Healthy Raw Kale Salad

I've been doing this thing lately where I make a big batch of this healthy kale salad and keep it in the fridge for lunches and to have on hand as a quick side to weekday dinners. And it turns out my boyfriend really likes it. So, it's a win-win in our house.


It's a healthy combination of raw kale, carrots and red cabbage and keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days. The salad tastes great with grilled salmon or tuna and corn on the cob. It's one of those salads that makes you feel good about yourself after just a few mouthfuls because it's so good and healthy - and makes you want to congratulate yourself for making such a healthy choice. And you should.

I've also been going to the gym a little more regularly and trying to get in some kind of exercise on days that I don't. Like walking or cycling somewhere I might otherwise drive to. What this all adds up to is a slightly healthier lifestyle that I feel good about. One of things I've been thinking about but haven't done yet is buying a pedometer to see how much I walk on an average day. I think it would be a good exercise to do a check in with myself. Should I be walking more?


In the meantime, here's the recipe.


Healthy Raw Kale Salad
Adapted from Planet Organic's Hail-to-the-Kale recipe

Ingredients
1 bunch kale, chopped somewhat finely
2 carrots, grated
1/4 of a red cabbage, thinly sliced with a mandolin if you have one
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons Bragg Liquid Aminos or natural soy sauce (found in health food stores)
1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
dash oregano

Directions
Wash kale and chop finely.

In a cast iron skillet over medium to high heat, stir sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Remove from heat when they’re toasted golden brown. While the skillet is hot, add in a few drops of soy sauce, which will sear onto the seeds. Remove and let cool.

In a large bowl combine chopped kale, carrots, cabbage and seeds. Set aside.

In a small bowl whisk together oil, Bragg Liquid Aminos, balsamic vinegar and oregano and pour over kale mixture. Toss until evenly coated and chill 2 hours before serving.

You might also like:

Sesame Kale Salad
Steamed kale with lots of toasted sesame seed flavour. So good, you'll eat a whole bunch (of kale).

Kale Chips
Thin bites of crispy baked kale.

Bulgar Salad with Kale, Salami and Olives
A great side dish to make for dinner or enjoy it on its own for lunch. Tastes good served warm or cold.

Roasted Eggplant and Chickpea Salad

Chickpeas, roasted eggplant, red onion and fresh cilantro tossed in lemon vinaigrette are the fixings for a fantastic light lunch or a side dish for dinner. I made this for lunch yesterday from a BBC recipe I came across and it's one more recipe that continues my love affair with chickpeas. They're easy and cheap and even cheaper if you buy dried chickpeas in bulk. I like to buy canned chickpeas by the armful when they go on sale - so I always have plenty on hand and only a can opener away.




I particularly like the Moroccan flavours in this dish. Of course the roasted eggplant gives it a real Morocaan flair but also the paprika, cumin and cilantro. This is an interesting salad with lots of subtle flavours and ranks up there with some of my other favorites such as this recipe for chickpea goji berry salad and warm butternut and chickpea salad with tahini. The beans add protein, which makes this a complete, light meal. Perfect for the spring or summer.


Roasted Eggplant and Chickpea Salad (serves 4)

Ingredients

Salad
3 eggplants
1 can (540 ml/19 oz) of chickpeas
1/2 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Dressing
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon and a pinch of paprika (smoked or Hungarian)
1 teaspoon honey
juice of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons olive oil

Directions
Cube the eggplant in about one half inch cubes, toss in a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or until soft.

Meanwhile, drain and rinse the chickpeas, then tip into a bowl with the roasted eggplant, garlic, red onion and cilantro. Mix the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and drizzle over the chickpeas and eggplant. Enjoy!

Perfect weekday lunch: Chickpea Goji Berry Salad

It's Alive magazine's suggestion to make this salad on a lazy Sunday afternoon and bring to work for weekday lunches. A hearty salad of chickpeas, mandarin oranges, almonds, goji berries and feta cheese. I like practical tips like this - easy to follow and makes perfect sense. With the advice appealing to my sensibilities and the recipe appealing to my tastes, I fell for this salad hook, line and sinker.


It wasn't immediate though. I thought about this salad for a good two months before making it. I was 90 per cent sure it would be good, but still something held me back. The goji berries.

