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Posts Tagged ‘salads’

Java-Style Cauliflower Salad

Posted in Health, In The Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Java-Style Cauliflower Salad Like an artist’s blank canvas, cauliflower’s subtle flavor provides the perfect background to let dynamic flavors shine. Cauliflower is rich in nutrients, low in calories, and high in fiber, so by adding the bright and zesty flavors of coconut, lime, cilantro, and cayenne pepper, you’ve got a winning combination. In addition, this cauliflower salad can be served hot or at room temperature which makes it a great make-ahead dish.

Java-Style Cauliflower Salad
Adapted from Living Low-Carb by Fran McCollough

Salad Ingredients:
1 medium head cauliflower, cut into small florets
Half a small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons shredded coconut

Dressing Ingredients:
1 garlic clove, chopped
4 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup coconut cream

Directions:
1. Drop cauliflower florets into a large pot of well-salted boiling water. Boil just a few minutes, until barely tender. Drain and dry on a kitchen towel.
2. Dice the red pepper and set aside.
3. Wash and chop the cilantro and set aside.
4. Chop garlic and put in blender.
5. Add lime juice, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, salt and coconut cream to blender. Pulse until well-blended.
6. Pour dressing over the hot cauliflower. Toss well and transfer to a serving bowl, scattering the red pepper, cilantro, and coconut on top.
7. Toss before serving.

Serves 4

Linnell’s Notes:
1. Make sure the cauliflower florets are well-drained and reasonably dry before adding the dressing. If they still contain a lot of moisture, the dressing will become diluted and runny.
2. I had to rework the dressing recipe. The original recipe called for 1 cup of freshly-grated coconut and 4 tsp lime juice. There was just not enough liquid to make a dressing. I added some coconut cream I had in my pantry to make the dressing “flow.” The grated coconut became a topping, rather than part of the dressing.
3. Because of time constraints, I substituted shredded coconut in a bag instead of grating fresh coconut. Also, toasting the coconut first can bring out its flavor and give it more “crunch.” I will do this the next time I make this salad.
4. Adjust the seasonings to taste – more or less lime juice, sugar, cayenne pepper, and salt.
5. The cookbook author says, “Don’t be tempted to skip the tiny amount of brown sugar; it’s a secret ingredient that pulls everything together.”
6. The addition of coconut cream does not significantly raise the amount of carbohydrates in the recipe. The coconut cream has only 3 grams of carbohydrate per 1/3 cup.

Enjoy!

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Coco’s Special Cheese Dressing

Posted in About me, Gardening, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

coco's Special Cheese Dressing Feeling very proud of the heads of lettuce growing in two small planters in my backyard, I announced to my husband that we were having a very fresh salad for dinner. With lettuce that fresh, I wanted to serve it with a good homemade salad dressing instead of a bottled dressing. Coincidentally, earlier in the day, while flipping through the pages of a book, I found a newspaper clipping containing a recipe for a requested salad dressing from the Coco’s restaurant chain. Finding the recipe and having all the ingredients on hand, I felt destined to make it. Sometimes the moon and the stars align and everything works out perfectly!

Coco’s Special Cheese Dressing
Recipe from Kathy Shepard

Ingredients:
1/4 to 3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup buttermilk
4½ teaspoons cider vinegar
1½ teaspoons garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Combine milk, mayonnaise, sour cream, and buttermilk. Whisk until blended.
2. Place vinegar in cup and stir in garlic salt and pepper.
3. Add to mayonnaise mixture and blend in cheese.
4. Store in the refrigerator.

Makes about 2 cups

Linnell’s Notes:
To keep this salad dressing on the healthier side, I substituted Greek yogurt for the sour cream.

Enjoy!

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White Bean, Shrimp, and Arugula Salad

Posted in About me, Recipes, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

whitebean, shrimp, and arugula salad

In my best “Fretalian,” my own blend of French and Italian, I asked my waiter “Scuzi, qu’est-ce que c’est?” as I pointed to the menu. He obviously did not understand “Fretalian,” because he looked at me questioningly. While traveling through Italy, I noticed an oft-appearing item on menus and I wanted to find out what it was. I tried again, this time in English. “What is rocket?” The young Italian waiter continued to give me a puzzling look, so I tried gesturing. I pointed to the menu and then shrugged my shoulders with my palms facing up to the ceiling. “Ah,” he said and motioned for me to wait and then ran off to the kitchen. A minute later he came out with a green leaf in his hand. I looked at the leaf and smiled as I nodded my head in recognition. “Rocket,” the mysterious menu item, was none other than arugula. “Grazie,” I said to him as I placed my dinner order. This little story came to my mind, while I was preparing this low fat and impressively nutritious salad. The arugula or “rocket” adds a nice peppery punch to the salad and it texturally balances the other ingredients.

