Whole Foods Salads

We went to Whole Foods for dinner tonight.  It is one of our favorite places for several reasons:
1. We all get to pick exactly what we want.
2. The food is good.
3. It is already noisy in there, so no one seems to notice our noisy kids.

For my dinner tonight, I chose a bunch of different salads.  They were all so good and seemed pretty simple.  I snapped a few pictures of the ingredients as a reminder - I'm always looking for good simple salad recipes, and these seem easy enough.  Thought I would post them here so we can all refer back to them when the mood strikes!

Green Goddess Bowl

For lunch right now, I am happily enjoying my leftovers from dinner last night. The Green Goddess Bowl is another Pinterest find that I'm eager to share with y'all! It's a flavorful, all-in-one meal, that I'm sure you'll all love.

Some of the ingredients are slightly different from what I typically have in my house (miso paste), while others are old standbys (frozen green peas and quinoa)

The below makes A LOT of food. Enough for 4 adults.

TIP: You may want to add more greens than what is listed below if you like more veggies.

INGREDIENTS

2 C Quinoa (this should be the whole box if you get the same brand I use - Ancient Harvest)

4 C Veggie Broth

1 1/2 C Extra Firm Tofu

1 C Broccoli

1 C Kale, chopped

1 C Green Peas (frozen is more than OK!)

1 Whole Citrus Fruit (I used Grapefruit)

1 Whole Avocado

Lemon juice (fresh if you can, but OK to use bottled)

4 Cloves Garlic

2 Tbsp Red Miso Paste (I found this in the refrigerated section at Whole Foods)

2 Tbsp Cooking Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

METHOD

Step One. Prepare grains.

Cook quinoa. I used 4 cups of veggie broth in place of water.

Step Two. Saute greens & tofu.

Add greens and tofu to the ingredients below - sauté on med-high until tender:
2 Tbsp Red Miso Paste
1/4 C Lemon Juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil

2 Tbsp chopped garlic

Step Three. Fold:
Add to large bowl and fold together:
Quinoa
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
Your greens sauté

Step Four. Garnish:
1 avocado, sliced

1 large grapefruit, peeled and diced
Optional Garnishes:

Fresh green herb, chopped (parsley, basil, chives or cilantro)
1/2 cup red onion, diced

Step Five. Dress:
You can really dress this however you like. I opted for simplicity and just used more lemon juice. This has a Japanese flavor to it from the miso paste, so I would suggest you keep that in mind when making your dressing.

Mary's Caesar Dressing

We all know and love Papa's Caesar Salad, but here is Mom/Mary's easier spin on the favored classic.  She has made it several times to RAVE reviews!!!

For 1 C dressing:

Juice of 3 limes* or 1/3 cup
1 t kosher salt
2/3 C olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 eggs, coddled
fresh ground pepper
dash Worcestershire sauce
1/4 C minced anchovy fillets (in oil, drained)

Combine lime juice and salt to dissolve salt, set aside. Combine oil, garlic, eggs, pepper, Worcestershire and anchovies.  Whisk juice and oil mixtures and alternately add to/toss salad until lettuce is coated. 

Before dressing lettuce, toss freshly grated Parmesan cheese (use best available) throughout leaves. For 10 servings, which dressing recipe will serve, 1 to 1 1/2 C of cheese is sufficient.

*Can use lemon, but lime is used in original Caesar dressing recipe (of Mexican origin!).

Meghan's Bean Salad

This is one of Meghan's classics! Its basically a melange of whatever is looking good at the farmer's market. Very refreshing and delicious!

Pile of green beans (washed, trimmed, blanched)
Pile of yellow beans (washed, trimmed, blanched)
Pile of pole beans (washed, trimmed, blanched)
Shelly beans (or any kind of canned shelled bean)
Lima beans
Thinly sliced basil
Cherry or grape tomatoes
Olive oil
Lots of fresh lemon juice
Salt, pepper

The goal is for all the beans to be fresh. Its so much fun buying the fresh beans that need to be shelled. Shelly beans taste sort of like kidney beans once cooked. The farmer's market didn't have lima beans this weekend, but they are essential. You can always buy the refrigerated or frozen ones from Jewel as a substitution.

A Tasty Salad for Supper

1 head red leaf or romaine lettuce
2 links turkey sausage, casing removed
1 can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
good handful of fresh green beans, trimmed
1 large tomato, chopped
2 roasted red peppers from a jar, chopped
2 slices of provolone or a ball of fresh mozzarella, diced
1 lemon
olive oil
salt,pepper

Bring about a 1 1/2 cups of water to boil in a small saucepan. Drop in the green beans and cook till bright green - about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a bowl of ice water. Remove beans from pan and immediately drop into the ice water. Once they are chilled, remove from the water and cut into bite-size pieces.

Heat a large pan over medium heat and add in some olive oil. Cook the sausage and stir till crumbly. Once sausage is cooked through, drop in Great Northern beans and turn heat off.

Fill two large bowls with lettuce and top with green beans, tomatoes, red peppers, and cheese. Spoon sausage/bean mixture on top. Squeeze half a lemon over each salad and drizzle with olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

This is a great idea for leftover grilled chicken, I know, "Who would ever have leftover grilled chicken?!" but if you have some on hand along with these other common ingredients, you'll have the makings for a perfect accompaniment to the Gazpacho below.

Smoky Chicken Salad

2 C grilled chicken, chopped
4 slices smoked bacon (turkey or pork), chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 celery rib, diced
1 T dill relish
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t celery salt
pepper to taste
2/3 C mayonaisse

Mix all ingredients and chill. Serves 4

A Bomb Ass Salad

I've come to the realization that salad (much like pasta) is good with just about anything. Empty the fridge into a bowl of lettuce and you're bound to get a good lunch. Here's one I came up with yesterday that was down right delish:


Two big bowls of romaine lettuce
1/2 avocado
Few good crumbles of bleu cheese
3 slices cooked turkey bacon, crumbled
2 T toasted pine nuts
1 zuccini - half of it shaved/grated and the other half chopped into bite-size pieces
2-3 tomatillos, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
A good drizzle of homemade red wine vinagarettte (4 T olive oil, 2 T red wine vinegar, salt, pepper)

Basil Vinaigrette

An easy salad dressing and a great way to use up extra basil before it goes bad. Goes nicely with a simple salad of romaine, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella.

-1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
-1 tablespoon roasted garlic
-1-1/2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
-3/4 cup olive oil
-salt and pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor or blender.

Chris' Favorite Salad

This salad was in a dream I had the other night! So, I decided to give it a try and Chris declared it to be the best salad I have ever made -- wow!

1 eggplant, peeled and cubed into bite-size pieces
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1 red pepper, chopped into bite-size pieces
red pepper flakes
1 1/2 pounds chicken, poached and shredded
1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas), rinsed
fresh mozzarella
basil leaves, torn into small pieces
romaine or red leaf lettuce

olive oil
balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine eggplant, tomatoes and red pepper in a bowl with a generous amount of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Mix well. Spread evenly on a cookie sheet and roast for 25-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Make a simple balsamic vinegarette with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix very well.

Portion out lettuce into individual bowls. Top with garbanzo beans, vegetable mix, chicken, cheese and basil. Finish off with the homemade dressing.

So delish and so healthy!