What the heck do you put in a salad?

bethsmiles

This is my stupid question of the day. I want to eat more salads but mine are just so uninspired and boring. What do you all put in your salads?

[Deleted User]

Delete sorry will repost info without my ID later!

Swazzle

My favorite is a taco-type salad. Shredded chicken (cooked it in the crockpot with salsa verde or regular salsa), beans, corn, shredded cheese, olives, guac, more salsa (as a dressing), over romaine. Mmmm I am drooling. 

My mom makes a kick ass spinach salad and she adds craisins, walnuts, goat cheese, and serves with raspberry or balsamic vinaigrette. 

bethsmiles

Those all look really good! I've never put fruit in salad because it seems like it would be weird (like the texture would be off or something) but I feel like I should probably try it.

AlPacina

The first thing that got me started eating salads was buying one of these:

http://www.oxo.com/p-543-chefs-mandoline-slicer.aspx

So I just keep a bunch of random veggies on hand and use the slicer to slice off whatever portions I want at whatever thickness. My typical salad involves kale and spinach (we grow it), extremely thin sliced red onion, sliced green bell pepper, sliced cucumber, sliced carrot, cubed avocado, sunflower seeds, and a little of whatever cheese we have on hand.

Most of the time we BBQ some chicken, cube that up, throw it on top, then make a dressing by mixing ranch and the BBQ sauce.

bethsmiles

@AlPacina - I think my mom bought me one of those for Christmas. I should probably figure out where I put it and actually use it!

speakeasy14

I always add fresh fruit and sunflower seeds to my salads. 

labro

I've done - cold grilled salmon in a spinach or mixed green salad with poppyseed dressing along with my typical salad additions. My normal salad add ins include - slivered almonds, craisins, goat cheese or bleu cheese and either balsamic vinaigrette or poppyseed dressing. Sometimes I also add canned mandarin slices and avocado slices.

[Deleted User]

I second what @Swazzle says about a taco salad with all the fixings like shredded chicken or steak...maybe even shrimp, black beans, corn, tomatoes, cheese, avocado, sour cream, salsa. Yum....

I also LOVE a BBQ chicken salad so put some BBQ chicken slices in there with some corn, BBQ sauce, cheese, tomatoes, chips, yum!

Dignity100

I visit the salad bar every day at work it seems.  My salad is:
Greens - mix of romaine and spinach
carrots
black beans
chick peas
soy beans/corn (they usually only have one or the other)
bell pepper (green and red)
onion
sunflower seeds
hard boiled egg (half)
mozzarella cheese

dressing of my choice (my work has a low cal cilantro lime vinaigrette that is amazing - usually I get that)

The strawberry fields salad that Wendy's does is really good too (I get it without the blue cheese though).

Peaseblossom55

A lot of what people already mentioned.  I've been on a pretty big salad kick lately. So cheese, beans usually black bean or chick peas, sunflower seeds, carrots, spinach, cucumbers and grape tomatoes.

I also like fruit, I've done strawberries, blueberries, craisins, and dried apricot, not all at the same time. 

jenjen047

i second @alpacina on the mandoline. they are wonderful.

im super picky about my lettuce so i use only iceburg or romaine, then add carrots, red onion, cucumber, red peppers and maybe some corn and black beans. shredded chicken is wonderful. and sunflower seeds. now im drooling.....

bethsmiles

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm going to have to go to the grocery store tonight so I can try out some of these ideas. I really do need to be less picky with the food I eat

eilis1228

Mmm salads. They can be so good or so bad. Some things I like to put on salads:

- Morningstar patties. I'll cut them up into smaller bits and sprinkle on the salad... I did this a lot when I still had an aversion to quite a few vegetables.

-Peppers. So yummy, so sweet, and so colorful!

-Peanuts... broken up into smaller pieces, of course. But basically any unsalted nut is good. Lots of protein!

-Fancy vinaigrettes... cranberry or raspberry is especially delicious.

-Shredded carrots

-Cucumbers. So fresh and they add a nice crunch

 

[Deleted User]

Mmmmm...salad.  I love salad.

Like @jenjen047, I'm picky about my greens, so I usually use kale, red-leaf lettuce or spinach, and cabbage.  My favorite add-ins are broccoli, cauliflower, red pepper, onion, and carrots.  I'll add in chicken (I buy the pre-cooked strips and heat them up) or salmon for protein.  For dressing, I'm currently loving the Newman's Own Sesame Ginger dressing.

Dole makes some salad kits that are really good--they might be a good option for you to try out different things and figure out if you like them, then you could extend that and experiment and make your own.

Swazzle

Oh! I forgot about kale! There's a massaged kale salad recipe on Skinnytaste that is my favorite EVER. 