White Bean, Shrimp, and Arugula Salad
From the Essential Low Fat Cookbook by Antony Worrall Thompson

1 (14 oz) can cannellini beans, drained
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Juice and zest of one lemon
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 mild long red chili, seeded and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, mashed to a paste with a little sea salt
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 stick celery, thinly sliced
6 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
16 cooked jumbo shrimp, peeled
2 handfuls of arugula leaves

Directions:
1. Heat beans with a little salted water for 3 minutes. Drain and then tip into a bowl.

2. While they are still warm, combine beans with olive oil, lemon juice and zest, honey, pepper, and chili.

3. Allow to cool and then combine with remaining ingredients.

Serves 4

Linnell’s Notes:
1. Instead of using a mild long red chili, I chopped up half a red jalapeno to give the recipe a little kick.

2. Not being a big fan of raw onions, I used less than half of a red onion and found this amount to be perfect for my taste.

3. I used large shrimp that came de-veined.  I cooked them in water and Old Bay seasoning, drained them, and then peeled off their shells. Do not overcook the shrimp or else they will be dry and tough.

4. You might have noticed in the photograph, that there are no mushrooms. I had a mental “blip” and totally forgot to add them. It’s too bad because the mushrooms would have been delicious in this salad, not to mention the added nutrients they would have supplied!

Enjoy!

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Fall Fruit Salad

Posted in About me, Health, Holidays, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 26, 2012| 1 Comment »

Fall Fruit Salad

“Healthy” and “holiday” are words rarely used together, especially when describing food. Trying to plan healthy meals during the holidays can be quite a struggle, right? Well, not necessarily. This past Thanksgiving, I served my family a visually appealing, texturally satisfying, and heart-healthy salad. Not only did this salad splendidly highlight fall fruit, such as persimmons, Asian pears, pomegranates, and ruby grapefruit, it was served with a delicate, FAT-FREE, slightly sweet and slightly tart salad dressing! This salad has it all: gorgeous to look at, easy to prepare, and a delight to eat!

Fall Fruit Salad
Recipe from November 1995 issue of Sunset Magazine

Ingredients:
1 to 2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 firm-ripe Fuyu persimmons (1/2 lb. each)
2 ruby grapefruit (1 lb. each)
1 Asian pear (about 3/4 lb.)
3 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
2 to 3 cups frisée, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup pomegranate seed
Salt

Directions:
1. In a 6- to 8-inch frying pan over medium heat, frequently stir pine nuts until pale gold, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour from pan.

2. Rinse persimmons, then trim off and discard leaf tops. Slice persimmons crosswise into thin rounds.

3. With a knife, cut peel and white membrane from grapefruit. Holding fruit over a bowl, cut between segments and inner membrane to release fruit into bowl. Also squeeze juice from membrane into bowl, then discard membrane.

4. Rinse pear and discard stem. Cut fruit crosswise into thin rounds, right through center seeds. Coat pear slices with grapefruit juice.

5. Mix 3 tablespoons grapefruit juice (reserve remainder for other uses) with lime juice, rice vinegar, and honey.

6. Line a salad bowl or individual plates with the frisée. Arrange pieces of persimmon, pear, grapefruit on the greens; sprinkle fruit with pomegranate seed and pine nuts, then moisten with the grapefruit-lime dressing. Add salt to taste.

Serves 6

Linnell’s Notes:
1. Fuyu persimmons are the round, squat persimmons that can be eaten while they are firm, unlike the elongated and pointed Hachiya persimmons, which must be eaten only after the fruit has ripened to a soft and somewhat squishy state.

