I’m a huge fan of the big salad, in theory.
I like looking at it. I like eating it. I just don’t like making it. Running a few miles? Sure! Cooking a risotto? No problem. Cutting up some salad fixings? DEATH FIRST! (Arbitrary laziness: it keeps life exciting!)
And so it was for quite a while—that despite my love of a good, big salad—I would only end up getting one when I was at an actual salad place. (Marry me, Chopt’!)
With arbitrary laziness, however, comes unpredictable changes of heart, and I decided that I wanted to start actually making my own big salads. The secret, I realized, is having healthy, filling, salad-ready stuff on hand that I can quite literally toss on top of some lettuce and be good to go. (I also make my own dressings, but that’s another topic altogether.) Aside from the obvious things (chicken, cheese, deli meat, etc.), here are a few of my favorite salad ingredients that are flavorful, (mostly) easy to prepare/keep on hand, and actually keep you full:
- Frozen edamame (soybeans)—Boil ‘em for about 5-7 minutes, and keep them on hand in the fridge.
- Canned chickpeas/black beans—What could be easier than opening a can?
- Nuts—I use slivered almonds; they blend in well, and add a ton of protein and flavor.
- Tempeh—MUCH more textured and flavorful than tofu. I like to make a batch of 101 Cookbook’s marinated tempeh “bacon,” cube it, and—as with the edamame—keep it on hand in the fridge.
- Avocado—Duh.
- Hard boiled eggs/egg whites—Even more fun if you have a funky egg slicer.
- Teriyaki portobello mushrooms—Sauté 2 tbsp. olive oil and 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce over a medium flame, toss in sliced portobello mushrooms and cook until liquid is absorbed. (Then guess what you do? Can you guess? It involves the fridge, and keeping them on hand!)
- Jarred roasted peppers—So versatile; these are great for a ton of recipes, but for our purposes, just pop the jar, and toss a few in your salad. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, toss a bit of balsamic on them first.
Do you have any favorites you like to include in your own salads? I’d love to add to the list!
I just bought a giant bag of dried cranberries, I love to put them into salads!
yum! me too amy!
I love adding goat cheese crumbles and pecans – it makes any salad seem fancy. I’m also very partial to dark green lettuce, romaine and baby spinach.
I’m SOOO right there with you! A baby spring mix salad with pretty much any sort of soft cheese, caramelized pecans, dried cranberries and a good balsamic vinaigrette … HEAVEN!!! The best part – no pesky chopping to even worry about (or clean up after!) and the only extra prep you might need is if you want to add some meat!
Mmmmm…sounds like lunch!
YES!
Daisy & Amy already took my 2 suggestions! Dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, apples, blah blah blah) keeps really well. And Pecans are awesome too!
and bacon. duh.
I LOVE cold peas on my salad with the edamame. Also, a few croutons, cause mama needs her croutons.
Crispy Asian noodles, mandrian oranges, almond slivers & gorganzola…so yuymmy in my tummy.
One of my favorite salads is chicken, corn, onion, sliced tortilla chips, and I know it might sound weird but salsa as the dressiNg!! MMMMM
I like your explanation for avocado. That ’bout sums it up.
I really like pine nuts in mine – I put them in a pan on a stove for a couple minutes, let them roast a little bit and get brown and then add them to a salad.
I also use to be able to get this like, pre-cut up ham stuff..that came in little itsy bitsy crumbly bits..that you would also warm up until it got a little bit crispy and then throw into a salad.
And fresh mozerella. YUM.
Dried cranberries, dried apricots, dried ANYTHING? Yeah. Throw it in.
I also have a really great recipe for a strawberry, spinach salad with a homemade poppyseed dressing. So. Yummah.
Taco salad? Definitely not a healthy version of the salad – but let me rephrase that…it’s TACO. SALAD.
Terriyaki chicken with candied almonds and mandarin oranges? I THINK SO.
Add feta cheese to a salad and I really could just die and go to heaven, right then.
…I think I love salad. A little too much. This post just made me want to eat salad for the rest of the week. So. Many. Options.
But I hate raw chickpeas. EEECK. The texture makes me go BLAAAARG.
Try roasted chickpeas!! so yummy and easy to make: open can, rinse, dump on cookie sheet, bake @ 400 until crunchy. I make mine from the dried chickpeas that I soak and don’t boil… they are seriously addictive.
Marinated artichoke hearts – we buy the big jar from costco and I just run a few through the food processor; salad dressing included in the marinating oil.
Also, black olives. Yum.
I love a big salad. I recently went and bought all the stuff to stock up my pantry and fridge so I can eat healthier. I also buy flash frozen shrimp and chicken so that I can portion it out to cook and put with my salads too.
The frozen shrimp idea is awesome.
LOVE this post! Thanks for all the ideas… Totally going to try & make that tempeh recipe my beeeotch in 2011. Excited.
Also, we got this Vegetable Chop & Measure for our wedding and it has totally saved my I-hate-veggie-preppin’ life: http://bit.ly/gOF8nX. Highly recommend if you need to chop & store “make 1 big batch & save for the whole week” toppings like bell pepper, onion, or other annoying to chop foods.
Y’all are making me hungry now!
Those all sound delicious.
I make homemade croutons.
I usually end up with like 5 open bags of bread, buns, etc in the fridge. I cube them into 1 inch cubes, a little bit of olive oil, a packet of dry ranch dressing mix, and bake them at like 300 degrees for 15 minutes or until they’re dried out and crunchy. They last forever, and I actually snack on them like chips, I figure they are much healthier than chips.
Trader Joe’s makes a dried cranberry and blue cheese crumble mix that’s perfect for salad toppings straight out of the container.
I make my salads in mixing bowls. As in, a mixing bowl is one serving of salad. I love them so much and they’re so huge and airy that it just makes sense.
I like to grab a handful of flavored almonds like Wasabi Soy or Habanero BBQ (can’t remember who makes them, but they come in a little can) and pulverize them in my Ninja Master! (I love that thing) They go perfectly in a salad with dried cranberries and goat cheese.
Sounds weird, but capers and pineapple chunks. There’s something about the briney taste of the capers mixed with the sweetness of the pineapple that I love. I discovered it when I waitressed at a pizza joint and had access to all sorts of toppings.
baby corn! hearts of palm! pear! YUM
also-tuna or pollack (mock crab) make salads heartier too!
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