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Posts Tagged ‘salad’

Crunchy Kale Salad

Posted in Salad, Vegan, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This recipe comes to us from one of my favorite blogs, Use Real Butter. Not only is she a fabulous cook but an amazing photographer too. (And she has a super sweet black Lab who often cameos, how could I not be smitten?) The first time I made this, like with most new recipes, I make it the way it is written. But hubby wasn’t too keen on it. I think it was the tahini flavor that got him. So the next few times I’ve made it with almond butter instead, which for us paired better with the maple, orange and sliced almonds. I also prefer a less oily dressing usually, so I reduced the oil.

I’ve also made this for a GF Gals night and one of our local support group potlucks. It has gone over well at both occasions.

Crunchy Kale Salad | Beyond Rice and Tofu

Crunchy Kale Salad

Adapted from Use Real Butter

4 cups kale, stems removed, torn
2 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced
2 cups green cabbage, thinly sliced
1 Granny Smith apple, sliced or chopped
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped if large

Dressing:

1/2 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp maple syrup
3 Tbsp almond butter
pinch of salt, if desired
3 Tbsp olive oil


Whisk together the orange juice, maple syrup, almond butter, and salt in a medium bowl until blended. Slowly add the olive oil while constantly whisking.

In a large bowl, combine the salad ingredients. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat.

Note:

It’s best if the dressing is stirred in an hour or two before serving so that it has a chance to soften the raw kale leaves, especially if the recipients aren’t as big on raw kale as we are.  Or, if you love raw kale salads, you can make it and serve it right up.

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Lemon Chickpea Quinoa Salad

Posted in Beans, Chickpeas, quinoa, Salad, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 25, 2012| 7 Comments »

I am always on the look-out for a new way to make quinoa. I love it so much that I even have a separate category in my bookmarks for quinoa. I love how easy quinoa is to make, and how nutritious it is. So of course, when I saw this recipe from Cookin’ Canuck, inspiration struck again.

We have eaten this salad three times in the past three weeks. Once here at home, just for us, then once for a potluck at work, and then for our monthly celiac support group potluck meeting. It has gotten rave reviews from all!

Lemon Chickpea Quinoa Salad

Inspired by and adapted from Cookin’ Canuck

2 cups water

1 cup quinoa *

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1-1/2 cups tomato, chopped *

2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

1 avocado, diced *

Dressing:

5 Tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp honey

1-1/2 tsp dried oregano

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Cook quinoa in water according to directions. Cool. Combine with other salad ingredients, except the avocado. Whisk together dressing ingredients. Gently stir in dressing. Top with avocado.

Notes:

* I buy Bob’s Red Mill quinoa from Costco in the large bags. It says that it has been rinsed already. Some quinoa will need to be rinsed to remove the saponin from the surface of the grains, check the box or bag.

* At this time of year I can usually find tasty cherry tomatoes.

* It is best to not mix in the avocado unless you know you will be eating it all since the avocado turns brown after a bit.

* I think this salad tastes best at room temperature.

Do you love quinoa as much as I do? If so, be sure to check out my other quinoa recipes, especially one of my most-viewed and most commented-on recipes – Sweet Potato, Quinoa and  Black Bean Burgers.

This recipe is cross-posted over at Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays. Check it out for more inspiration!

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Napa Cabbage Salad with Sesame-Ginger Dressing

Posted in Asian, Beans, Quick, Salad, Vegan, Vegetables, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 19, 2011| 1 Comment »

With this week’s Gluten Free Menu Swap theme of light and easy for summer, I thought I would post this recipe. We have fallen in love with napa cabbage chopped salads and slaws. This one was inspired by a couple of the napa cabbage recipes over at Kalyn’s Kitchen where she blogs about South Beach Diet recipes. Many, if not most, of her recipes are naturally gluten free or easily modified with minimal substitutions. But that doesn’t mean that they are missing any flavor! We’ve just loved everything we’ve made from Kalyn’s blog. (This is starting to sound like an Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger post…hmmm.) Thanks for the inspiration Kalyn!