2. Besides a light sprinkling of salt, I also sprinkled some fresh ground pepper on each plated salad.

3. Keep an eye on the pine nuts while toasting them. They contain a high level of oil, so they will burn quickly!

4. My family is not a big fan of frisée, so I substituted fresh green curly-leafed lettuce.

5. It is easier to peel the grapefruit, if you first cut off the top and the bottom peel. This will give you a flat surface when you stand the grapefruit on the cutting board.

ENJOY!

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Melon With Orange-Ginger Syrup

Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Cool and refreshing  – what more could you want from a recipe using ripe summer melons? How about something unexpected? The first few bites of this sweet melon mélange reveal subtle hints of orange and ginger, but the next few bites pique your interest. A splash of Cointreau elevates the flavors from sophisticated to sublime. Should you serve this dish as a salad or as a dessert? Your choice – it’s great for both!

Melon With Orange-Ginger Syrup
Recipe from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
1 cup freshly squeezed and strained orange juice (about 4 oranges), plus zest of 2 oranges
1 cup sugar
1/2 ounce ginger, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Cointreau
1 small honeydew melon, cut in half, seeded
1 small canary melon, cut in half, seeded
1 cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch wedges
Mint sprigs, for garnish

Directions:
1. Fill a large bowl with ice and water; set aside. Place the orange juice, sugar, and ginger in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil; Let simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved and syrup has thickened, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat; strain syrup into a clean bowl; add the Cointreau; stir to combine. Set bowl in ice bath, or chill in refrigerator, until syrup is cold.

2. Using different sizes of melon ballers, cut balls from the honeydew and canary melons. Place balls in a medium bowl; add 1/2 cup cold syrup and orange zest. Toss to combine.

3. To serve, arrange cantaloupe on a platter. Spoon melon balls on top. Serve extra melon balls on the side. Drizzle melons with syrup; garnish with mint. Serve with remaining syrup on the side.

Serves 8.

Linnell’s Notes:
1. With all the wonderful melons available, don’t feel restricted to only using the types of melons called for in the recipe. Do, however, try to select a variety of melons that will give you a colorful array of melon flesh.

2. The recipe suggests creating different size melon balls. I’m sure the presentation would have been more attractive if the melon balls were different sizes, but I only have one melon baller. That’s life!

ENJOY!

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Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

Posted in About me, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Feeling guilty over devouring a two-pound lobster last night in celebration of my 35th wedding anniversary, tonight I’m eating a healthy quinoa and black bean salad that’s tossed with a lime-cumin dressing and served on a bed of fresh pea shoots. I’ve posted other quinoa recipes before, so you already know that these grains are amazingly-nutritious. Adding the delicate pea shoots provides a rich source of Vitamins K, C, and A. What a delicious way to offset the gluttony of the evening before!

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad
Recipe from Epicurious

Ingredients for Salad:
1½ cups quinoa
1½ cups cooked black beans, rinsed if canned
1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
1½ cups cooked corn (cut from about two ears)
3/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 pickled jalapeño chilies, seeded and minced (wear rubber gloves)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh coriander

Ingredients for Dressing:
5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1¼ teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
1/3 cup olive oil

Directions:
1. In a bowl wash quinoa in at least 5 changes cold water, rubbing grains and letting them settle before pouring off most of water, until water runs clear and drain in a large fine sieve.

2. In a saucepan of salted boiling water cook quinoa 10 minutes. Drain quinoa in sieve and rinse under cold water. Set sieve over a saucepan of boiling water (quinoa should not touch water) and steam quinoa, covered with a kitchen towel and lid, until fluffy and dry, about 10 minutes (check water level in saucepan occasionally, adding water if necessary).

3. While quinoa is cooking, in a small bowl toss beans with vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

4. Transfer quinoa to a large bowl and cool. Add beans, corn, bell pepper, jalapeños, and coriander. Toss well.

5. In a small bowl whisk together lime juice, salt, and cumin and add oil in a stream, whisking.

6. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss well with salt and pepper to taste. Salad may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring salad to room temperature before serving.

Serves 4 to 6 as an entrée or 8 as a side dish.

