Summer Salads

We’ve been eating loads of salads lately and loving them. We’re all good fruit and vegetable eaters so it’s been fun to have salad bars. We started out eating a variety of wraps and then we moved on to include burritos with a variety of fillings. Pretty soon we  started leaving the carb filled wraps behind and filled our bowls with all kinds of salad fixins’.

This  salad features arugula and smoked salmon. I layered the bowl with spinach, lettuce and my favorite green, arugula. It’s got a spicy bite to it that I just love. Next I added a smoked and peppered Chinook salmon.  I included feta cheese, avocado, pistachio nuts and Roma tomatoes. I drizzled it with a light bleu cheese dressing. It was perfectly complimented by a small glass of Limoncello. Click on the link for that recipe.

I was worried that there might be complaints that all we’ve been having is salad, but quite the contrary. Everyone is happy and creativity abounds in the wide variety and combination of each salad.  Our nightly salad bar includes shredded cheddar, beets, almonds, grilled chicken, sliced strawberries, cranberries and a variety of dressings and toppings. It keeps everybody happy and imaginative in their food selections.

A salad bar is a great summertime dinner. No hot kitchen, everyone can fill up on what they love best and clean-up is minimal. Preparation can be done hours ahead when the house is still cool so there’s really no excuse. It’s a meal with very little guilt so if you need that dab of ice cream later, or a bowl of fresh berries, what the heck, go ahead!

I usually offer a different protein like ground beef, chicken or fish. Then I build around that. For instance if I’m using ground beef I’ll add some taco seasoning , lite sour cream and salsa to the salad bar. Chicken always calls for avocado and nuts, for me at least. That’s the point, everybody can put together their favorite every time.

Here are a few recent favorites:This one was delicious! Kind of a BLT with avocado. Spinach, lettuce, bacon, tomato, avocado, bleu cheese chunks, oil and vinegar dressing. The bacon, from the farmers market and was thick sliced and oh so delicious. A little went a long way.

                                                    Lettuce,  shredded cheese, tomato, corn, beef with bleu cheese dressing

 

                          Bar-B-Q beef, spinach, avocado chunks, bleu cheese crumbles, red onion, balsamic dressing

I had this salad last night. It might be my new favorite. For the salad dressing, I’ve just been drizzling one of my new olive oils from our recent trip, then another drizzle of really good aged balsamic , salt and pepper. That’s it. The salad itself consists of lettuce, spinach, avocado, Roma tomato, crumbled bleu cheese, slivered red onion, tuna chunks. Yum! 

Our weather has finally improved and it appears we are in for a stretch of sunny days! Yay! Let the outdoor dining begin.

Comments

[Sunday Taylor]

Janet, these all look delicious! And this whole post is inspiring me to get my summer going with some new lighter recipes! I loved your post on "Ripe" with your needlepoint canvas in the background. All that gorgeous freshness. Lovely photos. Have a great week!