I need salad inspiration!

[coymichelle]

My garden is flourishing and I have a ton of Rocky Top lettuce to pick today. I want to make the family a giant, incredible, bodacious salad.

What are your go-to salad ideas? I need salad topping inspiration!

[lauryn139]

Oh man, I love me a hearty salad! I love to think about texture and flavor profiles when I come up with salad creations -- for example, an Asian-inspired salad will have cucumber, green onion, a ginger dressing (Whole Foods has a great one under their name brand in the refrigerated section), cashews, marinated chicken, avocado, etc. If I'm feeling fruity, I'll use spinach, chicken, goat cheese, strawberries, orange segments, honey almonds (Trader Joe's for the win!), and other veggies with balsamic.

I also love adding hummus to salads for a rich, creamy texture! 

[Mcore]

That sounds yummy @lauryn139.  Adding hummus sounds like a very good idea! Never thought about it and might think that I can use it instead of a dressing.

Thanks!

[CallieM]

This thread is so great! Thanks everyone for your delish ideas.

I want to add another one! I made this on a warm summer day, and it was coupled with some abalone that my friend's dad caught, and some wine of course! It was such a great meal. This salad is super simple, too.

-avocado

-cherry tomatoes, cut in half

-cilantro

-freshly cooked warm corn

-sea salt

My favorite part of this salad is the corn. It is freshly boiled, and still warm when it goes into the salad. I added a photo of the one I made. Let me know if anyone is inspired and recreates it!

[Mcore]

Life with avocado is so much better.  That looks delicious @CallieM!

[Chris722]

My favorite go-to salad is restaurant inspired:

Any kind of greens (my fave is a spring mix), white onion, strawberries, mandarin oranges, grilled chicken, cranberries, feta, glazed walnuts and a creamy poppyseed dressing. Oh so good! I think it's the only salad I could have every week and not get tired of it.

[Urchin]

Have you ever tried a spiralizer? It gives the veggies (or fruit) a neat texture and and completely change the taste of the salad. Two of my favorites are:

http://inspiralized.com/2015/04/15/chilled-spring-cucumber-dill-salad-with-cashews-and-quinoa/
I add a little goat cheese too!

and
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2015/02/spiralized-mediterranean-beet-and-feta.html

The "Inspiralized" blog above has a lot of really great ideas for salads and other veggie-heavy dishes!

[CallieM]

@Chris722 Yum that sounds super good - where do you usually buy this salad?

@Urchin I love my spiralizer too!! My favorite thing to spiralize is zucchini. I usually saute it with some olive oil, and then add turkey meatballs and pesto! It's SO good I really recommend it. Which fruits do you spiralize? I've never thought to do it with fruit.

[Urchin]

Apples are good for spiralizing for salads and snacks! I haven't tried anything else yet!

[Mcore]

I haven't but now I want to try it. It seems like a really good way to cook food differently and to have other ideas for recipes. 

[swales]

Personally I really like adding a bit of flavour to a salad by adding Paprika

[Maura-CA]

I love doing food prep on Sundays and making the layered mason jar salads for my work week lunches.  Pinterest and Google have LOADS of recipes for mason jar type salads and you can buy the mason jars at Target or even a Dollar Store.

[glitzy]

It may sound weird, so bare with me.  I like to mix in with my greens:

Tuna
Chickpeas
& Feta

Sometimes I'll add some black beans in there.  Usually no dressing.

[almost_where]

Bunch of Spinach (Usually 3oz ish)

Crumbled Feta

Few Sliced Almonds

I grab a 90 to 100% Cacao bar and with the vegetable peeler and throw in a few thin shaves of chocolate.

[OCDOC]

Here's something for the LCHF crowd who miss the most popular FastFood burger ever..The BigMacSalad:

Basically brown the beef, melt the cheese on top, and slide it onto the rest of the ingredients. (Cheese shredded, Pickles diced).

Wife doesn't like onions...skipped those.

8 net/11 total, 52 prot, 49 fat..tastes amazing and keeps you full for ages. I know it's kinda not in the 'typical salad' category, but we love it 🙂

[Mcore]

That's a great idea @OCDOC! Sounds delicious and easy to prepare. 

[SunsetRunner]

I have a fairly simple salad for lunch that consists of: carrot, cucumber, capsicum, tomato, mushrooms, chick peas, snow peas and spinach leaves. I finely dice a boiled egg and mix that through with some cracked pepper and chili powder as a 'topping'.

Thankfully, it tastes less bland that it reads.

[Aeonsi]

Roast Kumara (Sweet Potato 2cm chunks), Banana, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, added to mixed greens, red onion, cherry tomatos and Feta with a balsamic dressing.

[Selena1979]

I like to use a bit of fruit, pomegranite seeds work well for me.

Here is a picture of last nights salad (the bread was a very occasional treat!! lol )

[Rich_Laue]

I've been making my own sauerkraut, and naturally pickling vegetables. It's called fermentation and the brine gets like a mild vinegar, and used to make a dressing, The vegetables end up in the salad.

The plus is that they are filled with natural living probiotics.

[Mcore]

Wow @Selena1979! That looks so good.  I see you used some avocado, love it!

@Rich_Laue That is so awesome. How long does this process take?