Napa Cabbage Salad with Sesame-Ginger Dressing

Inspired by Kalyn’s Kitchen

This makes a lot so feel free to make only half but it is a great dish to take to a potluck or picnic.

8-10 cups napa cabbage, sliced or shredded

2 cups shredded carrots

2 cups red bell pepper, sliced, matchstick sized

1/2 cup green onions, sliced

2-1/2 cups edamame, shelled and cooked

1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Dressing:

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1-2 Tbsp agave nectar or honey

1-1/2 Tbsp ginger, grated on your Microplane

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil, light-tasting, I used a light and fresh Spanish olive oil

Toss together all of the salad ingredients, except the sesame seeds, in the largest bowl you have. In a mason jar with a lid, mix together all of the dressing ingredients and give it a good shake. Taste and add more salt if needed. Or ginger. Or sweetener. Or whatever.

Start small and stir some of the dressing into the salad. Add more if you would like. Adjust it to your preferences. Top with sesame seeds.

If you won’t be eating this all at one time, I would suggest keeping the edamame in a separate bowl and adding it when just before eating it. Same with the sesame seeds. We were able to eat this salad for an entire week because I kept the salad and dressing ingredients separate until we were ready to eat it.

Do you have a favorite napa cabbage recipe?

This recipe was submitted to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays over at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free. As well, this recipe was cross-posted over at Gluten Free Easily’s Virtual Support Group.

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Greek Salad

Posted in Quick, Salad, Vegetables, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2011| 4 Comments »

I had a craving the other day. Yes, I know it’s January and I should be eating soup all the time. But no, we get cravings for fresh vegetables around here, and especially for a great big salad. Plus I had a couple of artichoke hearts hanging out in the refrigerator, leftover from making the Quinoa Salad. And apparently the same mix of flavors was calling out to me.

So, I whipped up one of my mom’s recipes that I have made my own over the years. It hit the spot.

Greek Salad

Recipe by Renee, inspired by her mom!

Dressing:

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp oregano

2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

Mix all ingredients, yes, including the feta, in a large measuring cup. Squish up the feta with a fork until it is all mixed well.

Salad:

Mixed salad greens (romaine, spinach, butter lettuce, etc.)

4 artichoke hearts, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 red onion, sliced

1/2 of a large English cucumber, seeds removed, chopped

12 Kalamata olives, chopped

fresh black pepper

Toss salad ingredients together. Pour dressing over and toss again.

Best if eaten the same day. Or keep the dressing and salad separate like I did for lunch today and mix together when ready to eat.

Also, add whatever other vegetables you have on hand. Or herbs, I like to add dill weed. To make it a main dish, add some chickpeas or white beans. Or gluten free croutons, if you so desire.

This post is linked to Real Food Weekly at The WHOLE Gang. Go check it out for more inspiring recipes!

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Quinoa Salad with Artichoke Hearts

Posted in quinoa, Salad, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 22, 2011| 8 Comments »

I love quinoa and I am always looking for new ways to make it. The other night I had some leftover quinoa and decided to make up a quick dinner for myself that included enough leftovers for my road trip to the hinterlands the next day. (In rural Arizona there aren’t many options for good gluten free food, as well, I knew I would be short on time.)

This is a sort of “un-recipe” in that I didn’t really measure ingredients out but just tossed it together until it felt right. Here’s an approximation, but do what feels right for you.

Quinoa Salad with Artichoke Hearts

Recipe by Renee

2-3 cups of cooked quinoa, cooled

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

4 artichoke hearts, from a can, chopped (preferably packed in water)

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 roasted red pepper, chopped (or fresh red bell pepper)

8 kalamata olives, chopped

a couple of tablespoons parsley, chopped

1-2 Tbsp red wine vinegar and/or lemon juice

salt & pepper to taste

Throw it all in a bowl and mix it up.

