Roasted Butternut Squash & Arugula Salad
LITTLE EFFORT, BIG IMPACT. That's how I'm living. I almost typed livin' but I don't know if I'm that cool.
Maybe I am. I dunno.
I've got a lot on my plate these days and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm working, podcasting, organizing, mom-ing, wife-ing, cooking, making...In other words, there are a lot of ings in my life right now. The most important ing in my life has been and will ALWAYS be eating. You could have guessed as much.
Since I'm a busy lady with a love for new dishes, most of the recipes I've been clipping out have been simple and short. A lot of them require mostly pantry staples with a few fresh produce elements thrown into the mix. This one does just that! I had everything in my kitchen except arugula & apple cider.
Aaaaaand wouldn't you know that with all the my grocery planning, I totally forgot to pick up the apple cider! It was probably those 3 unplanned minutes spent in front of the kombucha shelf figuring out what flavors to get. Guava? Mango? Passionberry? Oooh Strawberry! Tough decisions. When I got home, I made the executive decision to add the orange juice I already had in my fridge to the warm vinaigrette and it worked like a charm!
This salad has all my favorite things:
Toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, Parmesan, arugula & roasted butternut squash.
Loving. Can we make that the new WINNING? Please?
Sushi Roll Edamame Salad
You guys! I'm going through some SERIOUS Oprah withdrawals. It's really bad. Last week I had a crazy dream where I was trying to find a pair of sunglasses and all of a sudden I was in Walmart and Oprah (who was wearing FLIP FLOPS!) handed me a pair. I woke up before I could hear her sweet voice. Sigh. THEN yesterday while I was driving to work, I pulled up at a stop light and a shiny black suburban passed by. OMG it was Oprah driving the car. Well...not really. It was a woman that looked just like her.
While figuring out what to type in this paragraph, I did a google search for "Oprah Vegan" because I remembered the show where she went vegan for a week with all of her staffers and LOOK! that post was a year ago! WHAT WHAT?! I think this means we're destined to meet. Or if not, maybe someone who knows her really well could get her drunk on Moscow Mules and have her call my voicemail? All I want her to say is TRACY SHUTTERBEAN in her voice. It would seriously make my decade.
I wonder if Oprah would like this salad? I'm pretty sure she would. Besides the base of romaine lettuce, there's a bit of brown rice, avocado chunks, cucumber, nori shreds, edamame, carrots & sesame seeds. It's hearty yet light! I bet she'd ask for more green onion miso dressing. Of course she'd ask for more dressing! That dressing IS SO DANG GOOD.
Without further adieu...
SUSHI ROLL EDAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME SAAAAAAAALAD FOR EVERYONE!
Did I tell you that Cooper can do the Oprah voice now? It's glorious.
Arugula Fig & Fennel Salad
Whenever I see a fennel bulb, memories flood into my head of my dad picking wild fennel on the side our driveway. I remember him taking a bite and offering me some. I also remember being puzzled as to why my dad loved the taste of fennel; my uneducated palette just didn't get it. When I set a plate of this Arugula Fig & Fennel salad in front of my dad on Cooper's birthday, with beaming eyes he told me how much his father loved figs and how they'd pick them off the trees during this time of year when he was a boy. I could tell the salad triggered a fond memory for his father in the same way fennel triggers my memories of him.
This is what I love the most about feeding others. It's always a pleasure hearing other people's stories and connections with food. It's particularly exciting when food helps brings back memories from my parent's childhood because I am always so eager to learn more about them.
Peppery arugula and crunchy fennel slices are spiked with a simply lemon dressing and finished off with beautiful quarters of sweet juicy figs and shavings of fresh Parmesan. It's a perfectly pretty and well balanced salad. Hurry up! Fig season is almost over!
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Tomatoes with Coriander Vinaigrette
Tomato & Basil=Caprese Salad. Tomato & Cilantro= Salsa. Right? Here's a salad that's sort of a hybrid of the two. Which means you can now eat salsa with a fork and knife! Chips are not invited to this party.
