Posts Tagged ‘salad’

Dec
13


I went to a cooking class recently and at the end of the class there was a small discussion about the instructors favorite gadgets: Out came a  Paderno Vegetable Spiralizer . Naturally when I got home, I did some research.

Sure enough, I found one on Amazon for $29.75. I ordered it (without hesitating)  and it arrived the next day. Yay for online shopping.

spiral - box

I went out to the grocery store to buy a cucumber, carrot, apple and a zucchini, so that I could use it right away. I was pumped to use it…can you tell?

spiral - plate

The ribbons that you get are INSANELY long. Here’s proof.

spiral - proof

I sprinkled some lemon flavoured oil on it, as well as another product (mixed nuts that I picked up in Israel). Bingo – I had an interesting salad in no time at all.

spiral - final

Can you say; Happy?

Trust me, I will be making more salads with my new BFF. Stay tuned.

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Sep
09


My good friend served a salad over the Jewish New Year that was so tasty that I asked her about it.

costco - salad

She told me that it was from Costco. I was SHOCKED. I then asked her “where can I find it?”. She told me to head to the cold produce area. I asked her to bring out the bag so that I could recognize it and she did!!  Here’s the bag you should be looking for.

costco - bag

This bag contains 7 Superfoods: Broccoli, Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts,chicory, kale, roasted pumpkin seeds, and dried cranberries. A lemon poppyseed dressing is even included.

How much is this tasty salad? Here’s the answer. I’m floored at how inexpensive this salad is. I mean seriously.

costco - bill

I’m off to Costco this week to buy a few bags!! Something tells me this is going to become a weekly staple in my fridge.

Thanks Costco for continuing to have amazing products at amazing prices.

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May
28


 

If I tell a friend that “I’m having company over “…. this is code for “I’m going to try some new recipes”.

Here’s three new recipes that I will be trying.

-Oriental Edamame Salad courtesy of AllRecipes

-Green Goddess Kale Salad courtesy of Daily Bites Blog 

-The Ultimate Filet O Fish Sammie courtesy of Food Network.

The meal will also include fresh salsa, tortilla cheese, a cheese platter and a rhubarb strawberry crisp!

Can you tell that I spent some time on -line researching some recipes. I love it though!!

Todays blog will feature two salads that I’m going to be serving, K?

First Salad: Oriental Edamame Salad 

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil

Directions

  1. Heat a small skillet over medium-low heat; cook almonds until lightly toasted and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.
  2. Whisk sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, garlic, and ginger together in a bowl for the dressing; season with salt and black pepper.
  3. Combine edamame, baby corn, water chestnuts, radishes, green onions, cilantro, and toasted almonds in a large bowl; toss with dressing until coated. Serve cold or at room temperature.

 FINISHED SALAD

edamame salad

 

Second Salad: Green Goddess Kale Salad 

For the salad:

5 cups chopped kale

2 cups finely chopped broccoli florets (I steamed them slightly)

3/4 cup thinly sliced scallions

1 medium carrot (I used multi colour baby carrots)

Handful of sprouts

Handful of pumpkin seeds

For the dressing:

1/2 medium ripe avocado, pitted

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk or regular milk

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine the kale, broccoli, scallions, and carrot. Reserve the sprouts and pumpkin seeds for garnish.

Scoop the avocado flesh into a blender or food processor. Add the milk, lemon juice, maple syrup, vinegar, and mustard. Puree until smooth. The dressing will be thick, with the consistency of mayonnaise. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat everything thoroughly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Garnish plates of the salad with the sprouts and pumpkin seeds.

FINISHED SALAD

kale salad - 1 Happy Cooking!

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May
09


 

This pop-up restaurant has been “on my list” for a while. (um, since early 2012 to be exact) I’ve read many positive reviews and have passed it by a gazillion times but for some reason it took me a LONG time to actually go there for a meal.

Finally last week – I had the opportunity! (applause)

Come and Get It  would certainly make it on my cheap and cheerful restaurant list for 2013, for several reasons.

a) I loved the space and their marketing  – funky and casual. Very appropriate for a restaurant at Spadina and Queen.

come - sign

b) Two Step Menu – Gotta Love It. You can order everything as either a Salad or a Sandwich.

come - chalkboard

b) It’s Carb Free Friendly (which is perfect for someone like me). Therefore, I ordered the Hawaiian Pork Belly Salad. Everything about this salad “worked” and I was pretty happy with the generous portion too!

come - vicky

c) The service was amazing. When we walked into the restaurant we were warmly greeted and everything was explained to us.

d) Come and Get It is an environmentally friendly restaurant. The owner pointed out that the plastic bowls are made of corn and completely bio-degradable. #Impressed.

Here’s the catch – the owner is working on a monthly agreement since Dec. 2012 with his landlord. Therefore you need to COME AND GET IT – NOW!!

