Archive for the ‘Mixed Baby Greens’ Category
Day Twenty Four: Lemon Veggie Yum
Posted in 100 Days of Salad, Casein Free, Cilantro, Cucumber, Garbanzo Beans, Gluten Free, Lemon Citronette, Meal in Salad Form, Mixed Baby Greens, Radish, Scallion, Tomato, Vegan, tagged casein free, cilantro, citronette, cucumber, extra virgin olive oil, garbanzo beans, garlic, gluten free, lemon, maple syrup, mixed baby greens, mixed greens, radish, salad, salt, scallions, tomato, vegan, zest on November 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Day Twenty Three: Black Bean Citrus Lunch
Posted in 100 Days of Salad, Black Beans, Button Mushrooms, Casein Free, Cilantro, Gluten Free, Lime Citronette, Meal in Salad Form, Mixed Baby Greens, Navel Orange, Vegan, tagged black beans, cilantro, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, greens, lime, maple syrup, meal, mixed baby greens, mushrooms, navel orange, salad, salt, zest on November 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Black beans, navel orange, mushrooms, cilantro, and lime citronette over a bed of mixed greens.
Day Twenty Two: Another Weird One
Posted in 100 Days of Salad, Chicken, Meal in Salad Form, Mixed Baby Greens, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pesto, Rice Wine Vinaigrette, tagged chicken apple sausage, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, maple syrup, meal, mixed greens, parmigiano-reggiano, pasta, pesto, rice wine vinegar, salad, salt on November 14, 2014| 2 Comments »
Another weird one, this time with the pasta pesto and mini chicken apple sausage’s one of my kid’s made for dinner piled on top of a bed of mixed greens. Let’s see if I can do better next week…
Day Twenty One: “Weirdest. Salad. Ever.”
Posted in 100 Days of Salad, Beef, Button Mushrooms, Carrot, Casein Free, Gluten Free, Lime Citronette, Meal in Salad Form, Mixed Baby Greens, Potato, Tomato, Yellow Onion, tagged beef, beef stew, carrot, citronette, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, lime, meal, mixed greens, mushrooms, potato, salad, tomato, zest on November 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Tonight I totally made an “oh shit, I never ate a salad” meal. I dressed a bed of greens and mushrooms with leftover lime citronette, then ladled a hearty serving of beef stew over the top. My dinner, or, as one of my kids said, with her nose wrinkled in disgust, “the weirdest salad ever.”
My salad meal in a bowl was actually pretty good, though a balsamic vinaigrette would have been a much better match for the tomato-based beef stew.
Day Fifteen: Another Stir Fry Dinner
Posted in 100 Days of Salad, Carrot, Casein Free, Celery, Garlic, Ginger, Gluten Free, Meal in Salad Form, Mixed Baby Greens, Oyster Sauce, Pork, Shitake, Yellow Onion, tagged carrot, celery, garlic, ginger, meal, mixed baby greens, pork, salad, stir fry on November 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Day Eleven: Navel Orange, Garbanzo Bean, Cilantro Lunch
Posted in 100 Days of Salad, Button Mushrooms, Casein Free, Cilantro, Garbanzo Beans, Garlic, Gluten Free, Lemon Citronette, Meal in Salad Form, Mixed Baby Greens, Navel Orange, Shallot, Vegan, tagged cilantro, extra virgin olive oil, garbanzo beans, garlic, greens, lemon juice, meal, mixed baby greens, mushrooms, orange, salad, shallots, zest on October 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Yummy. I used up some leftover lemon citronette from yesterday’s dinner. Lunch was simply a bed of mixed greens, lots of garbanzo beans, a very juicy navel orange, a big fistful of cilantro, some quartered mushrooms, the zest from the orange, and some sliced shallot. I’d forgotten how much I love orange in salad.
