Wow.  My days of salad are starting to blend together.   My “100 Days” will be far more than 100 by the time I get to the number 100 in the blog entries.  This is mostly a function of salad redundance.   My goal is to inspire, not bore. 

So for this salad, the two exciting elements were the use of leftover quinoa– such a great source of protein and also texture–and preserved lemons, which I used to keep the quinoa from being too monotonous or bland–a common problem with grain and pasta salads, in my opinion.  In other words, I wanted to create a “warm salad bowl” experience but maintain vibrant flavor.  The dressing was a vinaigrette that also included some finely minced preserved lemons.  If you don’t have these in your fridge, I highly recommend making them and having them on hand.  They will light up your life and fill your nights with song.  The dressing and the quinoa transformed this potentially dull lunch salad into a hearty and zesty pleasure. 

There is no recipe, but take your basic salad, toss it with quinoa, and mix preserved lemon bits into a basic vinaigrette.  Make sure there’s a generous amount of salt in the dressing as well, to offset the grain.  Voila, you have added sass and gusto to your day.

If, by any chance, you find hard-boiled eggs lying around your kitchen today, you can use them to make a delicious spinach salad.  Coincidentally, this salad tastes amazing with leftover ham.

Spinach Salad with Hard-Boiled Eggs

Ingredients:

• 1 pound baby spinach leaves
• 2 or 3 cups sliced mushrooms
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, grated
• 1/4 red onion, sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup red wine or balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup olive oil
• 3 T dijon mustard
• 3 T honey
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp dried thyme, crumbled

Directions:

1. Clean the spinach leaves, pat them dry, then chill in the refrigerator.  Toss together the mushrooms, eggs, and onions in a large bowl.  Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, make the dressing.  Mince the garlic finely and soak it in the vinegar for five minutes.
3. Add the honey, mustard, and seasonings to the vinegar, and whisk together.
4. While whisking constantly, add the olive oil to the vinegar mix in a steady stream until you have a smooth emulsion.
5. Gently toss a generous portion of the dressing with the egg, mushrooms, and onions.  Then gently toss in the spinach leaves until they are coated.  Taste to see if you like the amount of dressing, and adjust, if necessary.  If you accidentally added too much dressing for your taste, throw in some extra spinach and toss well.

Serves 8 – 10.

Making a salad at your friend’s house is a great way out of a salad-making rut.  My friend asked if I wanted to have an egg salad, because she had boiled eggs on hand.  Oh, yeah! Egg salad! What a delicious reminder.

It was great fun having permission to  go through her fridge and pick out what would go into this spring egg salad.  She was watching our cranky daughters, while I was selecting a perfect radish and a savoy cabbage leaf from her produce drawer.  Listen, if you want me to come over to your house and make you a salad out of your own stuff, just invite me over.  Please watch my kid, though, okay?  Even Steven?

Spring Egg Salad

As shown, the salad is on a bed of purple cabbage back at my house.  This salad would have been delicious on a sandwich with cucumbers and avocado.  If we had been able to stay at my friend’s house, this is what I probably would have done, but naptime is naptime, man.

Ingredients:

• 4 hard boiled eggs
• 2 stalks celery
• Small handful of chives (or onions)
• A few cornichons, with a bit of the juice from the jar
• 1 or 2 radishes
• 1 or 2 savoy cabbage leaves
• A couple T of mayonnaise
• Small spoonful of dijon mustard
• Dill, to taste
• Paprika, to taste
• Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Chop the eggs into a small dice.  Mince all the other vegetables more finely than the eggs (including the cabbage). 
2. Stir in the mayonnaise, mustard, and seasonings to taste.
3. Serve on sandwiches, crackers, or on a bed of shredded greens/cabbage.  Egg salad would also taste great with quinoa or some other grain, like farro.

Serves 2.

Ever walk into an unknown restaurant and immediately know you’ve entered one of your new favorite places?  This happened today to me at Thrive.  The minute I set foot in this place I felt both uplifted and relaxed.  The friendly staff was smiling while they worked.  Beyond the eating area was a store to buy healthy products and equipment such as bulk grains and juicers.   The owner of the restaurant, Monika Kinsman, was working the register, and my friend and I found her instantly easy to talk to. 

Did I mention that everything on the menu is raw, organic, and vegan?  Oh, yeah.  Thrive’s food is both delicious and specially desiged to fill your body with robust health. 

Everything I tasted was perfectly and speedily prepared, full of vibrant flavors and life.    In addition to enjoying a wonderful lunch (I ordered Oh My Samurai, a teriyaki noodle dish), I brought home a salad to go, the one pictured above. This salad, called Enlighten, brings walnuts, mushrooms, spinach, and spiralized zucchini “noodles” to delicious heights with a perfect, creamy Thai dressing.   I also had a taste of my friend’s lunch, Chili con Marvelous. Only good manners kept me from gobbling all of his chili right there in front of him.  As it was, I also bought an order of that to go “for my husband to try.”  He loved it, too. Yes, I did let my husband eat some when I brought it home for him.   Now that’s love.

