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Summer Salad Challenge
I was going to write about politics today, about how genuinely afraid I am for our democracy since last week’s Supreme Court ruling. About how I fear that Biden’s age is going to be a real issue in the election this fall, and how I wish he had decided not to run for a second term, and yet I worry that if he drops out now, it will be too late and again, Trump wins and we are all well and truly screwed. About how I thought the insurrection on January 6th was the end of Trump’s political career, that there was no way folks would support him after that. I was at the stage in blog post writing where I was thinking all of these thoughts, but hadn’t written anything down yet, and I was getting truly depressed and started worrying about how expensive the dental work is going to be when I grind my teeth down to stumps, and maybe I would tell you about Maya coming downstairs on the 4th and saying “Happy Last Independence Day”. UGH.
BUT! Salad! Tobia has started a Cool Bloggers Summer Salad Challenge, and I am here for it. SO MUCH more cheerful than the world regressing to 1930s era fascism, isn’t it? So, here we are, with a bunch of salad recipes, vetted by moi. I hope you try one or two, and love them.
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Lentil Tuna Salad – The original recipe for this came from the New York Times, and is a very simple and delicious salad of lentils and tuna. I sometimes make it that way, but usually I add cherry tomatoes and arugula, which brightens it up a lot.
White Bean Tuna Salad – We have this dish a lot. A lot a lot a lot. It’s nutritious, it’s delicious, it’s easy, and it doesn’t require the stove so doesn’t heat up the house.
Brussels Sprouts, Apple, and Pomegranate Salad – We sometimes bring this salad for Thanksgiving, when Brussels sprouts are in season. It’s bright and refreshing, and a nice compliment to all of the rich dishes and heavy carbs.
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Avocado and Grapefruit Salad – This is the original avocado and grapefruit salad, and I love it. The avocado is creamy, the grapefruit is bright and crisp. If you are averse to grapefruit, it would be lovely with oranges, especially blood oranges.
Chicken Milanese – I took the avocado and grapefruit salad idea, added some shaved Parmesan cheese and arugula, and turned it into a Milanese. Easy. Maybe we’ll have this one night this week, actually. I often sub oranges for the grapefruit.
Chicken Cobb Salad – I found this recipe in a cooking magazine at my Aunt Flo’s house (the picture is from the official recipe). She used to hoard recipes (though she didn’t cook) and was very adamant that I take them when she moved into assisted living. I did take them…straight to the dumpster. There were literally thousands. Perhaps 10s of thousands, I don’t know. I kept a few, including this one, which is delicious. Warning, the dressing includes bacon fat, which is kind of gross but also really delicious. We don’t have it often for this reason.
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Blood Orange, Fennel, Arugula, and Avocado Salad – This is a recent recipe, a copycat from a local restaurant. Really fresh and delicious.
Avocado and Pickled Onion Salad – This salad is delicious, with either baby gem, romaine (our choice), or iceberg lettuce. I forget sometimes how delicious pickled onions are. This recipe reminded me, and I’m glad.
Salad Bar – We have this a lot, too. Really, it’s just green salad. Sometimes I mix the salad, and sometimes I make a salad bar so everyone can have just what they want. We usually have at least two dressing options, my favorite balsamic vinaigrette, or homemade Roquefort. I usually cook some chicken breasts in the toaster oven and shred that too.
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Cherry Tomato and Bread Gratin – Is this a salad? Maybe not. It’s really good though, and it’s that tomato time of year, so I recommend it. Ted is low carb these days, so I haven’t made this recipe in quite awhile. But if you’re not low carb, it is REALLY good. The photo is not mine, it’s from the original recipe.
Black Bean and Corn Salad – I got this recipe from a blog friend, Jess, back in 2007. It’s SO good, with lots of lime juice and garlic. I make it every summer. You can use it as a side dish, as I do, or with tortilla chips as a salsa (Tostitos scoops are perfect for this purpose). I called it black bean and corn, but it also has onions, avocados, bell peppers, tomatoes…really, it has it all. When we go to a summer party, I usually bring this.