As healthy as this superfood is, adding them to a salad made me pause. You can buy them at any well stocked grocery store, in the bulk section. Tasty, but they're a little tough or dense to chew and could catch a person off guard, biting down on one when you're not expecting it. But, the beauty of this salad is that by letting the salad chill for an hour - or overnight - the goji berries and almonds soften slightly. Perfectly.

After making this salad three times now I'm confidently coming out to say it's a keeper. It's fresh and interesting tasting, and good. But you don't need to wait for a lazy Sunday to make it. It's a fast, easy salad to toss together which makes it perfect for weekdays when your time is tight and energy low.


Chickpea Goji Berry Salad (serves 4)
Adapted slightly from Alive Magazine

Ingredients
2/3 cup almonds, roasted and unsalted, chopped

1 - 19 oz (532 g) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 - 10 oz (280 g) can mandarin orange segments, drained

1/2 cup dried goji berries

1/2 red onion, diced 

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
 (optional)
handful of chopped cilantro or parsley
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions
Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Store in refrigerator for several hours before serving.

Quinoa, Chickpea and Spinach Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing

Hope you're not sick of salads yet, 'cause here's another one. Out of this month's Bon Appetit, comes a recipe for Quinoa, Chickpea and Spinach Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing. While I flipped right past it, a tip about salad dressings from my brother-in-law (thanks Kelly) made me go back for a second look.

With a delicious combination of flavors and plenty of ingredients, this is a great main course salad. The mint, feta cheese and smoked paprika dressing is what makes it especially good. Perfect for summertime meals, bbqs, picnics and potlucks. And since you can prepare most of the salad while the quinoa is cooking, it’s simple to make with minimal cooking or fuss.



Before making the salad, I read through all the reviews of it on Epicurious. The salad itself is highly rated but about one-third of the reviews mention how disappointing and overpowering the dressing is. I had no problems. Follow these two tips and I promise the whole recipe, dressing included, will turn out perfectly.

Use a good quality sherry vinegar and smoked or Hungarian paprika. And second, whisk the paprika and sherry together and slowly add your extra virgin olive oil. You may want to add just a drop of honey to help the emulsification along. The trick is to blend all the ingredients together well. Whisk for a minute or two until you have a well blended and emulsified dressing and you be very happy with the results.


Quinoa, Chickpea and Spinach Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing
(Bon Appetit, July 2010)
I halved the ingredients and it still made plenty, serves 4-5

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, uncooked
2 cups (packed) baby spinach leaves
1 15- to 16-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed, drained
1 cup cucumber, cubed
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese, divided
2 tablespoons Sherry wine vinegar
1 teaspoon smoked or Hungarian paprika
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Place one cup of rinsed quinoa and two cups water in large saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until quinoa is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain. Chill until cool.

Meanwhile, combine spinach leaves, chickpeas, cubed cucumber, halved tomatoes, mint leaves, and half of feta cheese in a large bowl. Add cooled quinoa and toss gently to blend.
Whisk vinegar and smoked paprika in small bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. You may want to add just a drop of honey into the dressing to help thicken. Season dressing with salt and pepper.

Pour dressing over salad and stir with a large spoon to mix all the ingredients and dressing together. Season with pepper to taste and sprinkle remaining feta.

Salad Days of Summer

I've been eating a lot of salads over the past two weeks and I'm sure I'm not alone. They're the perfect summer meal. The secret is to have enough ingredients on hand to keep them interesting and to rotate the dressings. Right now, my favorite salad fixings are new potatoes, beets, avocado, hard-boiled eggs, red and yellow tomatoes, radishes, cucumber, green beans, asparagus, capers, salami and cheese. These ingredients make superb variations of the classic salade nicoise.


After the first five days or so, I mused to my boyfriend that perhaps I should make something else for dinner... but he said he didn't need to eat something different every night. Well that's all I needed to hear and now it's been all salads all the time. Woo hoo!

Start by placing some salad greens on one corner of the plate, top with some sliced beets, cucumber or avocado and then start adding a few of the ingredients onto the rest of the plate, fanning out around the greens. Try out some of my favorite dressings like yogurt garlic, southwestern with asiago, or this recipe for maple chipotle drizzled over your favorite salad. I’d love to hear what your favorite dressings are too so drop me a comment.


