Summer Side Salad

This summer  it's all about different cold salads.  They are easy, and are portable for lunches.  This one uses quinoa, wheat berries, and couscous as the base.  Added to that are some fresh garden vegetables, dressed with a  simple vinaigrette.   This can be used as a side or even as a meal when served over some fresh spinach with some grilled chicken.

If you have not had wheat berries they add a nice nutty taste. Quinoa are small grains that are a filling whole grain.  Couscous are little pearls of pasta. 

I admit I am not a fan of fresh tomatoes I am often picking them out of things
but my husband loves them so for this I only placed one little chopped tomato
in. Please feel free to add more!


Salad:
1/2 cup cooked quinoa (*I cooked the quinoa and wheat berries together as they took the same amount of time and water)
1/2 cup cooked wheat berries
1/2 cup couscous
1/2 red bell pepper diced
1 small carrot peeled and diced
1-2 green onion diced
1/2 zucchini diced
1/4 cup diced tomato
1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons  red wine vinegar
4 tabelspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon herb de provence
salt and pepper to taste

Cook grains according to package.  While they cook dice vegetables.  Once grain are cooked place in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil to keep from sticking and allow to cool.  Add chopped vegetables.  Drizzle with vinaigrette when serving.






Works well paired up with some fresh baby spinach

Grain Salad w/ Curry Vinaigrette

I have been trying to use different grains in my cooking this salad has quinoa, couscous, lentils, and wheat berries.  Along with this healthy assortment of grains the salad also has navy beans, carrot, bell pepper, and red onion.  All tossed with a curry vinaigrette.  The inspiration for this salad came from one I purchase at a local Fairway Market.  This now will be a delicious fulling lunch on a hot summer day, or a perfect side dish to accompany some grilled chicken.  

Prepare Grains:

1/2 cup lentils

1/2 cup wheat berries

1/2 cup Israeli couscous

1/2 cup quinoa

Prepare all of the above according to the package directions.  (I cooked the wheat berries and quinoa together since they took the same amount of water and time)

Cool and add in: 

1 can rinsed drained navy beans

1/2 red bell pepper finely diced

1/4 cup red onion finely diced

1 small carrot finely diced

Toss with Vinaigrette:

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

2 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Black Bean, Shrimp, Avocado Salad

This salad is the perfect no cook summer meal.  I even packed it up along with some grilled squash and a baguette and brought it down to the beach.  My husband and I enjoyed a run along the boardwalk. After found a bench to sit and enjoy our meal.  Quickly we were growing a crowd of seagulls that were intrigued by our lovely spread.  As we enjoyed a couple walked by and asked where in the are they could purchase the food.  I smiled and replied that I have prepared it at home and bought it with us.  She said it looked delicious.  This meal also made perfect sense since we live in an apartment without A/C so on a hot summer night preparing a meal that does not require me to turn on the oven or stove is a welcome one.  

Salad:

1 can of black beans rinsed and drained

1/2 cup corn

1/4 chopped onion

1 avocado diced

1/2 bell pepper diced (I used orange)

10-12 cooked shrimp cut into small chunks

Mix all in a bowl and top with dressing right before serving.

Cilantro-Lime Viniagrette:

1/2 cup Olive oil (add more if lime too strong)

1 lime juiced 

1 1/2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

Nothing like a light refreshing meal al fresco by the ocean



This seagull waited the entire time hoping for just a piece of our dinner.

Zucchini Ribbon Salad

This is the perfect side dish for a hot summer day, since there is no cooking involved.  It's also perfect since it takes all of five minutes to put together.  And as summer progresses and vegetable gardens begin to produce bountiful crops of zucchini, this would be a wonderful use of all the homegrown zucchini.  This evening we paired this side with some leftover gnocchi from the previous night, and considering it was almost 90 degrees outside and about 84 in my kitchen making a complete meal without turning on my oven is music to my ears! 

Recipe:

1 large zucchini

cup or so of baby spinach

salt and pepper to taste

juice of one lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons thinly sliced red onion

Use a vegetable peeler or mandolin slice zucchini into thin ribbons. Place in bowl with spinach, red onion, and season with salt and pepper.  Mix lemon juice with olive oil.  Pour over zucchini about ten minutes prior to serving.  

Optional add ins: toasted pine nuts, little herbs de provence

Colorful Quinoa Salad

In the hot summer months any kind of cool salad is a welcome side dish.  This colorful dish has lots of flavor using very simple ingredients.  It's a healthy filling side.  Quinoa is a healthy grain that is easy to use and takes the flavor of what it is combined with.  This made for the perfect side to go along with some broccoli cakes and fish.  The broccoli cakes can also be found on this blog: click here for broccoli recipe

 
Quinoa Salad:

1 cup of rinsed quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
     1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
     1 cup frozen corn, thawed
     1/2 red bell pepper diced
     1/4 red onion diced
     1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
     1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
     salt and pepper to taste
     1 lime, juiced
     1 tablespoon basil chopped (cilantro can also be used, I only had basil so I went with that)

In a saucepan combine quinoa and broth bring to a boil.  Reduce heat simmer covered for about 15 minutes until liquid absorbed and quinoa tender.  Place in bowl and allow to cool.  Mix in beans, corn, pepper, onion, and carrot.  Add in olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and place in fridge until ready to eat.  When serving mix in fresh lime juice and basil.  Enjoy!

Pesto Pasta Salad

Sometimes when I am making pasta salad it becomes a matter to use whatever I have on hand and just throw it all together. As was this case with this recipe.  Kidney beans make this a very fulling and satisfying salad.  As usual when cooking I make too much especially since there are only the two of us in the house.  So this made a tasty and fulling lunch the next day. 

Recipe:

1/2 lb of pasta: bowties, ziti, rotini whatever you like

1 15oz can drained, rinsed kidney beans (or cannelli, or chickpeas)

1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers

1/4 chopped olives (I had a mixture on hand from the deli counter)

1 1/2 tablespoons of pesto

salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil to thin and to taste

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente.  Strain pasta and rinse with cold water.  Toss with all other ingredients. Taste.  add more pesto, olive oil, or seasonings to taste.

* I also had a few slices of fresh mozzarella on hand I chopped it and threw it in too, but feta would also be a good cheese to add.

This pasta salad made a great side to some crab cakes and salad