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.

Fried rice is magnificent in salad!  The fried egg, veggies, and rice add such a lovely savory depth and, you know, fried flavor.   Give it a try sometime!

Tonight’s salad is all about my TexMex childhood, when everything was better with chili.  Speaking of which, have you ever had Frito Pie?  This is created by covering a plate with a layer of Fritos, pouring chili over them, then heaping on grated cheese and onions.  In other words, Frito Pie is a concentrated bomb of ridiculous TexMex SuperHeaven.  

This salad is Frito Pie without the Fritos (plus a whole bunch of veggies).    I can only imagine what this salad would have been like with that final Frito touch.  As it was, it was a bowl of healthy joy with 1970’s TexMex hiding underneath.

Chili Salad

Ingredients:

• Chopped celery
• Chopped tomatoes
• Chopped avocado
• Chopped onion
• Leftover cilantro lime coleslaw from night before last
• Grated cheese
• Homemade chili

Arrange salad makings over a bowl of chili.  Serve with corn bread.

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

This is a double leftover salad.  I really liked it except for that squash!  Texture and size of the pieces were too odd with the pleasing crunch of the rest of the salad.  It was a fun idea, though, and pleasing to execute: scooping acorn squash out with a melon baller. I wonder what other salads I could do with that.  Hey, I feel the start of a new blog coming: 100 Dishes to Make With an Acorn Squash Ball.

Garden Salad with Chow Mein and Squash

Ingredients:

• Cold leftover chow mein noodles
• Acorn squash, scooped out with melon baller (though I don’t recommend this; just documenting honestly)
• Frisee
• Radishes
• Small amount of canola oil (peanut or sesame would be great, but maybe not with that squash, which I still don’t recommend)
• Small amount of rice wine vinegar
• Black sesame seeds

Toss everything but the black sesame seeds together, then sprinkle seeds over the top. Remove squash, then enjoy the rest.  Eat squash for dessert.

The alternate name for this specimen is The Chinese Takeout Grumpy-With-A-Head-Cold Salad

Kung Pao Salad

No dressing needed but the sauce from the Kung Pao.

Ingredients:

• Leftover Kung Pao chicken (warm or cold)
• Frisée
• Radishes, sliced
• Red onion, sliced
• Crunchy apples, sliced

Enjoy with a cup of hot & sour soup–and lots of water or tea. 

Wish I had fresh grated ginger, too. 

Benefits to a grumpy person with a cold: easy; spicy; crunchy, no dairy

I was in serious danger of making something gross when I was pulling out ingredients for this salad.  We had  a ton of tiny leftovers.  Do you ever get a fridge full of these?  The four bites left of something that you can’t bring yourself to throw away–then regret having later as they fill your fridge to the gills?

One of my favorite pizzas in Italy was the Quattro Stagioni (”Four Seasons”).  It’s the ultimate commitmentphobe’s pizza!  Four separate flavors in one pizza, with each segment of the pizza representing a season. 

Tiny leftovers lend themselves to quattro stagioni–or quattro something, anyway.  What’s the Italian word for scraps?

Quattro Something Salad

Ingredients:

• Mixed greens
• Macaroni and cheese
• Artichoke hearts
• Grape tomatoes
• Tuna salad
• Radishes

Directions:

1. In a bowl filled with greens, arrange the toppings in four quarters. 
2. Garnish with radishes. 
3. Be surprised at how good it is.