Yogurt Garlic Dressing
Inspired by Jamie Oliver's Yogurt Dressing: GOOP

Ingredients
1/3 cup of natural yogurt
2 tablespoons white or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
sea salt and black pepper

Directions
Put yogurt, white or red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil into a jam jar with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Put the lid on the jar and shake well.



Southwestern Dressing with Asiago (serves 2)
Inspired by Rebar Modern Cooking's Southwest Caesar Dressing
This recipe makes enough dressing for two, if you have a family double the recipe.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon capers
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, pureed
1 tablespoon finely grated asiago cheese
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Directions
Combine all the ingredients into a jam jar with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Put the lid on the jar and shake well.

Garden Fresh: Tomato, Basil and Bocconcini Salad

Here in Victoria, it hasn't been the warmest spring in recent years... but it is spring and the warm summer days are getting closer every day! And with the warmth of summer comes a bounty of seasonal vegetables such as fresh, ripe tomatoes and fragrant basil leaves.

This recipe for tomato, basil and bocconcini salad is a authentic Italian dish. Simple, fresh and rustic. Bocconcini in Italian means "small mouthfuls" and if you haven't tried this kind of cheese yet, I encourage to give this salad a try. Delicioso! Bocconcini is a fresh mozzarella-style cheese and you can find it in grocery stores or specialty shops in plastic tubs somewhere around the cheese section.



Tomato, Basil and Bocconcini Salad
This is a rustic salad that loosely combines a few simple ingredients. Give your intuition a chance with the quantities of each ingredient. This salad can be made as a simple lunch for one or as a starter salad for a large dinner party.

Ingredients
salad greens
a mix of yellow and red cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
medium sized fresh bocconcini mozzarella cheese
handful of torn fresh basil leaves
Balsamic vinegar
good quality olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions
On a large platter, arrange the washed salad greens. Add halved or quartered cherry tomatoes, the mix of yellow and red will add both flavour and lots of colour.

Slice the bocconcini mozzarella balls into half inch thick slices and place evenly on top of the tomatoes.

Sprinkle torn basil leaves over the salad. Add salt and pepper over the vegetables. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and good quality olive oil last.

Sit out in the sun and enjoy!

Healthy alert: Broccoli and Roasted Red Pepper Salad

I love spending Sunday afternoons cooking. Whether it's a hearty mushroom soup or a healthy grain salad like last week, it's a relaxing way to spend the day and enjoy being at home. I often make a meal of a vegetable salad garnished with some bread, smoked salmon, cheese, rice or pasta. And this is the perfect salad for exactly this. Two people can enjoy this as a light lunch or four people can have it as a tasty side dish. Whichever you choice, I promise you'll enjoy this healthy salad and be going back for seconds.



Broccoli and Roasted Red Pepper Salad (serves 2-4)
Adapted from Deborah Madison

Ingredients
1 large head of broccoli
2 red peppers, roasted
1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 clove of garlic
1 shallot, diced
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
4 to 6 tablespoons olive oil
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup Kalmata olives, pitted and quartered
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
In a small bowl, mix together the garlic, shallot, both vinegars, salt and pepper to taste. Let stand for 15 minutes, then mix in the oil, diced tomatoes and olives. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary. Set aside.

Meanwhile, slice each pepper in half and clean out the insides. Place onto a baking tray cut side down and roast them in a hot oven under the broiler for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the skins are charred and blackened.

Once they have reached this point, take them out of the oven and place each half into a brown paper bag or something (pot, bowl) that you can place a lid on. Once the peppers have cooled and the skins have loosen, peel away the charred peel and slice into small cubes.

Chop up the broccoli into bite-size florets. Peel and dice the stems. Blanch both the stems and the florets together in boiling salted water for two minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water.

In a large bowl, add the broccoli, chopped red peppers, parsley, crumbled feta cheese and the tomato vinaigrette. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Enjoy.

How to Make Salads Delicious: Maple Chipotle Dressing

We're nearing the end of January and can you still remember what you're resolution was this year? Perhaps it was to eat out less and make more home cooked meals. Or, maybe it was to take a little more time in the mornings for breakfast, to pack lunches more often, or just to try to eat more salads.


