Recipes

[Calibeach]

Happy New Year 🙌

I'm not one to make New Year resolutions, but I like to set new goals at this time of the year. One of those goals for this new year is to have a weekly Main Course Salad for dinner. Looking at recipes that I will review weekly; will need to do some advance planning for shopping for the fresh ingredients. Will also try to shop as much as possible at the Sunday Farmers Market.

Do you have any favorite salads that could be hearty enough as a main course?

Here's the Main Course salad that I've picked for this week. Will shop on Monday and make it either Tuesday or Wednesday. The recipe yield info says 6 servings but I think it will be less if it's the main course. Thinking about also buying a rotisserie chicken to add to it. 

QUINOA, CORN, AND AVOCADO SALAD

INGREDIENTS (6 servings?)

• 1½ cups cooked quinoa
• 1½ cups cooked fresh or thawed frozen corn
• 2 medium avocados, diced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• ½ medium red onion, diced small
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Zest of 1 lime and 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• Sea salt, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

• Combine everything in a large bowl and mix well.

[Kachina624]

I'd add some meat of some kind, especially if feeding a man or kids.   Some diced ham or chicken, even pulled pork.

[wagirl]

I fix dinner salads all the time. Most times I put leftovers in it like chicken, steak, salmon. I add beans, hard boiled eggs, cheese , berries, all sorts of greens and the usual salad dressings or just balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Not a fan of quinoa tho. Also I add broccoli slaw . Nuts are good too. I make quick pickled beets to add. Tuna is good too. Love roasted corn. There is nothing better!!

[Calibeach]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

I'd add some meat of some kind, especially if feeding a man or kids.   Some diced ham or chicken, even pulled pork.

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@Kachina624  - yes, I'm going to buy a rotisserie chicken. It will be good for a few extra meals

[kze]

I think I would substitute lemon for lime juice and add artichokes,  also anchovies,  salmon or other seafood would be tasty.

[Calibeach]

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@wagirl wrote:
I fix dinner salads all the time. Most times I put leftovers in it like chicken, steak, salmon. I add beans, hard boiled eggs, cheese , berries, all sorts of greens and the usual salad dressings or just balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Not a fan of quinoa tho. Also I add broccoli slaw . Nuts are good too. I make quick pickled beets to add. Tuna is good too. Love roasted corn. There is nothing better!!

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@wagirl  - I'm not a big salad eater, usually it's just a side dish. And that doesn't happen with every meal. Figure it will help to actually plan it as a weekly main course. And there are some really good ideas and recipes other than the usual Caesar or Cobb or leftover steak salad. 

[Calibeach]

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@kze wrote:

I think I would substitute lemon for lime juice and add artichokes,  also anchovies,  salmon or other seafood would be tasty.

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@kze  I did a double take as the quinoa recipe that I posted does not have an actual dressing. But maybe the avocado serves as as dressing when it melds with the lemon or lime juice?

I'm thinking about doubling the salad recipe and portioning half of it to save for next day salad. But will not add the avocado to the salad until mealtime as avocado in a salad will not be good leftover. I think the salad minus the avocado should be good for a couple of days? 

[cjm61]

@Calibeach 

We eat salads as our main dish about 4X per week.

I change it up in many ways but here are a couple ideas and the names I just have made up:

Fiesta Salad: chopped lettuce with a lot of pico de gallo, a little shredded cheese and leftover pork/roast/steak/chicken. If I have leftover corn on the cob I like to shell them and use the corn to sweeten it up a bit. We like a salsa type dressing. If you want you can add a few tortilla chips.

Thai Chicken salad: Lettuce (any kind), green onions, cashews, chopped chicken, peanut sauce and a Thai dressing. Add a few won tons if you like.

Candied Pecan Salad: Lettuce, Feta, sweet onions sliced thin, sliced apples (or pears or pomegranate seeds), honey glazed pecans and use a light raspberry vinaigrette dressing like Newman's. Chicken

Greek Salad: variety of greens with just about anything you like with balsamic vinegar dressing pepperchini's, kalamata olives, onions, cucumbers, feta, broccoli, bell peppers, just about anything we have and add chicken

Pea Salad: I love green peas so I basically just have lettuce, lots of peas, black olives, beets, with a light thousand island dressing. w/chicken

Caesar type salad: lettuce, Parmesan cheese, green onions and I make my own Caesar dressing. I like to add a few homemade croutons. Chicken

Hope this gives you something to work with. I tweak it for myself and my husband to suit our tastes but these are our standby salad recipes.

[kze]

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@Calibeach wrote:

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@kze wrote:

I think I would substitute lemon for lime juice and add artichokes,  also anchovies,  salmon or other seafood would be tasty.

---

@kze  I did a double take as the quinoa recipe that I posted does not have an actual dressing. But maybe the avocado serves as as dressing when it melds with the lemon or lime juice?

I'm thinking about doubling the salad recipe and portioning half of it to save for next day salad. But will not add the avocado to the salad until mealtime as avocado in a salad will not be good leftover. I think the salad minus the avocado should be good for a couple of days? 

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@Calibeach 

I agree with everything you said.  I wonder if a tiny bit of olive oil would be good?  Can't wait to try this.

[Laura14]

I do a modified chef salad with romaine chopped, hardboiled eggs, and shredded cheese with a lighter dressing, usually the skinny girl brand.

Occasionally I might add chicken chunks or strips(non breaded) or strip steak, if you have any left over from another meal.

You could put cucumbers on as well, but I do it as a side salad with vinegar and oil. If you like tomatoes (I don't) a traditional cucumber salad includes slices of tomatoes as well and my grandparents would season it with salt, pepper, and oregano. I like it just dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar.