinse them really well, put into a small roasting dish, and mix in some jarred marinara sauce (or any spaghetti sauce would be fine I think) - bake at 350 for anywhere between 30 - 45 minutes (you can't really overbake, they just cook down more the longer you bake them. If they seem dry I add a little hot water or olive oil to loosen them up a bit). Season with salt and pepper, and crumble feta cheese over the top for the last few minutes in the oven.

They are good by themselves, or as a side dish to grilled or roasted meat and chicken. I occasionally add halved cherry tomatoes and/or additional italian seasoning - it's a very adaptable dish. But white beans, marinara, and feta alone is just delish...I hope you'll try them!

This time we had them with grilled marinated pork tenderloin and a super easy salad of arugula and fresh mushrooms tossed with a little olive oil, lemon juice, coarse salt, and parmesan.

salad ingredients

Greek Inspired Salad

This is my spin on a Greek salad, it's so good and fresh I want to share it. Simple and delicious.

Ingredients:

• cucumbers
• cherry tomatoes, halved
• avocado, cut into bite-sized pieces
• feta cheese, crumbled
• spinach, roughly chopped
• olive oil, white vinegar, coarse salt and pepper

note: like my exact measurements? It all depends on how big you want to make your salad! I do about equal parts sliced cukes and halved cherry tomatoes.

Peel, remove a bunch of the seeds,and slice a couple cucumbers. I really like to use the little baby ones - you can skip peeling and seeding with those, but this time Dave went to the store for me and bought pickling cucumbers which worked just fine.

Put the veggies in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, splash with vinegar, season to taste. Once again I don't measure, just add how much you want! Add feta and toss.

I've been making this salad often as a side to grilled chicken or steak, it's also really good with grilled tuna or shrimp. A great summer salad.