My resolution this year was something completely unrelated food. I'm trying to wear more colours this year outside of my usual shades of grey and black. The change experts say that the fastest and easiest way to form a new habit is to do it daily for 21 to 30 days. So in celebration of the end of the first month of the new year, I thought I'd share one of my favorite recipes for salad dressing. Were you expecting something more exciting?

This recipe is adapted from Chef Heidi Fink. Heidi teaches lots of cooking classes in Victoria and if you live here and haven't taken one yet- you really should. Check out the latest schedule on her website.

You can find chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the Mexican section of any good grocery shop. I puree the whole can first and then use it. It keeps in the fridge for a few weeks if you store it in a clean jar.

Maple Chipotle Vinaigrette (makes about 1 cup)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle in adobo sauce
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Whisk all ingredients except the olive oil in a medium bowl. While whisking, slowly pour the oil into the other ingredients until the dressing thickens and emulsifies.

Macaroni Salad

A few months ago, I had the good fortune of dining at the Montage in Portland Oregon. If you ever find yourself in Portland, you must seek out this restaurant. It's an amazing little restaurant that specializes in Louisiana dishes- and after only one meal, this amazing little restaurant has left me with an almost a daily craving for macaroni. I had the Spold Mac, which is a combination of creamy, old style macaroni and spicy, Louisiana style. And, now that I know that there's a partial list of ingredients on their website, I'm going to perfect this dish.



In the meantime, I tried Simply Recipes Mom's Macaroni Salad. It's good and by adding a few additional ingredients, I ramped it up with another dimension of flavour. It's a great summer side dish or light lunch with leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. It's also a great potluck dish.


Macaroni Salad (serves 4-6)
This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled, making it perfect for summer potlucks.

Ingredients
2 cups (about 1/2 lb) dry macaroni pasta
salt
1 hard boiled egg, chopped
1 roasted red bell pepper*, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 bunch green onion, finely chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar
1 teaspoon chipolte pepper, pureed
A generous amount of mayonnaise (1/3 to 1/2 cup)
Several pinches of paprika
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup smoked salmon, chopped

Directions
Cut the red pepper in half, remove the seeds and stem and place cut side down under the broil until blackened. Remove from oven, and place in a pot with a lid for 5 minutes. Once it's cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and dice.

Cook macaroni, as directed on its package, in big pot of salted water. Once done, remove from heat, drain and rinse with cool water until room temperature.

While macaroni is cooking, put chopped green and red onions into a medium bowl and sprinkle the lemon juice or vinegar over them. This will take the edge off the onions. Add red pepper, chipotle pepper, paprika, smoked salmon, mayonnaise, macaroni and black pepper. Stir to combine and and adjust seasoning.

RELATED RECIPES----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Classic Red Potato Salad
Need I say more? This is a classic potato salad, perfect for potlucks.

Bacon Chipotle Potato Salad
A delicious twist on a backyard bbq classic. Potato salad with crispy back bacon and pureed chipotle peppers.

Give Fava Beans a Chance

With a cup of coffee in hand, I did some searching this morning for a new recipe to try out for dinner. I went through the list of all my favorite food sites and read through the latest postings. It's been such a busy time at work, I honestly don't remember what I made for dinner this week for Jeremy and myself. I do remember going out for sushi not once, but twice.

The recipe that caught my eye the most is Simply Recipe's Spring Fava Bean Fennel Salad. I tend to use a lot of chickpeas in salads, but fava beans or broad green beans are nice alternative because of its robust flavour. And they are highly nutritious- full of phosphorous, vitamin A and C and a good source of dietary protein.



While this is a new recipe, it is similar to another one of my favorites- Tarragon Green and Butter Beans. It's funny what creatures of habit most of us are, including myself. I know what I like and I stick to it. And while fava beans aren't high on most people's lists, I enjoy them. So, I encourage you to try something a little different, and give fava beans a chance. This is good side salad for dinner, and any leftovers there may be will make a great little lunch or afternoon snack.

Tip!
Parmesan cheese adds a great flavour kick to this salad. Try using a vegetable peeler to add thin shavings of cheese into the salad and to garish the top.