You massage the kale with oil to soften the leaves, add lemon juice and salt, and toss with parmesan. Add chicken for protein! I was eating this salad 4+ times a week.

bethsmiles

@eilis1228 - I love Morningstar patties, putting it on a salad is a brilliant idea!

bethsmiles

I don't know if I've ever tried kale. BF's mom makes baked kale that smells gross but non-baked kale is probably better  I tried arugula once. I was so excited about it because I'd heard such good thing. The whole salad just went in the trash because it was just gross.

minskat30

This LINK (GOAT CHEESE!!! num, num, num) plus added strawberries, tangerines, maybe almonds and chicken.  Makes me hungry just thinking about it.  

bethsmiles

minskat30 said:

This LINK (GOAT CHEESE!!! num, num, num) plus added strawberries, tangerines, maybe almonds and chicken.  Makes me hungry just thinking about it.  

That look delicious. This thread has made me hungry! Why is lunch so far away?

eilis1228

@bethsmiles My trainer was the one who suggested it a few years ago. She kept telling me I needed to increase my veggie intake, and I was like, "Veggies are gross... ewwww..." and she was like, "Dude, just eat salads with Morningstar patties." SO GOOD!

Hummingbird125

@Bethsmiles - This is a chopped non-lettuce salad that I basically copied from Yard House, and I make it regularly, everything is chopped into small pieces:

Celery

Cucumbers 

Tomatoes

Avocado

Corn (I make corn on the cob and cut it off)

Crumbled bacon

I usually toss that with a raspberry viniagrette. SO GOOD.

phira

I used to only eat garden salad (spring mix + tomatoes, carrot, cucumber, and maybe red onion) with Italian or some kind of vinaigrette. These days, I've definitely started falling in love with fruit in my salad. My favorite thing to add would have to be strawberries (that + spring mix + parmesan + balsamic = yesssss), but I also like apple or pear or even blueberries.

I'm surprised that it took me so long to come around to adding fruit to salad. I think I expected the sweetness of fruit to somehow be the "wrong" kind of sweetness to add to salad, but it goes very well with the tanginess of any dressing I add.

I do not like adding crunchy or chewy stuff to my salad, for some reason, so I don't like adding anything like raisins or pecans.

jenna8984

Hey!! I have been lurking for a few weeks after some shit went down, but I'm bored of lurking so I decided to come back

Anyways @bethsmiles be careful with your mandoline if you do find it. Many of us have sliced our fingers with it so I only use it now while wearing oven mitts.

I absolutely love making some bite size strips of steak in the skillet the night before. Let them cool, then put them over a cesaer salad with croutons and shredded parm and creamy dressing. The steak tastes awesome cold.

bethsmiles

@jenna8984- Thanks for the heads up about the mandolin! I'm very prone to injuring myself in the kitchen!

Swazzle

jenna8984 said:

Hey!! I have been lurking for a few weeks after some shit went down, but I'm bored of lurking so I decided to come back

Anyways @bethsmiles be careful with your mandoline if you do find it. Many of us have sliced our fingers with it so I only use it now while wearing oven mitts.

I absolutely love making some bite size strips of steak in the skillet the night before. Let them cool, then put them over a cesaer salad with croutons and shredded parm and creamy dressing. The steak tastes awesome cold.

Nosey people (me) want to know what went down?

AlPacina

Swazzle said:

jenna8984 said:

Hey!! I have been lurking for a few weeks after some shit went down, but I'm bored of lurking so I decided to come back

Anyways @bethsmiles be careful with your mandoline if you do find it. Many of us have sliced our fingers with it so I only use it now while wearing oven mitts.

I absolutely love making some bite size strips of steak in the skillet the night before. Let them cool, then put them over a cesaer salad with croutons and shredded parm and creamy dressing. The steak tastes awesome cold.

Nosey people (me) want to know what went down?

@swazzle - Dude..... Even I know this, haha.

From what I saw, at least.......... MODs pissed off a ton of people by sending out warnings, deleting "offensive posts", and banning regulars...... But weren't consistent. Not even close to consistent. And then people asked questions about why they were regulating certain things but not others and got more vague answers. And then everyone started getting everyone else super amped up and angry and sarcastic as fuck. And then a ton of people left. Or it at least got a lot slower on Chit Chat, from what I noticed. 

@jenna8984 & @bethsmiles - I've cut myself with regular knives about a bazillion times, but have yet to cut myself on the mandoline slicer. If it doesn't come with one, order the little food holder. It has spikes that you dig into the veggie/fruit, so you're not even holding it while you slice it. You hold the handy plastic thingy-majig instead!

I think I have this one:LINK

jenna8984

@swazzle I'll PM you! It was more than that!

AlPacina

jenna8984 said:

@swazzle I'll PM you! It was more than that!

Why not share?

MobKaz

I have a few "go to" variations.  I like fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, and black olives on spinach.  I also love to cut up a thick slab of rare roast beef, and add avocado, thin strawberries, and sunflower seeds on mixed greens.  I also love a good basic Cobb with egg, cucumber, red onion, and shredded carrot.

Our Portillo's makes a delicious fruited salad with pineapple, mandarin orange, strawberry, and blueberry, and tosses some grilled chicken into it.  I think it also has pecans or walnuts.  Love it!

bethsmiles

AlPacina said:

jenna8984 said:

@swazzle I'll PM you! It was more than that!

Why not share?