When you need a bright, colorful, tasty, and refreshing summertime salad, this Watermelon, Cucumber, and Red Onion Salad with Feta, dressed with a light vinaigrette, checks all the boxes. Continue reading Watermelon, Cucumber, and Red Onion Salad with Feta
Tag Archives: salad
Classic Broccoli Salad Recipe
This classic Broccoli Salad is wonderfully tasty and can be served with a number of different meals. It is great for potlucks, cookouts, and picnics (provided, of course, it is kept cold due to the mayo and sour cream content).
The salad is a great way to add veggie content to the diet. The ingredients are commonplace and the method is simple. Cook the bacon till crispy then crumble. Wash and chop the vegetables. Prepare a simple dressing and pour over salad ingredients. Yes, it really is that simple!
I like to use balsamic vinegar in the salad dressing as it has a lovely deep flavor and is not as sharp as regular white vinegar, for example. However, plain white vinegar or a red wine vinegar also work well. I suggest trying different flavored balsamics to switch up the flavor.
For best flavor, I recommend refrigerating the salad for at least 45 minutes prior to serving. It can be prepped several hours ahead. Just add the sunflower seeds at time of serving as, otherwise, they may get soft and lose their desired crunchiness.
With the smaller household in mind, I have proportioned this salad to be small with 3-4 servings. The lovely thing about this salad — well apart from the wonderful flavor — is that it is completely scalable so, if more servings are needed, it is easily doubled or tripled or even quadrupled.
[Printable recipe follows at end of post]
Broccoli Salad
Ingredients:
2 cups chopped broccoli, small bite-sized pieces
3 slices crispy fried bacon, crumbled
1/3 cup sweet pepper (red, yellow, or orange), chopped
¼ cup red onion, chopped
2 tbsp shredded carrot
1/3 cup dried cranberries
Dressing:
¼ cup salad dressing
2 tbsp sour cream
½ tbsp pure maple syrup
½ tbsp granulated sugar
½ tbsp vinegar (balsamic, red wine, or white)
1½ tsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp garlic salt (optional)
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
Sprinkle of freshly chopped chives (optional)
Method:
Prepare vegetables and bacon. Place in bowl along with the dried cranberries.
For Dressing: Combine all ingredients in small bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour half the dressing over the prepared vegetables and mix to coat vegetables then repeat with remaining dressing. Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes before serving. At time of serving, sprinkle salad with sunflower seeds and, if desired, chopped chives.
Yield: Apx. 3 – 4 side salad servings
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Broccoli Salad
A perfect side to many meals, this easy-to-make classic Broccoli Salad is also a perfect addition to potlucks, picnics, and cookouts.
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 2 cups chopped broccoli, small bite-sized pieces
- 3 slices crispy fried bacon, crumbled
- 1/3 cup sweet pepper (red, yellow, or orange), chopped
- ¼ cup red onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp shredded carrot
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- Dressing:
- ¼ cup salad dressing
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- ½ tbsp pure maple syrup
- ½ tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ tbsp vinegar (balsamic, red wine, or white)
- 1½ tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/8 tsp garlic salt (optional)
- 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
- Sprinkle of freshly chopped chives (optional)
Instructions
Prepare vegetables and bacon. Place in bowl along with the dried cranberries.
For Dressing: Combine all ingredients in small bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour half the dressing over the prepared vegetables and mix to coat vegetables then repeat with remaining dressing. Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes before serving. At time of serving, sprinkle salad with sunflower seeds and, if desired, chopped chives.
Recipe Notes
Yield: Apx. 3 - 4 side salad servings
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Beet Watermelon and Dragon Fruit Salad
Today’s Beet, Watermelon, and Dragon Fruit Salad is an eye-catching bright mix of fruits and vegetables that combine to make a refreshing salad drizzled with a light and flavorful vinaigrette. Continue reading Beet Watermelon and Dragon Fruit Salad
Chicken and Quinoa Salad with Star Anise and Orange Vinaigrette
We grow a garden and live out of it in the summer. Lots of different varieties of lettuce are grown and so salads are an almost daily part of our menu. On hot summer days, I love to make what I call a main meal salad like this Chicken and Quinoa Salad with Star Anise and Orange Vinaigrette.
I simply take a meat platter and lay a layer of mixed greens down the center bordered by a row of quinoa along both sides of the lettuce bed. I often marinate and cook chicken breasts then slice them for salads as I have done here. I use whatever fruit I have on hand or that is in season to make a colorful and healthy salad. It could be strawberries, mango, melons, oranges or mandarins, blueberries, peaches, raspberries, and so forth. Add some red onion rings, crumbled feta cheese, and top with crunchy pea and radish shoots and you have a very colorful, appetizing, and healthy dinner.
What makes the salad super tasty is the vinaigrette.
For this recipe, start with 3 tablespoons of orange juice and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and add a small star anise pod and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let the juice cool. This allows the star anise to infuse the juice with a lovely subtle layer of licorice flavor. Discard the star anise and mix the vinaigrette ingredients in a small jar and shake vigorously. If adding fresh herbs, only add them at the time of serving as, otherwise, they become quite limp and wilted.
Now, I don’t tend to measure the ingredients for the salad itself. I go to the garden and pick a couple of handfuls of different kinds of lettuce. For a main meal serving for two, I cook 1/2 cup of quinoa and a large chicken breast. For the fruits, just add as many of each kind as you like and the same for the pea and radish shoots. I don’t grow these shoots – I get them from Just A Little Farm in Bonshaw. You can click here to read the story I wrote about this farm. Jessica grows the most amazing produce and her pea and radish shoots are so lovely crisp and fresh!
This recipe will yield a generous main meal for two or, if serving as a starter, it could serve 4-6.
[Printable Recipe Follows at end of Posting]
Orange and Star Anise Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
3 tbsp orange juice
1 small star anise pod
¼ cup olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp liquid honey
¼ tsp garlic salt
Salt and pepper, to taste
Fresh herbs (e.g., parsley, thyme, dill), chopped
Method:
In small saucepan, bring orange juice to boiling point over medium heat. Reduce heat to simmer and add the star anise pod. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely, allowing the star anise to infuse the orange juice. Remove and discard star anise after orange juice has cooled.
Combine all ingredients, except the fresh herbs, in a small jar. Shake vigorously. Add the chopped herbs at time of serving.
Yield: Apx. scant ½ cup
Chicken and Quinoa Salad with Star Anise and Orange Vinaigrette
A tasty vinaigrette with subtle undertones of licorice flavor. Perfect accompaniment to any salad but especially good with Chicken and Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp orange juice
- 1 small star anise pod
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp liquid honey
- ¼ tsp garlic salt
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Fresh herbs (e.g., parsley, thyme, dill), chopped
Instructions
- In small saucepan, bring orange juice to boiling point over medium heat. Reduce heat to simmer and add the star anise pod. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely, allowing the star anise to infuse the orange juice. Remove and discard star anise after orange juice has cooled.
- Combine all ingredients, except the fresh herbs, in a small jar. Shake vigorously. Add the chopped herbs at time of serving.
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