Tastes great the next day too! You could add some crumbled feta if you want, but I didn’t because it wasn’t going to be refrigerated the next day on my travels, just packed with an ice pack in my lunch bag. You could also add some finely diced red onion and top with a balsamic vinaigrette.

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Meal Plan Monday, July 12, 2010

Posted in Meal Plan, Salad, tagged , , , , , , on July 12, 2010| 8 Comments »

This week’s theme is SALAD over at The Gluten Free Menu Swap. And our lovely host is Heather at Celiac Family. Thanks for hosting, Heather! Salads are great this time of year because you don’t have to heat much of anything up and you and your kitchen can stay cool! And it is going to be red-hot here in the Albuquerque area again this week, so salad is a great idea.

I had already been thinking about making a cold rice salad after seeing this one over at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice last week. And this past weekend we had Moroccan Chickpea Salad, which I love! It makes a lot and is great leftover too, in fact we had some tonight. Some other salad ideas for you: Quinoa and Black Bean Salad, Wild Rice Tabouli, Taco Salad, Lentil Salad Provencal.

In other meal planning thoughts, I know we still have Swiss chard growing strong and I need to use some more up. We are also headed out to dinner with some friends at a gluten-free friendly restaurant this weekend. It is one I have never been to before, Casa Vieja, but they list gluten free options on their menu so hopefully it goes well! I am sure it will, other celiacs I know have been there and they say it is very gluten-free friendly. Perhaps another Restaurant Review is in order?

So with that in mind, this is the plan for the week:

Italian Rice Salad with some added white beans

Black Eyed Peas with Swiss Chard perhaps with a side of rice or polenta

Mediterranean Salad with added salad greens

So, yes, only three meals planned for this week since we will be eating out one evening and the other three evenings are saved for leftovers. With only two people in the house, we have plenty of leftovers usually, and I enjoy not having to cook every night. If we need to we always have our emergency go-to foods, like plain-old spaghetti or a chickpea curry, or a Trader Joe’s something-or-other in the freezer, just in case.

In other exciting news, I bought myself an ice cream maker this weekend! I have been coveting them for a couple of months now, especially the recipes over at The Whole Kitchen and Simply Sugar and Gluten Free. And we just happened to stop in Bed Bath and Beyond, and oh, surprise, they had just the one I wanted! (They had previously been sold out.) And I had a 20% off coupon. Yeah! So, this week, ice cream is on the list too! And since it is my husband’s birthday week, he gets to choose the first batch. And he chose Peanut Butter Cup. I will be sure to let you know how it turns out!

Also, next week, I am hosting the Gluten Free Menu Swap and the theme is cucumbers! I have about five cucumbers ready to be picked and they are just going to keep on coming, so please, post (or send) cucumber recipes! Even if you don’t have a cucumber recipe, please join us, we’d love to have you! The ‘rules’ and all the info is over here at Gluten Free Goodness.

This post is also cross-posted over at Org Junkie where you will find hundreds, literally, hundreds of other meal plans for inspiration.

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Lotus Root Sesame Stir Fry

Posted in Asian, Salad, Stir Fry, Tofu, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 19, 2010| 2 Comments »

A couple weeks ago we ventured to the international market to get just a couple things. Uh-huh. As always we bought more than we went in for, but it was worth it! One of the items we bought was frozen lotus root. Whenever we see lotus root, my husband asks me to make him some just like ate in China. Since I haven’t tasted what he ate in China, I had to go looking for some ideas on what to do with it.

My first stop was Book of Yum. Sea always has great ethnic and vegetarian recipes on her blog. I found her recipe for Lotus Root Sesame Stir-Fry and decided it was the one to try.

