Winter Kale Salad with Squash

I went to a local Deli that I had recently discovered and they had a winter kale salad on the menu that I fell in love with.  Unfortunately, it was a seasonal and short lived item in the menu so I had to recreate my own version and I think mine is even better.

Salad

1 small Butternut squash

1 tablespoon butter (or olive oil)

salt & pepper

1/2 cup 5 grain mix* cooked to package directions

2 cups chopped kale

1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley

reduced fat blue cheese to taste

1/4 cup mixture of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds**

2 tablespoons home made vinaigrette 

Peel the squash and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.  Add the squash to a saute pan with the butter/oil,  season with salt and pepper, and cook covered over medium heat stirring occasionally until just tender but not mushy and falling apart. 

Clean and chop kale and parsley and toss with vinaigrette.

Layer greens, squash, blue cheese, seeds, and grains in a bowl respectively.  Enjoy 

Vinaigrette

I a small mason jar add 

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon mustard of choice

salt & pepper

Place lid on mason jar and shake up the dressing.

* The 5 grain mix I use has spelt, barley, rice, Kanut, and oats

**I actually used Good Sense Dietary snack mix that has sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashews, almonds, and raisins. 

  

Light Coleslaw

Pictured here is slow grilled/roasted/smoked  BBQed pork butt on a bun topped with coleslaw.  The cabbage for the slaw was from my garden and the dressing I created so that I would not have to add too many more calories to the meal.

1/2 head cabbage, sliced, chopped, or run through a food processor with a grating attachment.
1 large grated carrot

for the dressing:

1 tablespoon light Mayo
1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt.  I like to drain a lot of the liquid off the yogurt in a strainer lined with a coffee filter for a thicker dressing.
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
a few shacks of celery seed
a sprig of rosemary, chopped very fine
a teaspoon to a tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar or splenda
salt and pepper

Mix the dressing together and let set in the fridge for 30 minutes so that the flavors can combine.  Toss the cabbage and carrots with as much of the dress as you like on your slaw.

A Day at the Beach with 7, make that 9, Layers

The kids and I met my Baby Brother and headed out to Lake Michigan for a picnic, some reading, and some fun in the sun. I brought ground meat patties (I could call them burgers but that would not be quite right) to grill once we got there, watermelon, homemade ciabatta (I will be posting this soon) and layered salad.

This salad is great because it is so pretty, tastes great, and I use frozen peas to keep the salad cold (Lake Michigan is a 2 1/2 hour drive from home after all). I did all the prep work the night before so all I had to do in the morning was layer up the salad.

Dressing:
1 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar

Salad in order from button to top:

3 cups baby spinach
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 bag frozen peas (I think it was a 12 or 16 oz bag)
the dressing carefully spread over the peas
1/2 cup sliced radishes
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 or 7 strips turkey bacon fried crisp and "crumbled" cut with scissors

this was a large salad and I will make it again but I am sure that I will not use the same exact ingredients in the same order. As long as one is careful with the layering and has a nice color contrast...go for it.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Salad

To gear up for spring I have been craving light and springy vegetables. This salad just kept growing as I was digging through the refrigerator. I started with baby spinach and then I added the left over mango from breakfast (I would hate for it to go to waste), I love dried cranberries in salad so I grabbed a handful and tossed them on and I have some Philbert's in the freezer that are in danger of going rancid, I toasted a handful of them and added that to the salad, I then notices a few grapefruit sections. hummmmm what else was in that fridge, oh, oh some avocado and look cucumbers. ok, ok I have to stop so I blended up a little low sugar cherry jam with some raspberry vinaigrette that I don't care for and it tasted great the jam balanced the vinegar in the vinaigrette perfectly and was great over all those veggies.

This Was a Great Salad.

Turkey Salad Sandwich

right after I graduated from High School I got a job at a local grocery store (D&W) and I worked there until a few days before I turned 21. One of my fondest memories of working at the store was the turkey salad on a pita I used to get for lunch. This turkey salad was special because it had grapes in it that just went so well with a whole wheat pita. Often I have dreamt of that sandwich and a few weeks ago I decided to try to make it and it is better than I remember.

1 12.5 oz can turkey packed in water
1/2 cup grapes, cut in half
2 T. purple onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/3 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup carrots, finely chopped
1 T. Honey Mustard
1 T. Mayo
1/4 cup low fat yogurt
salt and pepper to taste

Drain water off of Turkey and place turkey in a medium bowl add in all the chopped vegetables and grapes.

Mix the mustard, mayo, yogurt, salt and pepper in a small bowl and then add to the turkey mixture.

Stir all the ingredients together and serve on crackers, on lettuce leaves or (my fav) Milton's wheat Bread.

Estimated nutrition facts for 1/3 of salad: Calories 260, Fat 7, Carbs 21, fiber 1, Protein 26

Salade Nicoise

Vinaigrette

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 t. Dijon Mustard
3 T. Red wine Vinegar

juice of one lemon

1/2 cup olive oil

1 t. course salt

1 t. fresh ground pepper

Put minced garlic, Dijon mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a blender. Turn blender on low and slowly drizzle in olive oil, once all olive oil is added turn off blender and set dressing aside for salad.





~Salade Nicoise~

1 Pound new potatoes

10 ounces fresh green beans, trimmed

1 pound fresh Tuna steak, about 3/4" thick

1 T. olive oil

1/2 pound ripe medium tomatoes, cut into quarters

1/2 cup Nicoise olives, pitted

4 hard boiled eggs, quartered

1/4 cup capers

2 T. fresh parsley. chopped

1 T. fresh chives, snipped

1 can anchovy fillets packed in oil, soaked in cold water for 10 minutes, drained, patted dry and cut in half.

Slices of crusty bread, toasted.

1. Dry the Tuna steak with paper towel, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat a cast iron grill pan to hot. Place the tuna on the pan and cook on each side for about 4 minutes. I like my tuna done through so I cook it that way; however, tuna is typically cooked medium rare. If you prefer you can grill your tuna on a charcoal grill.

2. Boil the potatoes on salted water until they are just done. I find that it is best to boil the potatoes whole because when I cut them and then boil them they tend to get a little water logged. the time of this can very but give them about 20 minutes and then check doneness, when potatoes are done remove them from water and place them on cutting board to cook.

3. Add the green beans to the boiling potato water and cook for about 4 minutes. Drain the beans and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Cut the potatoes into quarters.

4. Place the potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, olives, and capers in a bowl and toss with 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette. Gently add the remaining ingredients and serve with toasted crusty bread.

Even the kids like this salad, there is something for each of them in it and they have so much fun making it too.

Tomato Salad

This one is simple and Delicious.

Slice red ripe tomatoes and lay them out on a serving platter
Grind sea salt onto Tomatoes
Finely chop red onion and sprinkle on tomatoes; I use Red because they are more nutritious
Drizzle with good Olive Oil
Sprinkle with fresh, chopped parsley.

And Enjoy!

Cucumber Yogurt Salad

We eat this salad with almost everything I make. It is what we call a family staple.

Slice one English cucumber and put into bowl and salt the cucumber rounds.

Mix 3/4 cup plain full fat yogurt with 1/3 cup sour cream. Add in 3 minced cloves of garlic and salt to taste. Mix the cucumbers and yogurt sauce together and serve chilled.