Salade Niçoise – Another tuna recipe! I love tuna. When Ted makes this, he usually gets fresh tuna and sears it. I love it with really good quality canned tuna. Either way it’s delicious. I am happy to report that Ted made this last night, and it was so, so good. When my cousin Carey and I went to the South of France in 2022, I really wanted to try Salade Niçoise in Nice, since that is where it originated. There is a really old video of Julia Child making Salade Niçoise on YouTube, and she carefully dresses each component so they all absorb the delicious dressing. (I remember seeing the video a few years ago, and then it was gone, but now PBS has posted it again. YAY!) When I ordered it in Nice, it was served with no dressing at all, just oil and vinegar on the side. Very disappointing, but perhaps more authentic?
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Quinoa Salad with Oranges – My stepmom Julie makes this recipe pretty often. It’s delicious, and though Ted is not a fan of dried fruit, he loves this salad and says it needs the raisins.
Quinoa Salad with Pickled Onions and Nectarines – Officially this recipe is made with peaches, not nectarines, but I dislike the fuzz on peaches, so I sub in nectarines. Delicious. It’s been a minute since we had this one, and as stone fruit are in season right now, I think I’ll make it soon. This is the recipe I use whenever I need pickled onions, because it is really fast and easy.
Lentil and Rice Salad – I haven’t made this in ages and ages. I forgot about it actually, and only found it when doing a search for ‘salad’. It’s tasty, healthy, and easy, so if you’re not low carb, I recommend it.
OK, that’s the salads that I have blogged about in the past. I intend to try a couple of recipes from Tobia’s post too. I have made Birchie’s curried chickpea salad a couple of times, so this is a good reminder that it is delicious on crackers for lunch, and Maya likes it and can take it to work.
Bonus Recipe: I haven’t blogged about this recipe for some reason, but it is SO good when fresh corn is in season. It’s very simple, quick, and delicious. I love the corn and basil combination, with red onions in there as well. Sometimes I add cherry tomatoes. Ina Garten’s fresh corn salad.
Let me know if you try any of these, and if you’re going to post recipes for Tobia’s challenge. (I’m looking at you Engie, with your comment about green bean and olive salad.)
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22 Comments
nance
Black bean and corn salad, the way you and I make it, is more like a fresh salsa, and I love it. I make an enormous tub of it and we eat it like maniacs for days. It’s so good. Even though Rick doesn’t care a great deal for cilantro and lime, I put both in this salad, and he loves it.
I like to make a simple corn and tomato salad when it’s high summer and both of those are farm fresh. All I add is a little red wine vinegar and light olive oil, plenty of salt and pepper, and let it sit on the counter for about 15 minutes so the tomatoes release their juices. So good.
I also like to make a tuna pasta salad with good albacore, fresh dill, pasta, peas, and a mix of olive oil and good mayo, a whole lemon’s juice and zest, and some Old Bay. It’s good with some tomatoes on the side.
It’s going to be hot all week here, so Salad Days have definitely arrived.
J
Nance, your salads all sound so good and refreshing! Yeah, it’s been stupid hot here. The heat is just breaking after almost a week of temps over 100. I guess it’s breaking here because the heat dome is coming your way. Sorry.
Margaret
I would love so many of those salads. I also had Salade Nicoise (sorry for the missing accent!) in Nice and thought it was too greasy. I like my vinaigrette tangier.
J
Interesting, so your salad in Nice was dressed? Mine was naked, dressing on the side. My friend went to Italy and that is how they served their salads, oil and vinegar on the side. I figured that since Nice used to part of Italy, maybe that was why. Or maybe it was just the very small basic restaurant I went to (admittedly a museum restaurant).
NGS
Green bean salad: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/balsamic-green-bean-salad/ I don’t include red onions. Sometimes I have almonds and sometimes I don’t. I leave out the salt, substitue goat cheese for feta, and add kalamata olives.