Day Ten: Walnuts, Grapes, and Mint with a Lemon Citronette
Posted in 100 Days of Salad, Button Mushrooms, Casein Free, Garlic, Gluten Free, Grape, Lemon Citronette, Meal in Salad Form, Mint, Mixed Baby Greens, Shallot, Vegan, Walnut, tagged citronette, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, grapes, greens, lemon, lemon zest, meal, mint, mushroom, salad, shallot, walnuts on October 29, 2014| 2 Comments »
Ah, this was good. My first citronette since starting this challenge. This salad is much lighter than some of my meals–perfect dinner since I had a burger with the kids for lunch…I love mint and lemon. I love grapes and walnuts. Toss some mushrooms in as delightful flavor sponges, and pile the bowl high with mixed baby greens–really perfect.
Day Eight: Quick Dinner
Posted in 100 Days of Salad, Avocado, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Button Mushrooms, Casein Free, Gluten Free, Green Beans, Meal in Salad Form, Mixed Baby Greens, Scallion, Tomato, Vegan, tagged balsamic vinegar, cherry tomato, extra virgin olive oil, green beans, greens, meal, mushroom, recipe, salad, scallion on October 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Mixed greens, tomatoes, avocado, green beans, mushrooms, and scallions. Balsamic vinaigrette.
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette with Fried Eggs, Sharp Cheddar Cheese, and Garden Vegetables
Posted in Carrot, Cheddar, Chives, Egg, Gluten Free, Italian Parsley, Meal in Salad Form, Mixed Baby Greens, Mustard, Red Wine Vinaigrette, Tomato, tagged baby, butter, carrots, cheddar, chives, cracked, dinner, egg, extra virgin, food, greens, honey, italian, lunch, meal, mixed, olive oil, parsley, pepper, red wine, salad, salt, sharp, tomato, vinegar on May 7, 2011| 1 Comment »
I was hungry. Really hungry. And I wanted something familiar, homey. And I felt brazen. So I made a fried egg salad. It sounded yummy. Comfortable and weird. What the heck, food is food.
I grabbed greens, eggs, all the random veggies I had that made sense, and ingredients for a yummy honey mustard vinaigrette. I wanted tang and sweet — sharp cheddar, salty egg, delicious greens. It all sounded good. So I slapped it all together.
Basic ingredients, ready for action. Egg and butter not depicted.
Ingredients:
(Lunch salad, serves one.)
4 cups of mixed baby greens.
15 baby carrots, cut into thirds.
1 tomato, chopped.
1 fistful of fresh italian parsley, chopped.
1 fistful of fresh chives, chopped.
2 T grated extra sharp cheddar.
2 large eggs.
1 tsp butter.
Freshly cracked pepper, to taste.
Vinaigrette or Citronette:
(Use only what you need. Refrigerate extra for a couple of days.)
3 T extra virgin olive oil.
1 T red wine vinegar.
1 tsp mustard.
1 tsp honey.
Pinch of salt, to taste.
I made my bed of greens, and I chopped the carrots and tomatoes that would lie in it. I added my herbs. I mixed up my vinaigrette. And I put the butter in my ancient cast iron pan, and fried my egg, over medium, just like I like it. Cook the whites, leave the yolk super juicy. I tossed the egg on top of the salad, drizzled the dressing over it all, mixed it up with my fork, and gobbled it up.
Here it is, dressing drizzled over the egg, all juicy and delicious and ready to be busted open.
The Verdict:
I loved this. So much. So much, it’s been hard to think of anything interesting enough to follow it up with. The cheese got a little melty with the hot egg. The chives added that delicious hint of oniony heaven. The egg… The juicy, delicious, amazing egg. The yolk mixed with the dressing and coated the leaves. The crispy edges of the egg whites added this beguiling crunch. The carrots helped crunchify it even more, while the tomato juices blended with the egg yolk and the honey mustard vinaigrette perfectly.
Time to devour it!
Make it a Meal:
Done.
Pack it to Go:
Not going to happen. Sorry, but unless it’s easy for you to pack a raw egg and fry it at work (or wherever you eat your packed lunch) this one isn’t going to go anywhere. Eat it at home, where you have your fully functioning kitchen, and enjoy it.