And I love Thrive.  You think I’m kidding? I’m going back tomorrow. I’m going to take my little Rosalie there for lunch.  I feel virtuous already that my daughter will have such a healthy lunch tomorrow  (and I will generously finish it for her if she needs me to).

I usually think of chard and kale as veggies to eat cooked, but Emerald City Salad has a special something, and I think it’s the rugged texture that the uncooked veggies have.   Seattle’s largest coop, Puget Consumer Coop, has an awesome deli, and Emerald City Salad is a standard you can usually find at one of the PCC locations in the (Emerald!) city. 

The ingredients are simple, flavorful, and hearty.  This is a list of the ingredients as found on the label on a to-go package from PCC.  

Emerald City Salad

Ingredients:

• Chard
• Kale
• (Cooked) wild rice
• Fennel
• Red peppers
• Lemon juice
• Canola oil
• Green onion
• Italian parsley
• Salt
• Garlic
• Black pepper

Last night’s “salad” (Thai fresh rolls) got me thinking about how nice it would be to have more fork-free salad options. This one is a total winner.  Cut the top off of an apple, then carve the insides out with a melon baller or other scooper.  Use the apple flesh for the salad, along with the ingredients listed below.  When you close it up, I wonder if you could hold it closed with a rubber band?  What a cute addition to a sack lunch!  It’s kind of a spin on Waldorf salad, but lighter and more zesty.

Stuffed Apple Salad with Pistachios and Oranges

Ingredients:

• 2 crisp apples
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 handful of pistachios
• 1 handful of raisins
• 2 radishes, quartered and sliced
• 1 orange, peeled and diced

Directions:

1. Cut the tops off of the apples.  Reserve the tops. 
2. Scoop the apples out with a melon baller. 
3. Chop up the apple flesh and mix it with the rest of the ingredients. 
4. Stuff the apples and close them with the tops of the apples. 
5.  To eat, take off “lid,” hold the apple vertically, and carefully eat the salad as you also take bites around the edges of the apple shell, as if you were eating  the last of an ice cream cone or a messy burrito. 

Serves 2.

This salad was just perfect.  I had a few extra minutes while I was doing other things, so I threw some lentils in a pot with stock, carrot, onion, celery, bay leaf, and thyme, then I cooked them for about 45 minutes.  They were so great with the crunchy cold veggies! The tart lemon and the mild heat from the chile pepper tied the veggies and lentils together beautifully.

Lentil Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

• Chopped celery
• Chopped tomato
• Chopped Carrot
• Lemon Juice
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Sea Salt
• Mild Chili Powder
• Cooked lentils (see above)
• Baby spinach leaves

Directions:

1. Blend together the chopped raw veggies with the lemon juice, oil, and seasonings. 
2. On a bed of baby spinach leaves, arrange the veggies, then pour over some lentils. 

Oh, this was a good leftover salad lunch. Crunchy fennel is so amazing with pesto!

Linguini Pesto Salad

Ingredients:

• Leftover linguini with pesto (that was made with chicken breast and spinach)
• Shredded zucchini
• Chopped fennel
• Chopped tomato
• Chopped red bell pepper

Warm up the pasta, then mix it in with the chopped veggies.

Attractive, it is not.  However, the comfort-food-meets-good-health appeal is irresistible.  The red wine vinegar and oregano harmonize with the browned bits of the meatballs.  The tomatoes add necessary tangy juiciness.  Even though I wouldn’t take another picture of this one, I will definitely eat it again, exactly like this, in perfect simplicity.

Meatball Salad

Ingredients:

• Mixed greens
• Meatballs, chopped
• Grape tomatoes, halved
• Diced onion
• Red wine vinegar
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Oregano
• Salt & pepper

In a hurry.  Gotta eat your greens.  Grab this!  It’s insanely easy, it’s tasty, and it’s portable.  Win/win/win.

Tostada Salad “Sandwich”

If I hadn’t been in such a hurry I probably would have added some spices like cumin, oregano and mild chili powder.

Ingredients:

• 2 tostada crisps
• About 1/2 cup refried beans
• A handful of mixed salad greens
• 1 small Roma tomato, sliced
• Slices of avocado

1. Spread the refried beans on both tostada crisps. 
2. Place greens on both sides, pressing them gently into the beans to keep them in place, then arrange tomato and avocado over the greens. 
3. Close up “sandwich” and enjoy, or wrap to go.