Berry salad: Romaine lettuce with whatever veggies you have (I usually have shredded carrot, halved cherry tomatoes, and diced cukes), goat cheese (or feta, but it’s kind of salty), and strawberries and/or raspberries and blueberries. This dressing https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/254652/blueberry-vinaigrette-dressing/ with a tiny bit of dijon mustard.
Your black bean corn salad looks wonderful. I’m going to have to give that a try!
J
Thank you Engie!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Thank you Engie. I love green beans and will definitly try a new recipe. Ill check this one out but the picture is already very promising.
Suzanne
Look at all these gorgeous salads! I love a salad. Yum yum yum. I was just telling Sarah about how I’m All In lately on what I call Nacho Salad, which is basically exactly how I would make nachos except with lettuce instead of chips. Black beans and melted cheese on the bottom, frozen corn, avocado, red onion, then lettuce. For a “dressing” I splotch on some sour cream, a ton of hot sauce, and squeeze a lime wedge over everything. It is SO GOOD. I could eat it every single day forever.
J
That sounds really good Suzanne!
Nicole MacPherson
Oooh some of these look so great! I don’t eat meat/ fish but the other ones all look amazing, and I’m going to give them a try. Thanks J!
J
I hope you try a few and let me know! I love all of them.
Rachel
Oh I love all these salads! I will definitely be trying the black bean and corn and the avocado and pickled onion salad at least. I’m thinking I should make a “try 4 new salads this summer” goal after seeing this post. I LOVE salads but I am the only one in my house that loves salads so I don’t make them that often… Or if I do it’s just random vegetables in my fridge and I’m the one eating it. Yay for salad challenges!
J
Most of these will work for a couple of meals, so if you give them a try you can have them for lunch the next day or two as well.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Oh my I would want to eat every singele salad… I think I need to start meal planing otherwise I never have the ingredients I need to eat my way through all the salads that are popping up left and right.
I love tuna. So I think that arugula tune one will be a first one. But the pommegran one is so different. Brussle sprouts sound fun too but Ill keep that for winter.
Thank you so so much for gathering up all the yummy recipes in this post. Make it so much easier for me. Ill add them all to Pinterest too.
J
I definitely need to plan my meals, or else you’re right, I don’t have the ingredients. I’m not the kind of cook who can go to the store and say, ‘what looks good?’ and make a meal around that. I admire people who can, though.
Ally Bean
Any salad recipe with tuna is going to shout to me. Also beans. I love cold beans on/in any salad. I like Ina’s corn salad, too, and like you put cherry tomatoes in it. How did she not know to do that?
J
Ally, GOOD QUESTION! If I ever meet her, I will ask.
Ernie
Wow, you have quite a few salads up your sleeve. I am not that adventurous when it comes to making salads. I don’t eat tuna, but I can eat tuna. Growing up my mom mushed it with mayo and I’ve never really been a fan since, but maybe I need to put it in a salad. The black bean corn salad looks similar to an appetizer I make called Cowboy Caviar. I can’t wait to turn it into a salad, or to at least try this version with tostitos chips. Thanks for sharing all these recipes. I’ll have to come back to check out more options to try. I eat a cobb salad (a very tiny one with lunchmeat instead of bacon) every.single.day. for lunch. So, at dinner, I don’t make salads much. My people like salad, so I should serve something new like one of these awesome options.
J
I recommend the avocado and pickled onion one. My daughter wasn’t sure she liked pickled onions, and she loved them. Definitely a keeper.
Diane
We have a lot of pasta salad in the summer – It’s easy, I can make it ahead of time, and it’s so flexible.
I like that first salad – lentils AND arugula! Two things I love. My family is not as enthusiastic about lentils and arugula as I am, so maybe this is one I make ahead and take for lunch!
J
My family is not as enthusiastic about lentils as I am, but they are good and eat whatever I cook. I mean, they like it, but not as much as I do. It’s great for lunch!
San
Oh, I love that you’re jumping on the bandwagon and thanks so much for these awesome recipe list. I have already bookmarked a few. Your white bean tuna salad is very similar to my arugula-tuna salad and I love it.