Ranch Chopped Salad

If you’ve read our weekly menus or this post, you know that I eat a lot of salads for my midday meal AND I refuse to use anything but ranch dressing to top them.  Love me some ranch!  I’m lucky to be a WAHG (that’s “Work At Home Gal” – no kiddos), so making big, interesting salads is easy since my refrigerator is in my office.  That said, I don’t always look forward to chopping up tons of veggies every day and since lunch time in Hawaii is close of business back on the east coast, I’m often busy right around noon.
Enter the chopped salad.  Chopped salads are a staple in my diet because they offer awesome flavor and texture and usually hold up well in the refrigerator for a few days.  This recipe is for a favorite of mine – it’s sort of a hybrid between cowboy caviar and a greek salad, full of vitamins, lean protein and flavor.  Note the variations to make preparing this salad simpler.
Ranch Chopped Salad
(4 servings)
1/2 head of iceberg lettuce
4-5 radishes
10-15 cherry tomatoes
2 stalks celery
1 cucumber
1/2 cup green olives
1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp sour cream
1 Tbsp chopped chives
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
Feta cheese (optional)
Chop all vegetables to a uniform size – about one half to three quarters inch cubes – and transfer to a medium storage bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, lemon juice, sour cream, chives, garlic powder and salt.  Pour oil and vinegar mixture over vegetables and toss well to coat.  Serve sprinkled with feta cheese if desired.
Variations:
Subsitute 1/4 of a pouch of ranch dressing mix combined with 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp milk for dressing indedients.
Substitute romaine lettuce hearts for iceberg lettuce.  Note, however, that iceberg will stay crisper longer.

Chilled Crab Salad

Chilled Crab Salad

8 oz flaked crab meat
3-4 radishes
1/2 medium cucumber
4-5 baby carrots
1 1/2 Tbsp. soy mayonnaise
1 tsp. lemon juice
1Tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
1 1/2 cups fresh salad greens
Avocado slices

Roughly chop carrots, cucumbers and radishes.  Pulse once or twice in a food processor.  Transfer to a medium mixing bowl.  Pulse crab meat in a food processor 2-3 times.  Add crab, mayonnaise, lemon juice and dill to veggies in mixing bowl.  Toss well.  Serve crab mixture atop salad greens with avocado on the side.

 

 

 

 

Southwestern Vegetable Salad

The Gentleman and I just returned from a beautiful trip to Arizona that included wasting time by a resort pool, hiking through Sonoran desert, teetering on the edge of the Grand Canyon and drinking in the surprisingly diverse landscape in the northern part of the state.  Naturally, because I was there, the trip also included sampling as much regional cuisine as possible.

Walking through a 105° desert left me with a new appreciation for an already favorite combination:  super spicy flavors in cold-chilled foods.  This salad features classic southwestern vegetables like sweet corn, hot chili peppers, crispy okra and sweet crunchy jicama, an and a good dose of protein to (cowboy) boot!  Enjoy.

Southwestern Vegetable Salad

2 cups extra-firm tofu, drained and cubed
1 Tbsp. each lemon juice and lime juice
2 green onions
2-4 Anaheim chiles or Jalapeno peppers**
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil
6-8 medium okra
1 ear corn, cooked
2 medium tomatoes
5-6 radishes
1 small-medium jicama
Cotija Cheese (optional) ***

 

In a small bowl combine tofu, lemon juice and lime juice.  Chop green onions.  Slice chiles or peppers and remove seeds and seed membrane.

Use only the lower green part of the onion as shown above left. To easily remove seeds from peppers, slice pepper in half and scape out seeds with a spoon as show above right.

Add onion, chiles/peppers, cilantro, garlic salt and olive oil to tofu.  Toss all ingredients well, cover and refrigerate.

Slice okra, and dice tomatoes, radishes and jicama (jicama has a tough skin which must be peeled.  I usually just chop off about 1/4 inch on four sides which leaves me with a square shape and then dice the flesh from there).

Heat a skillet over medium high heat.  Add tofu mixture when pan is hot and cook about 5 minutes, stirring often.  Stir in okra and radishes. Cook an additional 3-4 minutes.

Stir in tomatoes, corn and jicama and saute an additional 2 minutes then remove from heat.  Sprinkle with Cotija Cheese.  Can be served hot or cold, but serving it chilled is DIVINE!

 

* Jicama is a sweet, crispy vegetable sometimes called a Mexican potato.  It’s apple-like flavor compliments the citrus and a chiles nicely.

** If you’re senstive to spiciness, I recommend using 1 to 1 1/2 Anaheim chiles.  If you like it hot, go with jalapenos!

*** Can substitute Feta cheese.

 

 

Tonight’s Salad Brought to You by: Backyard

The Gentleman and I enjoyed two huge salads tonight made with our-home-grown Romaine lettuce, zucchini, carrot, white and red radishes and sweet peas.  Delicious!

So fun to look back at where this salad started:

Three Bean Salad

Three Bean Salad

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Lima beans, drained and rinsed
2 tsp. canned pimientos
1 cup diced celery
1/2 small red onion, sliced
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 Tbsp. grainy mustard
Salt and pepper.

Pour beans into a medium saucepan and cover with water.  Heat to simmering and cook for about five minutes.  Drain and cool beans.  In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, honey, olive oil, parsley oregano and mustard.  Add beans, celery, pimiento and onion.  Toss well to coat beans.  Salt and pepper to taste.