Lazy Cucumber Salad

This has been my go-to dish of the summer 2011. I made it for a pool party a few weeks ago and then again when my parents were staying with Finley while the husband and I went camping with friends. I originally got the recipe from Real Mom Kitchen. But I made it even simpler. Instead of using fresh dill, I use bottled dressing - my favorite Kraft's Greek Vinaigrette. I figured it has dill in it so, close enough :)

Lazy Cucumber Salad

3 medium sized cucumbers, sliced into half moons
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 large red onion, diced
3/4 cup Kraft Greek Vinaigrette

Mix together all ingredients. Cover and let sit in refrigerator a few hours before serving. Keeps well for several days and great for leftovers!!!

Makes about 9 servings. Per serving: 80.5 calories 5.5 g fat 7.1 g carbohydrate 1.2 g fiber 1.0 g protein

Quinoa Black Bean Salad

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At work we had an open house that highlighted all the health benefits available to employees. Since I work in employee wellness, I had a booth at the open house promoting a weight management program we'll be offering this year. So for two days, I sat at my booth socializing with all the other booths during slow times. One of the booths at the open house was our chef from the employee cafeteria. He was doing cooking demonstrations and made a quinoa salad. Needless to say, I ate MANY samples of this awesome quinoa salad that he created and thought I would share it with you.

Quinoa is a whole grain that I hear of a lot lately, especially in healthy lifestyle blogs. I think its kind of the "in" thing right now. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a whole grain that is high in fiber and protein and naturally gluten free. It comes in a variety of colors like red, black and white. You can buy it at natural food stores, Costco or even the baking aisle of many grocery stores. You cook it up just like you do pasta or rice. In fact it only takes 15-20 minutes to cook in boiling water, vs. brown rice which can take 45+ minutes!

Here is the recipe that was featured at the open house:

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

1 cup raw Quinoa
1 1/2 cupswater
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups black beans
4 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 large green onions, diced
1 red pepper diced

Dressing
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Rinse quinoa several times. Place quinoa, 1/2 tsp salt and water in a sauce pan and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and cool completely.

Add veggies to cooked quinoa. Mix together all dressing ingredients in a separate bowl and toss with quinoa and veggies.

Serve chilled and garnish with cilantro.

Makes 6 servings, each serving provides:
276 calories
9.3 g fat
40.1 g carbohydrate
8.5 g fiber
10.1 g protein

***Top with a grilled chicken breast or salmon fillet for a complete meal.

Candied Walnut Salad

As I stated before, I was assigned salad for Christmas dinner at the in-laws. Now, to ME, "salad" means something green and leafy with a bunch of tasty toppings, likely fruits or vegetables. I've learned over the years that "salad" can be interpretted in many ways. Salads can be made out of gelatin (although in my family growing up, anything made out of jello was always a DESSERT), salads can be made out of cool whip, salads can also be made out of coconut and mandarin oranges. I once asked someone (who will remain nameles... ahem... my MIL...) to bring a salad thinking it would be green and leafy. I was much surprised when something including coconut, cool whip, mandarin oranges and pineapple appeared on my table. ANYWAY, so when I was assigned a salad, I made sure to bring a good old vegetable based salad.

I also decided to stir things up a bit. My husband's diet growing up was pretty traditional, not much outside the box. So any time I have ever had salad at his parents house, it has always consisted of iceberg salad in a bag, 2 cucumber slices, 1 tomato wedge and ranch dressing. I wasn't quite sure how this salad would go over with such a crowd.

Much to my surprise, this salad from Our Best Bites was a hit! It was gobbled up by almost all the guests (still a few stubborn ones in the crowd!) and I received complements from everyone who enjoyed it. It is quite the tasty salad, I must admit. I even made a leftover salad out of the remaining ingredients for dinner for myself tonight. This salad would be delicious a piece of grilled chicken breast or grilled salmon on top as an entree.

I did not make any nutritional changes to this salad as it is pretty healthy as it is. The walnuts in the salad are a great source of vitamin E as well as receiving lots of antioxidants from the dried cranberries. Being from Michigan, I would imagine dried cherries would also be a delicious substitute for the cranberries.

Candied Walnut Salad

2 heads of leafy greens: (I used a head of romaine lettuce and a bag of spring mix greens)
3/4 cup craisins
2 crisp apples, chopped
orange juice (enough to toss the chopped apples in to prevent browning)
2 oz blue cheese or Gorgonzola (I LOVE gorgonzola cheese!!!)
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
1 recipe Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette

Wash and chop lettuce, set aside to drain.

Place walnuts and sugar in a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir constantly. After a few minutes, the sugar will begin to appear very fine, then a few minutes after that, it will start to liquefy. This is when you must be absolutely vigilant about scraping the bottom of the pan. The syrup will begin to darken and stick to the nuts. When it reaches a golden brown color, remove from heat. Stir nuts a few minutes until they begin to slightly cool and nuts are well coated. Spread onto wax paper or parchment paper and allow to cool completely.

Chop blue cheese or Gorgonzola finely into crumbles. Chop apples and toss in orange juice.

When ready to serve, toss lettuce, apples, cheese,walnuts and cranberries. Add dressing. I used about a quarter of the dressing tossed in and served the rest on the side if people desired extra.

Makes 8 servings (without dressing):
176.4 calories
8.4 g fat
23.9 g carbohydrate
3.2 g fiber
4.5 g protein

Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette

I very RARELY make a homemade dressing. I have a huge selection of bottled dressings in the grocery aisle, so why bother? Well, special occasions may be a good reason to try a homemade dressing. After being assigned to bring a salad to my in-laws for Christmas I went in search of the perfect salad. After finding a recipe for Candied Walnut Salad on Our Best Bites, I followed their link to Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette. It seemed simple enough.

In the craziness of Christmas, my husband and I were frantically getting ready for a trip to his parents at 10 pm on Christmas Eve. I was candying the walnuts for the salad and my husband quickly was able to assemble the dressing ingredients. Now in our family, I am numero uno in the kitchen. My husband can pretty much make himself some chicken nuggets, but otherwise the kitchen is MY domain. So apparently putting together a homemade dressing isn't too difficult!

I didn't make any nutritional changes to this recipe. With dressings, unless you are eliminating or decreasing the amount of oil that is in the dressing, your best idea is just to limit the amount that you are using. I calculated the nutrition facts for a 2 Tablespoon serving, but I would estimate that I had actually half of that on my salad portion. I also substituted apple cider vinegar for red wine vinegar (because that's what I had!) and I added a Tbsp of poppy seeds just to add a little pop on the salad.

Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette

1/2 cup red wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
1/2 cup honey
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp fresh coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 cup canola oil

In a blender combine vinegar, honey, garlic, salt and pepper. Place lid on blender and blend on high. While blender is running, add oil in steady stream. Store in refrigerator for up to 2-3 weeks. Shake well before serving.

*** I also added 1 Tbsp poppy seeds although did not include that in the nutrition facts.

Per 2 Tbsp serving:
125 calories
9.1 g fat
194.6 mg sodium
12.5 g carbohydrate
0.1 g fiber
0.1 g protein