Thanks for your post Crabby. This is something I do regularly. I like the way I feel after eating salad, but find there’s only so much lettuce, cucumber and tomato I can take. One of the salad breakthroughs I had was when I “realised” herbs were a vegetable. Now I add them by the handful to salads, which also adds bucketloads of flavour.

Winter over here means I’ve been eating less salads, but you’ve inspired me. So it’s salad for dinner tonight. I’ve already got some basics: lettuce, cabbage, carrot, cucumber, spinach. But I’ll be making a trip to the shops today for the interesting extras. I’ll let you know what I buy.

Hi Crabby,

There’s definitely a balance. It’s all too easy to make a delicious salad that’s very high in fat once you’ve added walnuts, stilton, avocados, egg and olive oil – heck throw in a few olives too :-)

Not that I disagree with your premise AT ALL, just careful not to add too many high fat items in there.

~Mike.

Just off to the market. Will grab some leafy bits while I’m there.

Great ideas here. For me it’s all in the dressing. Grassy, virginal olive oil, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and a little crushed garlic.

this is great! i am really not usually into salads but that’s because i was brought up on the most boring of salads: lettuce, tomato, celery and maybe some capsicum. yawn!

dried cranberries are delicious; i’ve used them in salads before and this is a good reminder, thanks!

I was housesitting for a friend this week and busily munching my way through an enormous bowl of rocket she left in the fridge, serving it with cherry tomatoes and a liberal drizzle of her vino cotto – something I hadn’t tried before but it’s like a thick sweet balsamic vinegar…. and it’s FABULOUS.

The thing that has rekindled my love for salads is using baby spinach instead of lettuce. I’ve never really like the taste and texture of lettuce and it was probably the biggest thing that stopped me from enjoying it.

i love salad. any salad. good winter salads are raw grated beetroot with olive oil, lemon juice, some orange rind and some fetta and walnuts (can skip the fetta but it makes it extra nice)

fennel salad with anchovies

roasted pumpkin or beetroot with salad leaves, nuts, fetta/goats cheese, onion and olive oil and vinegar

oh and grated carrot salad with cumin, oil, lemon, corriander, honey. SO GOOD

I love salads that are full of flavour, with some treats such as avocado or haloumi or some nuts. I’ve found when I make these I don’t usually need dressing – I’d rather have some extra avocado or a bit of blue cheese than the vinagrette!

Wow, what great suggestions you all have! I’ve never tried vino cotto but it sounds delicious.

And very good point about not going TOO far with the tasty extras. I definitely seen folks at salad bars who take a couple of lettuce leaves and then pile on a pound of “extras” like bacon and cheese and then act all pleased with themselves for just having a “salad”.

Hi Crabby,

Yeah definitely, I’ve seen that often too. The reason I’m so aware not to go too far is that I’m tempted to every day. Some days my hand will “accidently on purpose” slip and put too much olive oil in, or way too much amazing pancetta or whatever.

A little voice in my head says “GO ON – TREAT YOURSELF TODAY.” :-)

~Mike

Follow the salad equation:

Salad leaves +
Protein(eggs, tuna, chicken, tofu etc) + Crunch(nuts/seeds) + Carbs(noodles/pasta/bread on the side) + 3 different veggies +
Dressing: Lemon juice + Olive oil + Garlic/Yoghurt + Mustard/Pesto

Lock and Load!

When I mentioned to Richard we were having salad for dinner, there was some concern. Mainly because it’s cold.

So today I bought some pumpkin, small chat potatoes & red onions. I tossed these in my favourite spice blend and olive oil, and roasted in the oven. I also bought a tin of chickpeas, some fresh mint and haloumi.

So all up we had a north African-ish warm salad of roasted vegetables, spinach, chickpeas, haloumi and cucumber. For the dressing I chopped the fresh mint with some capers and mixed these in with a drizzle of olive oil and some balsamic. Absolutely delicious it was too.

Thanks for the inspiration Crabby.

Mmmm Yum. Lots of great salad ideas. I think about salad in the broader sense of “collection of food.” When on my own, it’s salad every meal – best way to eat! :-)

I must admit, I’m the same as Sue and have a “salad equation.” Takes the thinking out of healthy eating.

~Mike.

Crabby, I can really relate to this and have had the no “fattening” things in my salad backfire on me, too. I tend to keep my salads pretty simple, but found I really, really love putting a little fruit into them and simple oil and vinegar dressings make me very happy. I also love Kathryn’s tahini salad dressing with chickpeas and spinach and whatever else I have on hand.

I’‘m making a salad tonight to go with our pasta. Using red lettuce, sweet onions, cucumber, wild berries I’ve just picked, walnuts and a flax oil vinaigrette. I’ve got lots of fresh herbs in the garden and after reading replies here, have decided I’ll try some of them in my salad too!

Salad is not big on my list of things I eat regularly. So I am going to make myself a list of salad things I like and I am going to have a go at Sue’s equation (thanks Sue) and give salad a go, regularly. I am going to start small – once a week for lunch, once for dinner and build it up from there. It will work well coming into spring then summer.
I eat a lot healthier in winter.

My favourite way to eat the more traditional “green” style salad is as a wrap in lebanese bread.

after reading yeasterday, i made a salad last night for dinner. i roasted some chicken tenderloins in spices and cut some pumpkin into cubes and drizzled with some honey and olive oil and also popped those in the oven. i then put some some pepitas, pine nuts, and sunflower seeds in the oven to toast. while all that was in the oven, i prepared a pretty basic salad of baby spinach leaves, vine tomatoes, avocado, grated carrot and danish feta. this basic salad turns into something special and tasty with the addition of the roasted pumpkin mixed with the crunchy seeds and nuts and the spicy chicken. yum!!

Bel – that salad sounds super awesome! I can never be bothered to toast my seeds but can see that it would be worth it.

Just made my lunch for uni tomorrow night. Cos, tomato, store bought dressing, leftover couscous and a boiled egg. Forgot about pepitas, might have to go back and add.

That was for dinner tomorrow night oops.

Ok its kind of salad – ish…

i took huge leaves of romaine…and cut thin slices of cucumber and had some thin slicely cut roaste eggplant leftover from dinner…salsa, yogurt…and i made…WRAPS. also added in some red onion and hot sauce…and salsa with some beans…

Shorty: it’s a salad, just used inside something else.

Lovely salad suggestions everyone.

Wow – I was all set to satisfy my week-long craving of curry tofu noodles for dinner (home made, of course), until I read this post – I’m a little behind – and now all I want for dinner is salad!

So, I’ll be having a salad of baby spinach and cherry tomato with a little roasted capsicum and asparagus, topped with leftover roast lamb slices (sorry, vegetarians – I am 80% of the time!) and some crumbled feta. Yum!

Healthier than those noodle things, too :P