Delicious Greek Salad with Homemade Dressing

A delicious, and incredibly easy to whip together Greek salad with homemade dressing.  We've made it many times, and I've even had others whip it together with my notes, and it turned out just perfectly.   You can adjust the vegetables around to have more/less of the ones that are your favorite.  The great thing about this Greek salad is the there are no large olives floating around, rather a few are chopped finely and incorporated into the dressing. Yum! It's a perfect accompaniment to salmon (to be posted soon.) Enjoy!

Our new favorite Greek salad, ready to serve! 

Delicious Greek Salad

In a large bowl, mix:
1/2 - 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced & diced
5-10 cherry tomatoes (or 2 romas) diced into bite-size pieces
large handful romaine lettuce, sliced
large handful spinach, sliced

Mix together the following dressing in a small bowl:
3 Tbsp olive oil 
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
3/4 - 1 tsp Italian seasoning blend
dash salt & pepper
5-6 Calamata olives, diced
3 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese

Toss dressing with vegetables. Serve!  It's my favorite fresh, but still tastes great the next day, too, when all the flavors have melded together a bit more.  Enjoy!

Light & Delicious Spring Salad

Recently, we've discovered pea shoots and how very much we all love them.  They're one of the few salad-type greens that all three of my kids love and devour without complaint!  They eat them plain like they'd eat sugar snap peas. We've been finding fresh pea shoots and alfalfa sprouts (and other sprouts!) at the local farmer's market for the past month or so, although I think we may have to try growing some ourselves sometime soon.  Everything in this salad except the avocado was grown locally!  Such a delicious blend of early summer goodness with a dash of flavorful balsamic & olive oil on top.  Enjoy!

Spring Salad packed with pea shoots and alfalfa sprouts! 

Light & Delicious Spring Salad

Prepare salad with the following: (feel free to add other ingredients, if desired)
baby spinach
pea shoots, rinsed & dried
alfalfa sprouts, rinsed & dried
avocado, diced
yellow tomatoes, diced
green peppers, diced
herb goat cheese, crumbled

Drizzle overtop, or mix together in a small bowl and then drizzle overtop:
ginger-blackberry balsamic vinegar*
olive oil

If desired, you could add fresh or dried fruits like pear, apple, or cranberries.  Pecan nuts would taste nice with this salad.  You could also add grilled shrimp, grilled chicken, or black beans on top for extra protein.

Enjoy!

*Flavor-infused balsamic vinegar & olive oil are becoming more widely available.  I found mine locally at Liquid Gold olive oils & vinegars in downtown Charlottetown. 

Easy Green Tomato Salad Dressing

The blend of green tomato (or any color), dill and feta make this a wonderfully tasty salad dressing.  And, it's so easy to whip together.  You could easily play around with other herbs at your disposal, too! Enjoy!

Lovely fresh greens, kale, and purple carrots topped with fresh green tomato, dill and feta salad dressing.

Easy Green Tomato Salad Dressing
makes ~ 1/2 - 3/4 cup dressing

Blend together with a stick blender or other blender:
2 Tbsp cranberry-pear vinegar (white wine vinegar, or similar pale-colored vinegar will work)
2 tsp maple syrup
1 small/medium green tomato, de-seeded
3 - 4 Tbsp olive oil
3 - 4 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese
1 - 2 Tbsp fresh dill
salt & pepper, to taste

Serve over any salad for a lovely flavor, filled with fresh herbs, tomatoes and cheese!

Tasty GF Green Tomato Salad Dressing on fresh greens, kale & purple carrots.

Tasty Early Summer Salad

Summertime brings with it lots of fresh local vegetables. We're lucky to be able to get local organic veggies each week from Heartbeet Organics (they have the most amazing salad green mixes).  If you check out their site, you can see all the great information they've put together about how to best store and serve the wide variety of vegetables they grow.  This salad was a delicious start to the summer - packed with fresh local veggies and an easy, tasty sauce.  We served it alongside baked salmon fillets with a dijon glaze (my herb-crusted salmon recipe here which is a similar type dish). Enjoy!

Fresh organic veggies with a homemade dressing

Tasty Early Summer Salad
Serves 4

Toss in a medium bowl:
2-3 cups purple kale, rip or cut into bite-size pieces
2-3 cups mixed fresh salad greens
handful sugar snap peas, diced
handful cherry tomatoes, sliced 
2-3 radishes, finely diced
1/3 avocado, diced

In a small bowl, combine:
1 Tbsp coriander (cilantro) puree
2 Tbsp GF ranch dressing
2-3 Tbsp diced roasted bell pepper

Easy and quick homemade dressing - adds a little extra to the ordinary ranch dressing

Pour dressing on salad mix and toss gently.
Serve and enjoy! 

Purple Cabbage Salad/Slaw with Poppyseed Dressing

I'm typically not a coleslaw person. In fact, I go out of my way to avoid coleslaw in general.  However, I find a nice, homemade slaw w/ dressing to be a nice addition to a meal in lieu of a salad now and then - particularly one which is so fun and colorful. (My 3 year old loved the idea of eating something bright purple) If you're making this for a typical dinner salad, use only 1/4 - 1/2 of a cabbage head, since a little goes a long way with coleslaw.  This dish is great because it's so versatile! You can add all sorts of other types of veggies into the dish, too - some are suggested below.  The dressing is easy to whip together, and you could use it on a regular salad, too - like a normal poppyseed dressing.  Enjoy!

Lots of purple in this meal - purple cabbage, purple cauliflower, zucchini, fish.  Yum!

Purple Cabbage Salad/Slaw with Poppyseed Dressing
Serves 8-10

Slice into small, long pieces:
1 small head red cabbage (remove outer leaves & stem areas before slicing)
2 large carrots
Plus any other veggies you like, sliced nice and thinly (green cabbage, lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, peeled apples)

Mix in a small bowl:
1/4 - 1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp honey
1/2 - 1 Tbsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Toss with cabbage & carrots and serve!
Enjoy!

My kitchen helper - who can't smile properly because she has salad/slaw in her mouth. She was thrilled we were eating purple veggies.