Salad…The Perfect Meal
Oh how I love salads. I recently taught a cooking class where we focused on salads one day. When preparing for the class, I was reminded of how perfect salads are. There are thousands of variations of salads; so many that I could not possibly fit them all into a two-hour class. I just love how you can virtually use whatever you have in your refrigerator; throw it into a bowl, toss it up with a yummy dressing and your taste buds are smiling for the rest of the day.
Because of the variety, you can put a different salad on your weekly menu several times without getting bored. One of the best things about salads is the opportunity to create a balanced meal, in nutrients and flavor. You can get fruits, vegetables, healthy fats and lean protein all in one bowl and it is not a lot of work and it’s fast, easy and healthy. You can’t beat that!
Take a look on the internet and look up some salad recipes. You will find salads for every occasion, every dietary restriction, taste preference or any other requirement that you may have. And don’t forget the dressing. There are amazing recipes for dressings that will totally change the taste of a bowl of the same ingredients. You can have cold or warm dressing, spicy, savory, light and refreshing or heavy chunky dressing. That is what is so great about dressing. I think recipes for salads and dressings are like a wardrobe. You dress according to your mood, an occasion, culturally or just because it is the only thing left in your closet. Recipes offer the same freedom to choose how you want to dress your salad and what is being dressed. Sometimes you just have to open your refrigerator, pull out a bunch of stuff and see what you can create.
So I guess the best way to leave this is to provide one of my favorite salads.
Sonoma Chicken Salad. YUM!
INGREDIENTS
Dressing
- 1 cup Vegenaise (I usually use the soy free)
- 4 tsps. apple cider vinegar
- 5 tsps. honey
- 2 tsps. poppy seeds
- 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper (optional)
Mix all the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to combine it with the salad.
Salad
- 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 3/4 cup pecan pieces (I use raw pecans, but you can also use toasted)
- 2 cups red seedless grapes, halved
- 3 to 5 stalks celery, thinly sliced (depending on the size of the stalks of celery)
Cut the chicken into bit size pieces. I make it easy on myself and buy a pre-cooked organic chicken. Combine all the other salad ingredients and mix it up.
Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well. Keep refrigerated until you are ready to eat it.
This salad is very filling, so this recipe can feed six people easily.
Thanks for reading and I hope you try this recipe. My husband said to me, ‘You can make that anytime.’
Pia Civiletti, The Sassy Italian Lady
No Comments