For further info:

Come and Get It:

170 Spadina Ave, Toronto, ON

Phone: (647) 344-3416

Hours; Monday to Friday 11 to 8, Saturday 12-8, Sundays CLOSED

Twitter: @comeandgetit416

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Apr
30


As you know, I went to Jean-Talon Market last week. One of the items, I picked up was Kale. It was $2.50 and half the size of my arm – so I couldn’t resist. I knew I wanted to make a salad with it and headed over to google to see if I could find an interesting recipe to check out.

I swear I selected this recipe because the blogger made me laugh out loud. I’m being honest. This is what made me chuckle:

“I know you need another kale salad recipe like you need another artisanal pickle, but I swear you’ll love this one. And even if you don’t, I have a mixing technique to offer that you can apply to the other 37 kale salads in your life.”

Here’s the Kale and Anchovy Salad recipe that I found on a blog called  Food52.

INGREDIENTS:

1 small garlic clove
2 anchovies 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper 
1/2 Meyer (or regular) lemon ( I used a regular lemon)
4 tablespoons olive oil 
1/4 small red onion, very thinly sliced 
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves  (forgot to buy fresh and ended up using dried thyme)
6 cups packed lacinato (dinosaur) kale

kale - ingredients 

  1. In a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic and anchovy with a pinch of salt to a paste. Blend in the juice from half a Meyer lemon. Then beat in the olive oil. It should semi-emulsify; don’t worry if it doesn’t. (For some reason, I used my cuisinart).kale - cuisinart

2.  In a small bowl, combine the onion and thyme leaves with a large pinch of salt, then rub the salt into the onions using your hands. Let sit for 10 minutes.

3. Put the kale in a large bowl.  Add the onion and thyme. Pour in half the dressing and using your hands, mix the greens — really get in there and work the salad;

You should almost knead the greens so they break down a bit and the dressing fully coats the leaves. Taste and add more salt, lemon juice, or dressing, as needed. Let the salad sit for 15-20 minutes. Taste and adjust once more. Then spread on a platter and serve.

NOTE: I decided to add a hard boiled egg for added protein and I also decided to add a touch of balsamic vinegar to the dressing

FINAL PRODUCT …(err,,,,my uber healthy lunch)

kale - final2

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Apr
23


 

As much as I love searching the internet for recipes, I still like clipping out recipes from the Toronto Star too. A few weeks ago, I clipped out Jennifer Bains’ Crawford Street Salad and posted it on my fridge. Here’s proof:

I'm still old-school. (sometimes).

I’m still old-school. (sometimes).

 

This recipe appealed to me for a few reasons:

-it incorporated avocados. Don’t know about you but I’m a huge fan of using avocados in my salads

-the recipe called for lime AND lemon juice  (#interesting)

-the technique was slightly different than your average salad so I knew it would be flavourful

Finally, last week I had the chance to try this amazing salad!

Here’s the recipe:

Crawford Street Salad   From Jennifer Bains’ The Toronto Star Cookbook, published by Random House. (Note: Created by Adrienne Amato, Toronto resident on Crawford St)

INGREDIENTS:

avocado - plate

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper – to taste

1 cup chopped white onion

1/2 cup cilantro

1 cup small broccoli florets

2 plum roma tomatoes, halved and thickly sliced (I used cherry tomatoes)

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, lime juice and salt. Season with pepper to taste and whisk again

2. Add the onion, cilantro to the lemon juice mixture and stir well. Make sure the onions are covered by the liquid. Let stand for 15 minutes or refrigerate, covered for several hours

This step makes SUCH a difference

This step makes SUCH a difference

3. Put the lettuce in a large salad bowl and top with the broccoli, tomatoes and avocados.

4. Just before serving, pour the onion mixture over the lettuce mixture adn toss well.

FINAL PRODUCT

A Winner!

A Winner!

For more information about Mexican Avocados: Please visit www.missavocado.ca  
or follow @MissAvacado on twitter

For more information about Jennifer Bains’ The Toronto Star Cookbook: Please visit www.randomhouse.com

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Feb
26


 

I haven’t made an interesting salad in a while and was in the mood for something refreshing. Not to mention, mint was on sale at No Frills for 99 cents and I always love a bargain!!

I was inspired to try this  recipe as it was posted today on twitter by @jenncuisine who has an amazing blog called JennCuisine. Her photos are WAY better than mine so I hope you go take a peek at her blog post too (which is a gluten free blog, by the way)

Grapefruit and Mint Salad (adapted from JennCuisine)

Ingredients:

1 grapefruit cut into small chunks

1 romaine lettuce, chopped

a few mint leaves chopped up (I use scissors for this step…so much easier)

balsamic vinaigrette (I used balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey mustard, salt and pepper)

**note the original recipe calls for sliced cucumber too.

**note 2: this recipe is gluten free and vegan too

salad

 

Instructions

Mix all ingredients into a bowl. Toss with dressing. Serve

salad dressing 2Results  (my apologies for the not-so-pretty-as-I would-like final photo)

salad final

I loved this salad as it was so refreshing and certainly different than any other salad I would normally make.

