Category Archives: Salad

Mustard Potato Salad

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I know that potato salad does not sound overly exciting, but to me, this recipe makes it exciting. I love the idea of potato salad, but I’m just not in love with traditional mayo-based versions. This one is everything I’d want in a potato salad and satisfies that craving – it’s full of tangy, mustardy flavor and is still creamy but with no mayo. Here’s what makes it so great:

The potatoes
The potatoes are roasted for this dish rather than boiled like a lot of other potato salads. Roasted potatoes are sturdy and slightly crispy so they make a great base, and they just take potato salad to a whole new level. To add even more flavor to this dish, the potatoes are tossed with a bit of oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary before roasting. I used a combination of mini purple and gold potatoes for this, but you could really use any potatoes that you would like.

The dressing
The dressing is a simple but flavorful mixture of grainy Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, lemon and a bit of salt, pepper and oil. Everything is added to a jar and shaken until well combined. I used this mustard and think it worked just perfectly.

The extras
We decided to add hard boiled eggs and thinly sliced red onions to our potato salad and could not have been happier with that combination. The eggs add great flavor and almost a creaminess to the potato salad once everything is mixed together. The red onions – if sliced thin enough – add amazing flavor and just a bit of crunch. 






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Mustard Potato Salad

Ingredients

Potatoes

  • 2 pounds potatoes, diced
  • 2 tablespoons avocado oil, or oil of your choice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 4-5 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped

Dressing

  • 1/4 cup avocado oil, or oil of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons grainy Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

For the salad

  • 5 hard boiled eggs, chopped
  • 1/4 of a red onion, thinly sliced

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

  2. Toss potatoes with avocado oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary.

  3. Arrange potatoes on baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, or until soft on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside.

  4. For the dressing, combine avocado oil, mustard, lemon, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper in a jar and shake until well combined.

  5. Once potatoes are roasted, let cool slightly. Toss potatoes with chopped hard boiled eggs, sliced red onion and dressing.

  6. Enjoy warm, at room temperature or cold.

Summer Steak and Egg Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing

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It feels a bit weird to be posting this recipe after being a plant-based blog for so many years. I know I haven’t talked much on here about incorporating meat back into what I eat, but this is what most dinners look like for Greg and I these days. Animal protein, lots of veggies, all whole foods and little to no grains. This exact meal is so, so good, but is also very easily modified. Let’s talk about it:

Greens:
Use any type of salad greens here that you’d like: spinach, mixed greens, any type of lettuce, kale, arugula, etc. Anything would be good!

Toppings:
For this version we used: cucumber, thinly sliced red onion and sunflower seeds. I don’t usually like raw red onion, but when sliced thin enough, it adds amazing flavor to this salad. For the sunflower seeds – I like to have something with a crunch on my salads. You could also use any kind of nut here. We used cucumber because we have a ton of garden cucumbers right now, but any other veggie addition would be wonderful in this. I highly recommend avocado – we just didn’t have any the night we took photos of this.

Dressing:
Homemade dressing is the way to go! This is a super basic, super easy to make homemade honey Dijon dressing. You just add a few ingredients to a jar, and shake it all together. It is so, so good and so much better than store bought.

Protein:
You could really use any protein on this salad that you’d like, but the combination that we used – hard boiled eggs and steak is so, so good. I used two small flat iron steaks, seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked for a few minutes on each side, until they reached 140 degrees. I let them rest 10 minutes before slicing and they were just right.

Assembly:
This makes a big difference to me when it comes to salads – rather than topping all the salad ingredients with dressing, I like to add most of my salad ingredients into a big bowl, then toss well with the dressing so that everything is coated in dressing. For this salad, I tossed the spinach, red onion, cucumber and sunflower seeds with the dressing and then topped each serving with the steak and eggs.

I’m going to type up more of a recipe below, but for me, the key to salads is just having a variety of ingredients and textures, with everything tossed together with a homemade dressing. Meals like this taste amazing and make me feel amazing, so I hope that this inspires you to make something like this, too.



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Summer Steak and Egg Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing

Servings 2

Ingredients

  • Greens (could be spinach, kale, lettuce, etc.)
  • Cucumber
  • Red onion
  • 1/3 cup Sunflower seeds
  • Hard boiled eggs
  • 2 flat iron steaks

For the dressing:

  • 1/4 cup avocado oil (or other mild-flavored oil)
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

  1. Prep your vegetables: slice cucumber and thinly slice red onion.

  2. Make the salad dressing: combine all ingredients in a jar and shake well until combined.

  3. For the steak: Let steaks come to room temperature. Season each side well with salt and pepper. Cook over medium high heat, about 3-4 minutes each side, until internal temperature reads 140 degrees. Remove from heat, let rest 10 minutes. Slice for salad.

  4. To assemble the salad: In a bowl, toss together greens, cucumber, red onion, sunflower seeds and dressing. Place on plates and top with hard boiled eggs and steak.

Apple, Zucchini + Walnut Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

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Today we’re keeping things light and tasty with this simple spring salad.

I tossed mixed greens with chopped apple, zucchini, dried cranberries, walnuts, feta and an easy-to-make lemon Dijon vinaigrette.

First let’s talk salad. I don’t really know what produce to use right now. Someone fill me in. I feel like we’re in an in-between time. So, I’m cheating and bringing you apples (a little late) and zucchini (a little early). I’m breaking the rules. We can’t be perfect all the time, so break the seasonal rules with me and make this salad.

This is as simple as it gets. Chop a little, toss a little and you’re set. I keep it tossed and undressed in the fridge for several days to make packing lunches super easy and quick.