What you'll find here is a surprisingly delicious/refreshing/light sliced tomato salad with a little sharp kick of red onions, a toasty coriander undertone and a nice tang of red wine vinegar. Talk about tomato enhancing! A salad that is slightly reminiscent of salsa but then totally not. If you happen to have leftover Scalloped Corn & this tomato salad, do yourself a favor and grill a piece of bread, top it with a little leftover corn and a few slabs of tomato. You'll love it. I know this. What are you waiting for? Put those tomatoes to good use. Time's a tickin'!
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Tuscan Kale Salad w/ Pecorino
Kale and I have enjoyed a sultry love affair for over a year now. We've definitely moved past the puppy dog phase and we're currently treading in the I leave a toothbrush in his medicine cabinet territory. Yes, I'm talking about KALE. Lately I've been looking for something new to "spice up" our relationship. I've seen this salad on a few of my favorite food blogs and I thought it might lead us back to the non-stop PDA phase. It worked! Suddenly I'm absolutely infatuated with kale again and all it took was this simple salad!
Close your eyes and you might think you're eating a Caesar salad. Open your eyes and look at that dark leafy green pile of healthy kale sitting on your plate! Crazy, huh? You'll notice how creamy/sharp the Pecorino is and that lemony red pepper dressing sure is tangy AND spicy, right? I find that the texture of the kale shreds pairs so well with bits of the crunchy country bread crumbs, don't you? Now that I know how easy it is to make this, I'm totally going on a Raw Tuscan Kale Salad bender. Think Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas but sub the alcohol with Kale. Watch me.
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Vietnamese Noodle Salad w/ Grilled Tofu
It's hot outside and all I want to do is sit in front of a fan with a gigantic bowl of this Vietnamese Noodle Salad because it's both light AND hearty. It's the type of salad that's best served cold. It gives you the most pleasant after taste and doesn't put a lead weight in your stomach like most noodle salads. I bet it's the perfect thing to eat if you're planning on making out with someone later. Let me know how that goes!
Thinly sliced cucumbers, crunchy red peppers, tangy lime juice mixed with spicy chili sauce and the hugest dose of mint? YES, PLEASE. Did I mention the grilled marinated tofu? I don't think I did! It's a known fact that grill marks are sexy and just look at those grill marks! Get a bowl, sit in front of a fan, add a jar of fancy Iced tea and chow down. Your taste buds are begging to be awakened.
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Iceberg Wedges with Gorgonzola Dressing
I LOVE an iceberg wedge salad, don't you? I'm easily seduced when I see a nice wedge on a restaurant menu. I can't help myself. They're novel, they're fun and they usually have a creamy dressing & something bacon-y to boot. Seriously, what's not to like? I made fried chicken this past weekend (we'll get to that, next post!) and needed something cool, crisp, and refreshing to serve with it. This iceberg wedge salad extravaganza proved to be a match made in heaven with my OH-SO crispy FRIED CHICKEN.
Because I aimed to add crispy cooked bacon to this salad (WHY NOT?!), I bought low fat buttermilk & fat free Greek yogurt for the dressing. The lower fat options didn't make a speck of difference in the overall taste. Isn't it good to plan ahead? The creamy/sharpness of the Gorgonzola dressing was phenomenal with the sweet/juicy plum tomatoes I sprinkled around the edge of each plate. I didn't feel an ounce of guilt after eating 2 servings in one night. I HAVE to make this again when I get around to making "killer hot wings" for my husband this summer. It's on my list, after all.
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Charred Corn Salad
You seriously need to make this. Why? Because it has the potential of being your GO-TO SUMMER SALAD of 2011. The kind of salad you make so often, you don't have to refer to the recipe anymore. The salad at the party that everyone asks about! The salad that you amaze people with when you top it on grilled pizza! The one that makes you love summer and everything that it stands for....sweltering heat included!
See where I'm going with this?
Why is it delicious? Well, the charred white corn is sweet, smoky & crunchy. The lime and jalapeno dressing make it spicy/zesty! The orange peppers give extra color /crunch and the creamy avocados well...they're the reason why I couldn't stop eating this salad. Get out your grocery list and put this on there.