Spring Fava Bean Fennel Salad (serves 4)
adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients
1 can (14 oz or 398 ml) of fava beans (also called broad beans)
1 small bulb fennel, thinly sliced
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, thinly sliced
10 fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced
2 green onions, diced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
pepper to taste

Directions
Drain and rinse the fava beans. Add thinly sliced fennel, green onion, lemon juice and mint.

Drizzle extra virgin olive oil and add Parmesan cheese and fresh black pepper. Mix together.

Garnish with fennel fronds and/or mint sprigs.

I enjoed this salad with lemon and thyme chicken kabobs and couscous.

Sugar Snap Peas

A few weeks ago I planted a row of sugar snap peas in the garden, and what a treat! A few weeks of watering and sun and voila, I've got pea pods. Anyone who has ever had a vegetable garden or even a pot of chives growing in the window sill knows what I'm talking about. Now if only I can restrain myself from picking one or two off a day and munching on them right there on-the-spot, then I may soon have enough for a salad.



One of the finer points of growing your own vegetables is choosing the perfect recipe to highlight your home grown delicacies. Snap peas are best eaten raw or briefly cooked (really just for one minute), such as in stir-fries or quick sautes.

Martha Stewart has a classic yet simple recipe for sugar snap peas with mint dressing and Canadian Living has a fresh recipe for steamed fingerling potatoes and sugar snap peas with mint. The New York Times has a terrific sounding recipe for sugar snap pea salad with radishes, mint and ricotta salata.

Here are two recipes that I'm going to try just as soon as I have enough snap peas hanging from the vines:

Sugar Snap Pea and Radish Salad (serves 4)
Source: Martha Stewart Living, April 2008

Ingredients
1 pound sugar snap peas, ends trimmed, and halved crosswise if desired
4 radishes, sliced paper-thin
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions
Place sugar snap peas, radishes, lemon zest, lemon juice, and oil in a serving bowl. Toss well. Season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

Lemon-Mint Snap Peas & Lima Beans (serves 4-6)
Source: EatWell

Ingredients
1 small shallot, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed
10 ounces frozen baby lima beans, thawed

Directions
Whisk shallot, oil, lemon juice, mint, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

Bring 2 inches of water to a boil in a medium saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Steam snap peas and lima beans until the snap peas are tender-crisp and the lima beans are heated through, 5 to 7 minutes. Toss with the vinaigrette.

How to make potato salad

Finally it's summer. It's time to clean off the barbeque, bring out the patio chairs and put your feet up. And it's time for some killer potato salad. Okay, so you're going to have to put your feet back down but just for a short while.

I've made potato salad many times and my standard recipe is good. But Kitchen Addiction's recipe for Bacon Chipotle Potato Salad is the best. The best! It's a killer potato salad. And the reason as you can probably guess is the addition of crispy back bacon and pureed chipotle peppers.



Potato Salad is such a classic summer dish because it's good cold. So you can boil the potatoes and eggs early in the day when it's a little cooler, chop up all the ingredients, mix it all together and leave it in the fridge to enjoy later in the day. It's another one of those dishes where you can add extra vegetables depending what you have on hand. Why not try adding some diced red pepper or tomatoes? Cucumbers or radishes?


Bacon Chipotle Potato Salad (serves 6)

Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs. red potatoes
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup medium sliced back bacon, cooked, drained, chopped and chilled
1/2 cup mayonnaise (or more to taste)
1 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/4 tablespoons chipotle purée (place contents of canned chipotles with adobo sauce in blender or food processor; purée)
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
2 boiled eggs, roughly chopped
1/3 cup chopped dill pickles
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Gently boil cubed, unpeeled potatoes in water for 20 minutes, depending on size, until a knife or fork will just go through to the center. Set aside and cool for 5 minutes. Place in a bowl and drizzle with the white wine vinegar. Chill in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.

Combine all the remaining ingredients together and then mix into potatoes. Taste for salt and spice. Add more salt if needed and more chipotle purée if desired. Serve or chill and serve!


RELATED RECIPES-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Classic Red Potato Salad
Need I say more? This is a classic potato salad, perfect for potlucks or barbeques.