Now let’s talk dressing. If you’re already on the homemade dressing bandwagon, isn’t it great? If you aren’t but wanting to try, start with this one. It’s so easy to make and will have you wanting to leave store-bought dressings behind. This particular lemon Dijon vinaigrette is very versatile – I can’t really think of a salad I wouldn’t eat it on. The salad I made you today contains sweet ingredients like cranberry and apple and the tart, savory dressing so nicely compliments those sweet flavors.

The amounts I provide for the dressing in the recipe below are a base. Maybe you’ll want it a little sweeter, so add more honey, or maybe you’ll want it more mustard-y, so add more Dijon. Taste as you go and make it something you love.

Crisp, crunchy, sweet, tart and savory, fresh and light yet filling. That’s how I’d describe this salad. The varying flavors and textures are what make this so unique. I hope you make it and I hope you love it!

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Apple, Zucchini + Walnut Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette
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For the salad
  1. Mixed greens
  2. 1 medium apple, chopped
  3. 1 medium zucchini, chopped
  4. 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
  5. 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
  6. Large handful of dried cranberries
For the dressing
  1. 1/2 cup olive oil
  2. 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  3. 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  4. 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  5. 1 garlic clove, minced
  6. 1/4 teaspoon salt
  7. 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  8. 1/2 tablespoon honey
Instructions
  1. For the salad, place all ingredients in a large bowl and toss.
  2. For the dressing, place all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake very well, to combine. It will become sort of creamy. Try the dressing, and adjust to your taste.
  3. Serve salad onto plates and serve with dressing.
  4. Enjoy!
Notes
  1. The undressed, tossed salad will keep fresh in the fridge for several days. The salad makes a great quick lunch.
  2. The amounts I provide in the recipe will make 3/4 cup of dressing and 2 large or 4 small servings of salad.
The Dreaming Foodie https://www.thedreamingfoodie.com/

Salmon + Veggie Salad

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I’ve got another salad combo for you.

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Juicy tomatoes.

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Creamy avocado.

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Salty capers.

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Pickled red onions.

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And fresh, delicious salmon.

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Piled high on a bed of greens.

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This salad is amazing. Everything goes so well together. Also great for these warm days. It requires very little cooking and prep work.

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In the directions, I tell you how I prepared my salmon for this salad. But you should definitely prepare it your favorite way. If you have a grill, I am sure that would be perfect {dreaming of the day I can have a grill}.

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I suggest an oil-based dressing for this salad, but again, use what you love. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

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Oh, I have to mention! This salad was inspired by a delicious meal we ate the The Tomato Bistro.

Ingredients
*This is for two salads. Double, triple, etc., as you please.
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 avocado, sliced
4 tablespoons capers
1/4 of a red onion, sliced
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
2 fillets of salmon, whatever size you like to eat
Juice from one half of a lemon
Salt and pepper
Mixed greens (or your favorite lettuce)

First prep your veggies. Cut the grape tomatoes in half. Slice the avocado. Slice 1/4 of a red onion. Place the onion slices in a bowl and completely cover with red wine vinegar. Let this sit while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan over medium-high heat. Let the oil get hot and then add the salmon fillets. I cooked mine for about 2 minutes on each side. Once the first side was done, I sprinkled salt and pepper on each fillet, squeezed some lemon juice into the pan over the salmon and then flipped them. I cooked the other side for 2 minutes and squeezed the rest of the lemon juice on the salmon.

To arrange the salad, I would suggest tossing the greens with dressing first. You can do this in a big bowl and then transfer the dressed greens to smaller serving bowls. In each serving bowl, arrange the tomatoes, 1/2 of an avocado, 2 tablespoons capers, one half of the red onions and one fillet of salmon.

Enjoy!

Notes:
– Letting the onion sit in red wine vinegar is sort of a really quick pickling process. It takes the bite out of the onion, makes them soft and almost sweet. You can let the onion soak in the vinegar as long as you want, even overnight!

Corn + Black Bean + Tomato Salad

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I’ve always been the type of person who has no trouble eating winter-y food all throughout the summer.

corn

How about you?

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You know, like soup in the middle of July. A warm pot pie in August. I’ve always enjoyed warm winter comfort food the entire year.

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Until now.

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Until now, now that I live in an un-air-conditioned apartment.

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I never understood why soup in the summer didn’t appeal to people. But I do now. I now understand why people don’t want to do that.

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Enter, this salad. I thought — what can I make that involves absolutely no heat, but still tastes delicious?

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Salad. Expect more. I’ll be with no air conditioning all summer long.

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By the way, I thought making this salad was a great idea to keep cool. And then, I got hungry for stuffed shells. So I made them. So much for keeping cool.

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If it is as hot where you are as it is in Philly, give this salad a try. It will refresh you. It combines the southwest flavors of corn, black beans, tomatoes and salsa with cool homemade (or store-bought) ranch, over a bed of crisp greens. Yes, a perfect summer meal.

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Ingredients
A bowl full of mixed greens (I didn’t measure, but I used maybe 6 cups?)
1 can of black beans, rinsed
1 can of corn, rinsed
2 cups diced tomatoes
Juice from 1/2 of a lime
1/2 cup salsa
Homemade ranch dressing, as much as you please

Start by putting the black beans, corn and diced tomatoes into a bowl. Squeeze the juice from 1/2 of a lime over the veggies and stir.

In a different large bowl, add a few large handfuls of mixed greens (or your favorite type of lettuce). Top with a couple of large spoonfuls of the veggie mixture. Add another layer of lettuce and then more veggies. Spoon the salsa on top and then drizzle ranch dressing over the salad.

Using salad tongs or two spoons, toss the salad very well. This will coat all of the lettuce with the salsa and ranch, making a very nice dressing.

Serve with additional veggies, salsa and ranch, if desired.

Enjoy!