Warming Up Your Salad
Ever want a good salad in the middle of the winter when all the ingredients are about double what they cost in the summertime?
Ever try a salad in the dead of a Minnesota winter and become more cold than you were before the salad?
I love salad. Any kind of salad. I love the crunch, the flavors and the colors of salad. So I have been trying to figure out how to warm up my salads so they can be modified for the winter. Granted I am in North Carolina now, so it isn't quite as cold, but today when it was 26 degrees and I was craving a salad, soup sounded much better!
One salad which is easy to continue through the winter is taco salad. In the wintertime I add warm black beans and sauteed onions to my ground turkey taco meat (or shredded chicken depending). Another trick that I find warms up a salad is using room temperature spinach leaves mixed with romaine or iceberg lettuce. By adding warm beans (black beans to taco salad, pinto beans to a dinner salad, or even navy beans to any salad) you can warm up the salad by adding protein to your meal.
One of my favorites is spinach leaves with strawberries, feta cheese and walnuts or almonds. I usually add a oil/vinegar mix for the dressing. Instead, I bought frozen strawberries, warmed them up and added some vinegar (I like a bite to my dressing) and added a little salt. I layered the salad - spinach leaves, feta cheese crumbles, few fresh strawberries, walnuts. Then I poured my homemade warm strawberry mixture on top and added a few more walnuts. It was so good!
Another salad I have added warm beans is the lettuce wedge salad. Typically this is a wedge of ice berg lettuce, tomatoes, ranch dressing and bacon bits. I took my wedge of ice berg lettuce and added the tomatoes. Then I added some fat free cheddar cheese, and poured some warm navy beans over the top. I took 1 tablespoon of fat free ranch dressing and drizzled it over the wedge. It was delicious!
You never know what you will have until you try it! And believe me, some thing haven't turned out. But some have and I get to have salad all year round!
Ever try a salad in the dead of a Minnesota winter and become more cold than you were before the salad?
I love salad. Any kind of salad. I love the crunch, the flavors and the colors of salad. So I have been trying to figure out how to warm up my salads so they can be modified for the winter. Granted I am in North Carolina now, so it isn't quite as cold, but today when it was 26 degrees and I was craving a salad, soup sounded much better!One salad which is easy to continue through the winter is taco salad. In the wintertime I add warm black beans and sauteed onions to my ground turkey taco meat (or shredded chicken depending). Another trick that I find warms up a salad is using room temperature spinach leaves mixed with romaine or iceberg lettuce. By adding warm beans (black beans to taco salad, pinto beans to a dinner salad, or even navy beans to any salad) you can warm up the salad by adding protein to your meal.
One of my favorites is spinach leaves with strawberries, feta cheese and walnuts or almonds. I usually add a oil/vinegar mix for the dressing. Instead, I bought frozen strawberries, warmed them up and added some vinegar (I like a bite to my dressing) and added a little salt. I layered the salad - spinach leaves, feta cheese crumbles, few fresh strawberries, walnuts. Then I poured my homemade warm strawberry mixture on top and added a few more walnuts. It was so good!
Another salad I have added warm beans is the lettuce wedge salad. Typically this is a wedge of ice berg lettuce, tomatoes, ranch dressing and bacon bits. I took my wedge of ice berg lettuce and added the tomatoes. Then I added some fat free cheddar cheese, and poured some warm navy beans over the top. I took 1 tablespoon of fat free ranch dressing and drizzled it over the wedge. It was delicious!
You never know what you will have until you try it! And believe me, some thing haven't turned out. But some have and I get to have salad all year round!
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