We had the lotus root with some brown rice, fried tofu and a small salad with a sesame-soy dressing. The whole meal got full approval from the hubby. Although he did say that he would like the lotus root to have more of a vinegar flavor. But he really likes vinegar. And all of his food memories of China involve vinegar. So next time we will have to try our own recipe – with vinegar!

The lotus root that we bought was frozen. I thawed it slightly under cold water and then left it to drain and thaw in the colander for a bit. It was also pre-sliced and the slices seemed thick, about 3/8″, so I sliced each of them in half so that they would crisp up better. This seemed to work out well.

We only used half of the bag of lotus root for this meal so I have been finding other ways to use it. I did make Sea’s Lotus Root Chips and they weren’t bad but I think I may not have baked them long enough or the slices were too thick; they didn’t crisp up as well as I thought they should. We may try again in the future. I did add them to a recent stir-fry and they were tasty in there.

Our garden has been producing a lot of lettuce and we are trying to keep up with it, so I added a salad to this meal. Also to have a bit of green vegetables with our meal. I have been trying to make more of our own salad dressings lately so that we can better control the ingredients and the fat and sugar content. But most traditional vinaigrette recipes I find are the standard 3:1 ratio of oil to vinegar and this feels too heavy on the oil for me. So I have been playing around with less oil.

I have found that I like to use a small (pint or less) glass Mason jar with a lid to make and store the dressing in, that way you can shake it up well when you are ready to use. But this time I only wanted to make a little bit of dressing, specific to this meal and didn’t want a lot of leftovers. Below is what I came up with. It swings wide from the traditional ratio but it was tasty and complemented the meal well.

Sesame – Soy Salad Dressing

1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil

2 Tbsp soy sauce, gluten free

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

2 tsp sugar

ground ginger

garlic powder

Mix all ingredients together in a glass jar or whisk in a small bowl.

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Taco Salad

Posted in Beans, Salad, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 25, 2010| 6 Comments »

Now there are lots of ways to make a taco salad. But it is fun to switch it up a bit based upon what you have on hand. This time we had almost everything to make a perfect taco salad; beans, peppers, roasted corn, avocado, cilantro, tomatoes.

The taco salad I grew up eating had a dressing that went with it, instead of just having salsa and sour cream on top. It was made from Thousand Island salad dressing, salsa and sugar. My mom used ground beef and crumbled up Fritos on top of the salad. You could use 1/2 pound of ground beef and one can of beans if you wanted. We use all beans. This is our version of taco salad.

Taco Salad

1 Tbsp oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 pkg taco seasoning *

2/3 cup water

2 – 15 oz cans of beans, drained and rinsed *

1/2 cup Thousand Island salad dressing

2 Tbsp salsa

2 Tbsp sugar

Lettuce

Cheese, shredded

Tomatoes, chopped

Roasted corn *

Cilantro

Avocado, diced

Salsa *

Sour cream

Corn chips, crumbled

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add onions and peppers. Saute until they are beginning to get soft. Stir in the seasoning packet and cook for 1 minute. Add in beans and water. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until most of the water has evaporated.

Mix together the salad dressing, salsa and sugar.

Top lettuce with warm bean mixture and shredded cheese. Add some dressing and whatever else you desire.

Notes:

* Be sure the ingredients are gluten free. I like to use a low-sodium version.

* Use any type of beans; kidney, black, pinto, etc. This time I used one can of pinto and one can of white kidney beans.

* Trader Joe’s has frozen roasted corn. I cooked up a small portion in the microwave.

* Salsa – I made Pioneer Woman’s Restaurant Style Salsa today and loved it. So easy. But I made it with what I had on hand. I used one 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, one 10 oz can of Rotel tomatoes with Green Chiles, a very small onion, 1 Tbsp lime juice, 1 clove of garlic, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 sugar, 1/4 tsp cumin and a couple handfuls of cilantro. No jalapenos on hand so I didn’t add them. The green chiles in the Rotel tomatoes give it a little bit of a spicy kick.

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