Linnell’s Notes:
1. Fresh jalapeño can be used instead of pickled jalapeño.
2. Coriander is also called cilantro. According to Wikipedia, “Cilantro (sih-LAHN-troh) is the Spanish word for coriander leaves.”
3. Because I had fresh lemons and didn’t have fresh limes, I substituted 5 tablespoons of lemon juice for the lime juice. With that substitution, I decided to use Meyer lemon-infused olive oil in lieu of regular olive oil.
4. Another successful substitution was Italian parsley for the coriander leaves. I’m sure the recipe would have had a more southwestern flavor, if I had used lime juice and coriander leaves. My version had a bit more of an Italian flare.
5. I used less salt than the recipe called for. I did not add any salt to the bean and vinegar mixture and I only put in a pinch of salt into the dressing mixture.

ENJOY!

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Quinoa, Spinach and Mushroom Salad

Posted in Health, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 19, 2012| 2 Comments »

Quinoa is a super food all year round, but it shines especially in summer salads. Take an average spinach and mushroom salad and make it more nutritious and more substantial by adding quinoa to it. And by adding omega-3-rich walnuts, this salad goes from healthy to heart healthy!

Quinoa, Spinach and Mushroom Salad
Recipe by Martha Rose Schulman, author of “The Very Best Recipes for Health”

Salad Ingredients:
3/4 cup quinoa
1¼ cups water
Salt to taste
1 bag baby spinach, rinsed and dried, or 1/2 bunch spinach, stemmed, washed and dried
6 white or cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 ounce feta cheese, crumbled (1/4 cup, optional)

Dressing Ingredients:
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove, puréed
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup buttermilk
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:
1. Place quinoa in a strainer and rinse several times with cold water. Place in a medium saucepan with 1¼ cups water and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 15 minutes, until the grains display a threadlike spiral and the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat, remove the lid and place a dishtowel over the pan, then return the lid to the pan and let sit for 10 minutes or longer undisturbed. Transfer to a salad bowl and fluff with forks. Allow to cool.

2. Add the spinach, mushrooms, walnuts, parsley and optional cheese to the bowl.

3. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and toss with the salad just before serving.

Yields: 6 servings

Advance Preparation: You can assemble the salad up to a day ahead, but don’t toss with the dressing until shortly before serving.

Linnell’s Notes:
1. I could not find sherry vinegar in the grocery store, so I used champagne vinegar that I already had at home.

2. I used 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of Meyer lemon olive oil in the salad dressing.

3. For added flavor, I simmered the quinoa in chicken broth instead of water. Because the broth contains salt, I added no additional salt to the cooking water.

4. Strict vegetarians can choose to omit the feta cheese.

ENJOY!

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Shrimp and Romaine Heart Salad

Posted in In The Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

A dinner outing with friends to a new market/deli restaurant provided me with memories of a salad that I couldn’t forget and inspired me to try making it at home. Picture half of a romaine heart sprinkled with fresh bay shrimp, bits of juicy, red, ripe tomatoes, chopped hard boiled eggs, crisp pieces of bacon, and drizzled with homemade Thousand Island dressing. It’s nothing fancy or anything original, but this salad shines on many counts. In a sense, it’s a delicious combination of a wedge salad and a chopped salad, but only better. Romaine lettuce is more nutritious than iceberg lettuce and the flat surfaces of halved romaine hearts are superior for holding toppings over a wedge. The toppings are also reminiscent of ingredients found in a chopped salad. It’s a versatile salad that can be prepared ahead of time and is beautifully served preassembled on a platter or on individual salad plates. For a larger group, this salad can be arranged as an appetizing salad bar. If you’re going the salad bar route, offer more than one salad dressing. For your convenience, I’ve included recipes for both Thousand Island and Creamy Blue Cheese dressings.

Shrimp and Romaine Heart Salad
Recipe by Linnell

Ingredients for Salad:
Romaine hearts (1/2 per person)
Hard boiled eggs, chopped
Bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
Ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
Fresh Bay Shrimp, rinsed and patted dry
Salad dressing (recipes for Thousand Island Dressing and Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing below)

Directions:
1. Cut romaine hearts in half lengthwise. Cut off bottoms of stems close to the ends (you want to keep as many leaves attached as possible). Cut off top leaves, so that all hearts are the same length. These tops can be washed and saved for another salad.

