Category : Salads

A beautiful salad

Posted in Salads, Soup & Salad, Veg&Veg, Vegan, Vegetarian on April 13, 2011

Around this time of the year, I love the way salads look. The bright vegetables against the green lettuce…mmm…nummy! The one above I threw together when some friends came over for dinner.

What are your favorite salad toppings?

→ Read the full story | 2 Comments

Grandma’s Cucumber Salad

Posted in Salads, Vegetarian on July 6, 2010

Another oldie moved over here from the family blog.

My Grandma’s cucumber salad recipe is absolutely amazing. I never thought Kevin would like it, so I never made it… and didn’t ask Grandma how she made it. I am always bothering her for her “secret” recipes, and I hate to bother her, but after a summer visit where Kevin remarked at how good the cukes were, I asked and received a recipe for the tasty salad.
Grandma told me that her mother made the recipe with cream instead of water, so I suppose you could do that if you plan to eat them right away, but at our house it takes a bit of time, so cream isn’t practical.
Ingredients
  • 3 big cucumbers (6 cups total)
  • salt
  • 1 medium to large onion (add as may or few as you like really)
  • sugar
  • water
  • vinegar
  • pepper

First– peel the cukes. See. They don’t have to be perfect.

2. Slice them very thinly. Well, that’s my preference anyway. Thin.

3. Toss the cukes with a teaspoon or so of salt and allow them to stand (or sit… ha ha) for 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Grandma isn’t much for measuring. I know where I get it from. :)

4. Drain and rinse the cukes.

5. Slice the onion and mix that in with the cukes.

6. In a separate bowl (yes, I realize I am using a liquid measuring cup to measure a solid…), mix 1/4 cup sugar…

7. …with 1/4 cup vinegar…

8. …with 1/4 cup water…

9. …and pour that all over the cucumbers and mix well. Pepper to taste, and start gorging immediately!

EDIT: My grandma reads the family blog and sent me a few suggestions/corrections– Grandma now uses white balsamic vinegar and says that to make them a bit more sour, pour the sugar in to the cup, then the vinegar, and then water.  That is what I did, but I didn’t make that clear. Enjoy! :)

I am submitting this post to the Make It From Scratch carnival! If you want to participate hop on over and link up!

→ Read the full story | 1 Comment

A Beautiful Salad

Posted in Salads on May 17, 2010

A little over a week ago, we had a play date at a friend’s house.  The adults and kids had a good time. I brought this salad over, and after I put it together at home, I had to take its picture.

The colors were vivid, and quite honestly, I think the salad was beautiful.  It is simple to make too! A double bonus was that everything but the carrots came from the local farmer’s market.

1/2 head of red leaf lettuce, chopped

1 carrot, quartered and sliced

a handful of radishes, quartered and sliced

A handful of sweet turnips, quartered and sliced

Salad dressing of choice

I put the lettuce in the bowl, followed by the radishes, turnips and carrots.  I ate the leftovers for lunch during the week. Often times, I make a salad or a lot of mini-salads on Sunday and then have them for lunch all week long. You can spruce that basic salad up by adding tuna, avocado, or left over chicken.

You don’t know what you are missing if you’ve never had a great salad. :)

→ Read the full story | 3 Comments