Macaroni Salad
Macaroni pasta salad with red bell peppers and smoked salmon. This is a great dish to make for potlucks, or summertime lunch or dinner.

Quick Noodle Salad with Tofu and Vegetables

Summer is nearly here, and with summer comes the season of light dinners. Salade nicoise, pasta salads, potato salads, soba noodles and pad Thai. Salads that are more then leafy greens but still light on the stomach for a warm summer's night.

While my knee-jerk reaction to a request for a light meal usually has me running for Rebar's soba noodle salad recipe, I decided to click around to see what else is out there. And I'm glad I did.




Whole Foods Market's recipe for quick noodle salad with tofu and vegetables caught my eye (and not just because the word "quick" is in the title). The reason is because it calls for pad Thai-style rice noodles. The recipe would work great with soba noodles, and while using soba noodles are my inclination, I decided to try it out with rice noodles. After all, there's nothing wrong with sticking to a recipe.

I also came across Orangette's great looking recipe for Soba with Peanut-Citrus Sauce. So with winning results, I used Whole Foods recipe for the salad and Orangette's recipe for peanut-citrus dressing.

Quick Noodle Salad with Tofu and Vegetables (serves 4)
(adapted from Whole Foods Market)

Ingredients
1/2 package of pad Thai-style rice noodles or whole wheat linguine or soba noodles
1 cup bean sprouts
1 bunch of green onions, thinly chopped on a diagonal
1 (8-ounce) package of tofu, cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 carrots, grated
1/4 - 1/2 cup of your favorite peanut sauce or Asian salad dressing
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

Directions
Using a kettle, bring a pot full of water to boil. Put half the package of pad Thai-style rice noodles in a bowl and pour the boiling water over the noodles to cover. Let the noodles sit for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain in a colander and drizzle a little sesame oil over the noodles to keep them from sticking. Set aside.

Meanwhile, cube the tofu and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Again, drizzle with sesame oil and bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes or until golden and crispy.

To the rice noodles, add green onions, tofu, carrots and dressing and toss to coat. Just before serving, add the bean sprouts, cilantro and roasted peanuts. Enjoy!

Orangette's peanut-citrus sauce
½ cup well-stirred natural peanut butter, such as Adams 100% Natural Creamy
1 ½ tsp. soy sauce
¼ tsp. pressed garlic (about 1 small clove)
½ cup fresh lime juice
½ tsp. sriracha or a similar hot sauce, or more to taste
½ tsp. chili garlic sauce or sambal oelek, or more to taste
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. water

Bulgur Salad with Kale, Salami and Olives

We don't have a Whole Foods Market in Victoria but I still love the store. I have one of their green bags that I use at our local grocery stores. It makes me feel like I could be grocery shopping in Vancouver or Portland or just somewhere else.

The other thing I like about Whole Foods is the recipe section of its' website. It has tons of great tasing and healthy recipes. The website is nicely layed out and is easy to browse. I recently made the Bulgur Salad with Kale, Salami and Olives and was deliciously pleasing results.




It's one of the top rated recipes and for good reasons. It's a great side dish to make for dinner or you can enjoy it on its own for lunch. It's a good potluck dish since it can feed a crowd and tastes good served warm or cold. Also, it will make a terrific picnic addition once we get a little closer to summer.


Bulgur Salad with Kale, Salami and Olives (serves 4 to 6)
Choose your favorite salami for this dish, if you're looking for recommendations, mine is hungarian.

Ingredients
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups medium-grind bulgur wheat
6 cups (about 1/4 pound) roughly chopped kale
1/4 pound thinly sliced salami, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped pitted olives
2 to 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste



Directions
Bring broth to a boil in a large pot. Stir in bulgur then cover and simmer until just tender, about 10 minutes. Uncover, scatter kale over the top, cover and cook until wilted and tender, 4 to 5 minutes more. Set aside off of the heat, covered, for 5 minutes then uncover and fluff with a fork.

Transfer bulghur and kale to a large bowl, add salami, parsley, olives, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper and toss gently to combine. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Delicious Yogurt and Feta Dressing

I've been hooked on yogurt feta dressing all week, just haven't been able to get enough. There's just something about its fresh, creamy flavour with a little punch of tang. I've been making cucumber and tomato salads topped with green onions or mint or sunflower sprouts. The great thing about this salad is that it's a nice change from all those lettuce salads we got enough of during the summer.