2. Carefully place two romaine halves at a time in a salad spinner filled with water. Let sit a bit, pour out water and spin dry.
3. Place romaine halves, cut side down, in an airtight square or rectangular container with paper towels lining the bottom. Add more romaine halves until bottom of container is covered. Cover with another paper towel and then the lid. If storing many romaine halves and the container is deep, place a layer of paper towels over the first layer of romaine halves, add more romaine halves, again cut side down on top of paper towels. Repeat this layering process until all romaine halves are carefully stored. Store container in the refrigerator.
4. Prepare salad dressing(s) and refrigerate.
5. Prepare toppings and refrigerate those that need refrigeration.
6. To plate salad, either place one romaine half on a salad plate, sprinkle toppings over it, and drizzle with salad dressing or arrange all romaine halves on a large platter and sprinkle with toppings and dressing. For a salad bar, place romaine hearts on a platter and place toppings and dressings in small bowls.

Thousand Island Dressing
Recipe from Food.com

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon finely minced white onions
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 dash black pepper

Directions:
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Stir well.
2. Place dressing in a covered container and refrigerate for several hours, stirring occasionally, so that the sugar dissolves and the flavors blend.

Makes 5 servings

Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing
Recipe by Rachel Ray

Ingredients:
6 ounces (about 1/3 pound) double cream blue veined cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper
2 pinches ground cayenne pepper

Directions:
1. Mash softened cheese with fork in a bowl.
2. Whisk in the cream and sour cream onto cheese, the consistency should be smooth with an occasional small bit of blue.
3. Season with salt and pepper and cayenne pepper. Refrigerate.

Makes 4 servings

Linnell’s Notes:
1. At a recent party I hosted, I served this salad as a salad bar. Not knowing everyone’s likes and dislikes, I felt it was better to let my guests add their own toppings. About one hour before my guests arrived, I removed the romaine halves form the storage container and arranged them on a platter. I also spooned the toppings and both salad dressings into small bowls. All were covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated until serving time.

2. Do not limit yourself to the toppings listed above. Substitute ingredients to suit your own taste and incorporate seasonal items. For example, use fresh crab meat instead of shrimp, or if fresh corn is in season, by all means use some fresh sweet corn kernels as a topping, etc.

3. I did not add very much salt to the blue cheese dressing because the cheese was already on the salty side.

Enjoy!

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Asian Noodle Salad

Posted in About me, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Wanting to make a light pasta dish to accompany some freshly grilled fish, I prepared a simple noodle salad with subtle Asian undertones. Unlike the Shrimp and Bean-Thread Salad I posted about a while back, this noodle salad is simpler to make, because it has fewer ingredients. Although, it lacks the complexity of flavors that the Bean-Thread Salad has, it makes up for it with its clean fresh flavors and its ease of preparation. It’s a delicious side dish for grilled seafood or grilled chicken and this recipe makes enough to feed a small crowd.

Asian Noodle Salad

Dressing Ingredients:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons sesame seed oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Asian red chili paste
1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad Ingredients:
16 ounces dried rice noodles
1 carrot, grated
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, rough chopped
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

Directions:
1. Combine salad dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. Fill a kettle full of water and bring it to a boil. If you don’t have a kettle use a large pot to boil water.
3. Open up the package of noodles and place the noodles in a large mixing bowl.
4. Carefully pour the hot water over the noodles until they are completely submerged. After two minutes, very carefully stir the noodles to loosen up the noodle bundle. Stir periodically and make sure all noodles remain submerged.
5. When noodles are limp, taste a few to make sure they are cooked (or softened) enough. The noodles should be firm, but not hard and chewy or soft and mushy. Let soak a few minutes longer if they are not yet ready, checking them every couple of minutes.
6. When the noodles are tender, drain them in a colander and let cold water run over them.
7. After they are well-drained, pour the noodles into a bowl and immediately pour the salad dressing over them. Toss gently with your hands.
8. Add the grated carrots, chopped cilantro and chopped peanuts. Toss gently and serve.

Linnell’s Notes:
1. This salad tastes best when eaten fresh. Rice noodles tend to absorb any liquid available and then dry out. Store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.
2. In lieu of steps 2 through 4, you can bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the noodles and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring and checking them for the right degree of tenderness.
3. My family likes spicy food, so I either add a bit more chili sauce to the dressing mixture or I sprinkle in some red pepper flakes.
4. To make this a main dish, cooked prawns, grilled salmon, or grilled chicken breast strips can be easily tossed in during the last step.
5. Buy Asian chili paste that has chili flakes floating in it.
6. This recipe makes enough to fill a large mixing bowl.

