Tag Archives: salad

Grilled Romaine with Tahini Dressing

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Guys, I wish I could say we were busy whipping up a million new recipes for you which is why we haven’t posted the entire month of July. But actually, it’s a little more exciting. One of our very own got engaged! Congrats, Sonia! So, as you can imagine, we’ve had some other things on our brains. But, we’re ready to jump back into it. We missed you guys!

With all that’s going on now, we’re going to keep it super simple. Like toss-it-all-in-a-processor simple. We’re well into grilling season and I’m not gonna lie – there’s only so many ways you can grill chopped veggies before they get boring. I mean, we love you spicy veggies, but we need a change. Enter: grilled romaine. But not just plain romaine, romaine with tahini dressing. Not only does the romaine give you a smokey taste, but the tahini gives it an extra nutty and savory kick.

  • 2 cups tahini
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil (or extra oil from the tahini)
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 bunch romaine lettuce
  • 2 tbsps capers

In a food processor (or by hand), toss in the tahini, garlic, and lemon juice. Pulse all of the ingredients together until smooth and creamy. If you notice it’s getting too thick, add in more oil and a slight bit of water. It should have the consistency of a creamy dressing when you’re done.

For the romaine, clean and separate the leaves. Grease the grill and bring to medium heat. Place the leaves on the grill (over a tiny flame is a-ok), and let them crisp for 2-3 minutes. Just the edges of the leaves should brown.

When serving, pour the tahini dressing over the romaine and top with capers.

Grilled romaine_damndelish-2

Happy Eating, XO.

Warm Spring Salad

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Finally! We’re getting in to fresh produce season! Not that I mind all of the comfort food that fall and winter brings, but you just can’t beat a fresh homemade salad. And this one includes the perfect “cross-over” ingredients.

Salad

  • 2 cups of arugula
  • 1/2 of a sweet potato, quartered
  • 1/2 can of beets
  • 1/3 cup walnuts

Dressing

You can mix together our lemon-y salad dressing, or make the dressing below.

  • Apple cider vinegar
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Set your broiler to high. Toss the quartered sweet potato in olive oil and a dash of salt. Spread it out evenly on a cooking sheet and stick it under the broiler until it begins to soften and brown, approximately 10 minutes. (This is the same way you can make sweet potato fries. Just cut them thin instead of quartered.) When the sweet potato is just about done, throw in the walnuts to get them warm and slightly toasted.

In a salad bowl, throw together the arugula, beets, and warm sweet potato and walnuts. Toss with the dressing and enjoy.

Warm spring salad

Happy Eating, XO.

Fruit Salad…Without the Fruit

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Do you ever have those days where you buy lettuce with the full intention of making a salad, but by the time you get around to making it, it’s just not that appetizing anymore? Many a lettuce heads have gone bad because I couldn’t eat another boring salad…

However, the other day when I was pantry-diving, like I mention here, I found a can of mandarin oranges along with some almonds. Light bulb! I made my own version of a fruit salad…sans most of the fruit. 🙂 Liven up your salad and get your taste buds going with this citrus-y combo! I promise it won’t disappoint.

Salad

  • 1 bag mixed leafy greens
  • 1 small can of mandarin oranges
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds
  • Handful of snow peas or sugar snap peas, cut in half

Dressing

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup grapefruit juice (trust me on this one)
  • 1/4 cup juice from the can of mandarin oranges
  • Dash of salt and pepper

Mix the dressing together in a small bowl, then toss with all of the salad ingredients.

I like my salads chopped, so I put everything in my chopper – dressing ingredients included – and mix/chopped it all up. Super simple guys.

“But wait, there’s more!” Check out our other sultry salads to get out of your bland salad rut.

Mandarin Salad

Happy Eating, XO.

Pseudo Salad

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Can I just tell you, I freaking LOVE LOVE LOVE the Morrocan chicken salad at CPK (You know California Pizza Kitchen, yes food blog people DO go to chains) Anyway, I am obsessed with it, BUT its SOOO expensive! Literally, I spend $16-$18 on the salad (the range is because the tax/tip usually makes it $17) which is totally cray to spend on a salad and yet I do. A) because of the convenience of grabbing it after work en route to my night MBA class B) because it is beyond delish! It has all the taste bud pleasing elements you can think of: sweet, savory, crunchy, creamy, etc! Anyway work was slow this week and I have an online class this semester so I am not running around as much and I figured its time to replicate this salad. Especially because I need to save my money for pedicures. Oyi my feet are looking rough! woof! Ok back to the tasty salad prep. As always this is going to reuse ingredients from other recipes. At CPK they use a champagne vinaigrette, so I grabbed a bottle of the Trader Joe’s pear champagne vinaigrette used in one of our salad recipes and a chicken dish to toss my greens with. Then the beets were in the last salad recipe as well-ha can you tell I really like them?! Might be the new truffle, lol just kidding that would never happen.

  • 1/3 cup Dates (Sliced in halves or quarters depending on how big yours are, I did mejdool dates)
  • 1/3-1/2 cup Toasted almonds (I tossed them in a pan to toast when I was boiling the eggs)
  • 6 oz. Beets (Drain all the water if using the canned stuff and chop vs. slice)
  • 10 oz. Roasted butternut squash (I just did it with salt, pepper, and paprika)
  • 1/2 cup Cranberries (I bought dried packaged ones from the store)
  • 3 Grilled chicken breasts (I just did it with cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, cumin, & paprika)
  • 1 Avocado (dice into cubes)
  • 1 medium Red bell pepper (try for the same sizes as the beets and avocado).
  • 1 package or 8-10 oz. Mixed greens (tossed w 1/3 cup of the bottled dressing)
  • Chopped up boiled eggs (I did 2, but 3 without the yellow of the 3rd would be good too)

Heat up a nonstick pan (I used my grill pan since it was washed & ready from the last time I made burgers) with some olive oil and sear the chicken breasts (I had them coated & rubbed in with the spices on both sides of the breasts) until cooked through about 5-7 minutes on each side. Let the meat rest before slicing and adding to salad. While you are cooking the chicken you can toss the squash with some oil & spices as well and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. While the chicken and squash cools, chop the other veggies and eggs and mix well. This is how pretty the colors look:

I called this recipe the pseudo salad because its a knock off of the one from the restaurant and its much more filling than a regular old salad. This is meant to be an entrée and that’s why there is a bit more cooking involved than most salad recipes. Anyway its yummy, don’t worry about what the title means, just devour.

image

Happy Eating, XO.

 

 

Patriotic Summer Salad

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Ok guys, it’s theme party time – everything red, white, and blue! I’m a total sucker for these kinds of parties and love creating new recipes for them. Usually I would do some kind of cupcake, but those are sooo last year. (Although, I’ll never rule them out completely. Cupcakes hold a special place in my heart. Cupcakes forever!) Anyway, rather than putting out a boring ol’ salad – lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes – show some USA spirit with this fruity patriotic salad.

Salad

  • 1 bag of mixed greens (or spinach, whatever your choice of greens are)
  • 2 cups of chopped strawberries
  • 2 cups of blueberries
  • 3/4 cup pine nuts

Dressing

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3/4 cup grapefruit juice
  • 1 tbsp herb mixture or just a salt and pepper mix

Toss the salad and mix the dressing separately. Pour the dressing on right before serving.

Patriotic summer salad

 

Happy Eating (and Happy 4th of July!), XO.