Give this dressing a try- I'm sure you'll love it too. It's simple, tasty and the secret lays in using equal parts yogurt and feta cheese.


Cucumber and Sunflower Sprout Salad

Ingredients
1 cucumber
2 ripe tomatoes
handful of sunflower sprouts or green onions
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
3 tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
black pepper

Directions
Make the dressing first. Blend yogurt, feta, lemon juice, garlic and pepper together with a whisk and set aside.

For the salad, slice the cucumber, chop the tomatoes and thinly slice the green onions or wash the roughly chop the sprouts. Dip the cucumbers in the yogurt feta dressing to coat.

Place the cucumbers on a plate or serving dish and top with the remaining ingredients. Drizzle a little more dressing or feta cheese and top with cracked black pepper. Enjoy!

If your looking for a heartier salad to make with this dressing, check out this raw vegetable salad with yogurt-feta dressing from Jeannette Ordas at Everybody Likes Sandwiches. It looks like a great salad to pack for lunch.

Chickpea spinach salad

Stop me if I'm repeating myself, chickpeas (especially those of the canned variety) are just too easy NOT to use. They are healthy, hearty and go very well in salads.

I came across this recipe for chickpea spinach salad with cumin vinaigrette and orange yogurt sauce on Well Fed and just had to try it. Very tasty, I will definitely make this one again. True to all other chickpea salads, this is easy to make. All you need to do is open the can and drain, there's no peeling, chopping, dicing or cooking. What's not to love.

The only thing I did differently then Well Fed's version is instead of using the spinach as a bed of greens to build the salad on, I chopped the spinach and mixed it right into the salad along with the rest of the ingredients.


Chickpea spinach salad with cumin vinaigrette and orange yogurt
Serves 2

Ingredients
(For the salad)
28 ounce (796 ml) can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 cup chopped spinach
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, chopped

(For the cumin vinaigrette)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

(For the orange yogurt sauce)
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon honey

Directions
Combine chickpeas, parsley, red onion, spinach and mint. Prepare the cumin vinaigrette and orange yogurt and add to salad just before serving. Top with a dollop of the orange sauce. And, most importantly, enjoy.

Mexican Chickpea Salad

Chickpeas make for terrific salads, especially for vegetarians or for people who don't eat a lot of red meat. They're high in protein, fiber and minerals such as iron. And, using canned chickpeas over dried chickpeas makes using them just too easy. I've read that chickpeas, unlike most other canned items, do not lose any nutrients when canned. Just be sure to give them a good rinse.

This recipe for Mexican Chickpea Salad is one of my favorites. If you ever feel a little tired or overworked, just make this salad and enjoy it while sitting out in the sun- it tastes like a Mexican get-away.

The secret to this recipe is lime juice and chipotle chiles. And, to help you along, here's a trick I learned from Chef Heidi Fink. Open a can of chipotle chiles and transfer the entire contents into a food processor. Pulse a few times to blend and then using a sterile spoon, transfer into a sterile canning jar. You can store the minced chiptles in your fridge for 3-4 weeks. This way, you have easy to use chipotle chiles on hand for sauces, salad dressings, or soups.

Mexican Chickpea Salad (serves 4)

Ingredients
1.5 tablespoons minced chipotle chiles in adobo
1 jalapeno, minced
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 plum tomatoes, diced
28 ounce (796 ml) can of chickpeas
generous drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper

Directions
Rinse and drain chickpeas into a large bowl.

Add finely chopped red onion, minced garlic, jalapeno, chipotle chile, diced tomatoes, chopped cilantro and olive oil. Add salt and pepper and lime juice. Stir all together and give a good taste.

Adjust seasonings to taste. Enjoy!

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Summer is finally here, and it's time for pasta salads galore. I've really taken to salads lately, and I just love the heartier varieties- chickpea salads, potato salads, soba noodle salads and pasta salads. They are good potluck staples because they feed a crowd and are cheap to make. I also like salads because any leftovers make for a great lunch the following day.