Enjoy!

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Southwestern Chopped Salad

Posted in About me, Holidays, Recipes, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 15, 2011| 2 Comments »

Throwing a football party at your house? Got kids coming home for the holidays? Going to a potluck dinner soon? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you will want to make this colorful, flavorful, and healthy salad. It’s the type of salad you can make for two and have leftovers, but it more easily feeds a crowd! There are few hard and fast rules in this great recipe; it is a salad after all! Like avocados? Put them in! Don’t like jicama? Leave it out! Want to serve it as a main dish? No problem, just add some protein in the form of diced chicken breast, bacon, shrimp, taco meat or hard-boiled eggs. Want to make it ahead of time? Prepare the ingredients the night before and store them in airtight containers. Assemble it right before serving. This salad travels well, too. Put the prepared ingredients in separate zip-type plastic bags or small plastic containers and then arrange them over the bed of greens when you arrive at your destination. Other than for the spicy southwestern-inspired salad dressing, there are no specific measurements for this salad. Adjust the amounts of the salad add-ins proportionally to the amount of greens you use. For the sake of giving you some parameters, I am giving you rough estimates of what I would serve as a side salad for six to eight people.

Southwestern Chopped Salad

Southwestern Ranch Salad Dressing (Adapted from a recipe found on Food.com):
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1-2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons minced tomatoes
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons canned diced jalapeno peppers
1 tablespoon finely minced onion
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon honey or real maple syrup

Directions to Make Salad Dressing:
1. Note: The flavors in this salad dressing need time to meld, so it should be made three to four hours ahead of serving time.
2. Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl, except for the milk.
3. Add milk to thin, as needed.
4. Cover and chill.

Salad Ingredients:
3 heads of romaine hearts or 1 head of iceberg lettuce
1/2 red onion, diced
2 cups frozen corn
1 (15 ounce) can of black beans
1 medium can sliced black olives
1 red or orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium-sized jicama, diced
1 bunch cilantro
1-2 cucumbers, diced
Shredded cheddar cheese
Corn chips or toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
2 avocados, peeled and cubed (optional)
1-2 fresh tomatoes, diced (optional)

Directions to Make the Salad:
1. Wash lettuce leaves and spin or blot dry. Stack three or four leaves at a time and cut into 3/4-inch-wide ribbons. The large leaves should be stacked and cut in half down the spine before slicing into ribbons.
2. Finely dice half of the red onion.
3. Place frozen corn in a strainer and run cool water over it until the kernels are thawed. Drain thoroughly.
4. Pour the can of beans into a sieve and rinse with cold water. Let drain.
5. Drain olives.
6. Dice the red pepper.
7. Peel and dice the jicama.
8. Wash and spin or blot dry the cilantro, pick leaves off and put into a small bowl.
9. Dice the cucumbers.
10. Break corn chips into coin-sized pieces, reserving whole pieces for garnish along the edge of your bowl.
11. When ready to assemble, place lettuce ribbons into a large, shallow bowl.
12. Except for the red onion, cilantro leaves, cheese, and corn chips, arrange each ingredient in concentric rings on top of the greens, beginning with the ingredient you have the least of and ending with the ingredient you have the most of. Try to balance the colors.
13. Sprinkle the onions, cilantro leaves, cheese, and corn chips decoratively on top of the salad.
14. Place whole corn chips on edge of salad bowl.
15. Serve with dressing on the side.

Linnell’s Notes:
1. Romaine lettuce is more nutritious than iceberg, so it is always my fist choice.
2. All diced items should be diced approximately the same size for a uniform appearance.
3. Taco-flavored Doritos are really good in this salad!
4. Diced fresh tomatoes can be added or substituted for the red bell pepper. I leave out the tomatoes if the salad is to be made in advance or if I’m traveling with it. The red bell peppers provide enough color with out getting juicy like the tomatoes.
5. The salad dressing recipe only makes one cup, so if you’re serving a crowd, multiply the salad dressing recipe as needed.
6. The spicy-heat of the salad dressing can be adjusted by adding fewer jalapenos and less cayenne pepper. Remember to let the dressing sit for a couple of hours before you decide to adjust any of the flavors!
7. The salad dressing makes a great dip for vegetables, too – just don’t thin it out with the milk.

Enjoy!

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