Springtime Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette with Avocado, Jicama, and Radishes
Posted in Avocado, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Basil, Casein Free, Gluten Free, Jicama, Mint, Mixed Baby Greens, Radish, Side Salad, Strawberry, Vegan, tagged avocado, baby greens, balsamic, basil, dinner, extra virgin, food, fresh, green, greens, jicama, lettuce, lunch, mint, mixed greens, olive oil, radish, salad, salt, strawberry, sugar, vinegar on April 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Cheap strawberries. It must be spring.
What more can I say? I bought a lot, with this vague strawberry balsamic vinaigrette salad idea. The kids were devouring the strawberries, and fast, so I knew I needed to try my experiment or I’d miss my chance. Dinner was going to be corn chicken chowder with bacon and chives, and I thought the sweet strawberry salad would be refreshing with the thick, savory chowder.
I’d never made the chowder before — it was a dish one of the kids requested when we were sorting through cooking magazines and looking for ideas. Remember that. Never made the soup before. Inventing the salad on the fly. Improv dinner — my favorite way to cook. When it works, it’s a magical victory. When it works…
I grabbed the ingredients that appealed to me — lots of crunchy jicama and radish, fresh herbs — and started playing.
Ingredients, ready to go!
Ingredients:
(Side salad, serves six.)
6 cups of mixed baby greens.
1 large avocado, quartered lengthwise and sliced.
6 radishes, sliced.
1 cup diced jicama.
1 fistful of fresh mint, chopped.
1 fistful of fresh basil, chopped.
Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette:
(Use only what you need. Refrigerate extra for a couple of days.)
6 large strawberries, sliced.
1 T sugar.
1 T balsamic vinegar.
3 T extra virgin olive oil.
Pinch of salt, to taste.
Pretty colors.
I decided to macerate the strawberries in sugar and vinegar — my goal was a heavily infused salad dressing, so that the strawberry flavor would really permeate the salad. I started by slicing the strawberries and putting them in a large jar. I added the sugar, closed the lid and tossed the strawberries to really coat them with the sugar. I let that sit for a moment, then added the balsamic vinegar and tossed them again. While the strawberries released their juices, I began to work. I created a bed of baby greens, and chopped the jicama and the radishes. Then I added the herbs. I paused here to tend to the soup. You’ll want to let the strawberries macerate for at least twenty minutes, so plan your cooking accordingly. When the chowder was ready to dish up, I sliced open the avocado, added the oil and salt to the salad dressing, and combined it all.
It looks so good...
My core idea was solid. The macerated strawberries made a truly amazing salad dressing. Basil and mint were perfect herbs to pair with the vinaigrette, and the jicama and radish worked really well.
But… It was too mushy! The combination of the tender baby greens, macerated strawberries, and that enormous avocado was just not right. Even with the jicama and radish, it was too soft and squishy. I think I should have left the avocado out. Or started with a crunchier green — romaine, or endive — and used less of the avocado. I think really good endives and just a little avocado would make this a classy, well balanced salad.
But my real error was my meal planning, or lack thereof. Corn chowder. Remember that? I honed in on the salty bacon, and thought my sweet strawberry salad would be perfect with the savory soup. But the salty bacon? It was balancing all that sweet corn! This soup and salad combination was essentially dessert for dinner.
The strawberry salad really needs to be eaten alongside something strong and savory. Smoky dry rub barbecue, or a really good pork roast, or a hefty veggie burger. Not sweet corn soup.
So, play with the vinaigrette. It really is good. But keep your crunch ratio strong, and choose your main course wisely.
Make it a Meal:
Don’t bother — too much to fix. But if you’re doing the fixing (hearty romaine or endives, skip the avocado) I’d add some crispy crunchy protein — salty nuts, or sliced up fried chicken, or leftover pork chop.
Pack it to Go:
Again, don’t bother. Of course, if you’ve fixed the flaws, then pack your salad in a large glass or stainless steel container with a well fitting lid, and your dressing (including the strawberries, of course) in a large jar. If you dare to include avocado, put it in with the dressing to prevent browning. When you’re ready to eat, shake your dressing well, and drizzle it over the salad. Use a fork to fish out all of the strawberries. Use only as much dressing as you want. Fork toss, and enjoy.
Salad Play 