Pasta salads are easy and flexible to make in that you can use ingredients depending on your preferences or already have on hand. Personally, I will always substitute out red peppers because my beau Jeremy just can't stand them. Some common ingredients include beans, cheeses, nuts, herbs, chicken, broccoli, carrots, baby corn, cucumbers, olives, onions, chick peas, peppers, and tomatoes.



This is one of my favorite recipes, thanks to a little inspiration from the bag of baby spinach in my fridge. Another one of my favorites is orzo, green bean and fennel salad with basil pesto. If you have a favorite pasta salad recipe, leave me a comment because I'd love to hear about it.




Mediterranean Pasta Salad (serves 4-6)

Ingredients
1 can corn
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups spinach
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1.5 cups pasta (penne, bowtie or fusilli)
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds or pine nuts, toasted
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add salt and pasta and cook until tender. Drain.

In the meantime, spread the corn kernels on a baking sheet and dry-roast in a 250 degree oven, for about 20 minutes.

Add drained pasta to a large bowl and add spinach, tomatoes, garlic, corn, toasted pumpkin seeds or pine nuts, feta cheese. Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Enjoy.

Couscous Salad

Turns out that all day when I thought I was thinking about making tabouli, I was actually thinking about a less traditional salad using couscous. Tabouli is a Middle Eastern salad made with bulgur. I prefer using couscous as a grain because of its lighter texture.

My sister Lorelei came over for dinner and we did all the dinner preparations together. I diced ripe cherry tomatoes while she peeled, seeded and diced the cucumber. In the salad, we used organic Italian parsley which added a nice flavour. Sorry curly parsley, you're been replaced.

The difference between flat-leaf (Italian) and curly parsley
Parsley has four main flavor compounds- “fresh” flavor from the compound phellandrene, a “woody” flavor from myristicin, a “warm, sweet” flavor from myrcene, and a “distinctive” flavor from menthatriene.

Flat-leaf or Italian parsleyFlat-leaf, or Italian, parsley has a strong, fresh, "green" flavor that’s generally preferred in cooking and salads that are intended to have a strong parsley flavour such as tabouli.

Curley Parsley This variety of parsley is considered more decorative and has a nice texture for salads. It has a woody and mild flavour when young, and develops its major parsley flavor when it grows. Additionally, curly parsley is good for frying such as in a tomato sauce.

Couscous tabouli salad (serves 4)

Couscous
1 cup couscous
1 1/4 cups boiling water

Cover couscous with boiling water and cover for 10 minutes. Flake with a fork before using.

Ingredients
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped finely
couscous (from above)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper

Directions

All the above ingredients into the couscous and stir to combine. Add more olive oil, lemon juice, salt or pepper to taste. Mix, chill and enjoy.

Optional

This salad also tastes very good with a little feta cheese crumbled on top.

We also made crusty salmon cakes. Hopefully my sister now has a grasp on just how easy they are to make, especially when you have tins of your Dad's canned salmon in the pantry.

Classic Red Potato Salad

If you're looking for the classic, summertime potato salad recipe look no further. This is the recipe for you- red potatoes, chopped celery, dill, hard-boiled eggs, Gherkin pickles and mayonnaise.

I came across this recipe by flipping through an old issue of Bon Appetit (June 2004) and I have to say, it just cracks me up that Roseanne Cash is claiming ownership of this classic recipe. Seriously. I think this version has been around for a while.

Try this recipe and picture your own name in place of Roseanne Cash's, it will make you love this salad even more.

Roseanne Cash’s Potato Salad (serves 8)
Adapted from Bon Appétit, June 2004

Ingredients
3 pounds medium red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed
8 dill pickle spears or a handful of cornichon, coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 celery stalks, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 small red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled, chopped
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
Salt and pepper

Directions
Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain; cool.

Cut potatoes into 1-inch pieces and transfer to large bowl. Stir in pickles, celery, onion, eggs, mayonnaise, mustard vinegar and dill. Season potato salad to taste with salt and pepper.

Cover and refrigerate before serving.

RELATED RECIPES--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bacon Chipotle Potato Salad
A delicious, southern-style potato salad kicked up with the addition of crispy back bacon and pureed chipotle peppers.

Macaroni Salad
Macaroni pasta salad with red bell peppers and smoked salmon. This is a great dish to make for potlucks, or summertime lunch or dinner.