Hope to serve this salad along with grilled salmon and a quinoa dish. What do you think?

Happy Cooking.

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Nov
22


As you know, I have been trying to avoid carbs…. which means I try to avoid sweet potatoes, squash, carrots and more. (I’m not listing them so I don’t get depressed).

However there’s a list of vegetables I am allowed to enjoy and that list includes: bok choy and asparagus. Here are two recipes that I made this week.

I am a bit frustrated with the first recipe as I can’t find it. Don’t ask..it’s in a cookbook but I don’t know which one. I have given up looking. Sorry.

But I’m going to share it with you anyway with my own made up recipe.

Again, this dish is a perfect side dish for salmon and can be served warm or cold.

Gingered Asparagus

Ingredients

asparagus

Sauce:

1/2 tablespoon tamari

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 minced garlic clove

1 minced chunk of ginger (please oh please buy organic.It’s so much more flavorful)

a bit of honey (sorry I didn’t measure)

DIRECTIONS:

1. steam asparagus

2. combine the ingredients to make the sauce.

3. drizzle the sauce of the middle of the asparagus dish.

Nutty Bok Choy Salad (from Gatherings: A Collection of Recipes from Netivot Hatorah Parents Association)

I didn’t have all the ingredients – but you get the idea.

Dressing

3 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons peanut butter

Topping

1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts

1 pk ramen noodles, crushed

Salad

5 cups bok choy, sliced

2 green onions, sliced

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, soy sauce, honey and peanut butter until well combined. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, saute peanuts and noodles until golden. Remove from heat

Put the salad ingredients in a shallow bowl. Right before serving, sprinkle the noodles and nuts over the salad.

Drizzle with dressing. Serve.

Happy Healthy Cooking

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Sep
27


You might not know this, but I have a dairy kitchen and haven’t prepared meat for over 20 years. This is one of the reasons why I post so many salad recipes!! I truly do love eating salads and when I have guests over that don’t eat dairy or wheat….then it’s a great opportunity for me to try out new recipes!!  The menu included: tuna burgers (see previous post), kale salad, napa cabbage salad with lemon pistachio vinaigrette, sesame tofu, and dessert. A perfect combo of protein and vegetables.

Will be making this again!!

I have made napa cabbage salads before but  always with an asian vinaigrette. This recipe appealed to me as it WAS TOTALLY different. My only complaint was I had to shell the pistachios as I didn’t have time to find them unshelled. Not the end of the world.

proof that I unshelled each and every pistachio for this recipe!

Napa Cabbage Salad with Lemon Pistachio Vinaigrette (taken from AllRecipes.com)

 

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon pistachio oil….I used good old olive oil as I was too lazy to buy another oil
  • 3 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage
  • 2 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce leaves …oops forgot to mix in romaine lettuce even though I had some in the fridge
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley….
  • 1 tablespoon finely sliced fresh basil
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios (I used more)

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon zest and lemon juice. Slowly drizzle in the pistachio oil, whisking constantly, until the dressing is mixed well.
  2. In a large bowl, toss together the sliced napa cabbage, sliced romaine lettuce, parsley and basil. Mix in the dressing, salt and pepper. Gently toss until dressing is distributed evenly. Top with chopped pistachios. Enjoy!

This recipe was super easy and super tasty. I can’t wait to make it again.

Happy Cooking!!

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Dec
13


I had a chat not long ago, with the owner of Pantry Foods about salads, and he mentioned that he rarely makes a salad in a bowl. He said
“the the dressing always sinks to the bottom and when you display it on a platter it’s visually more attractive”

After that discussion I decided to try serving salads on a platter. It was a perfect opportunity for me to use this beautiful Umbra Platter I got as a gift from my cousins.

Salad idea #1: Basic Green Salad

Ingredients: Bibb Lettuce , Corn shoots that I found at Natures Emporium, mini corn, carrots, zucchini.

Here’s what the corn shoots looked like, when I bought them at the store. How pretty is that?

Salad idea #2 Spinach Salad

Ingredients: Spinach, red onion, toasted almonds, mushrooms, hard boiled eggs

Salad idea #3 Morrocon Inspired Salad

Ingredients: Lettuce, oranges, dates, marcona almonds, pomegranate seeds

Other salad that I could make using this platter include:

Nicoise: black olives, tuna, red onion, lettuce, hard boiled eggs.

Israeli: cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, couscous, chick peas

I have to admit, I really enjoyed preparing these salads and then eating them too!! Due to my love for making salads, it has prevented me from eating salads in restaurants. I rarely go to Freshii or Fresh..even though everyone tells me that their salads are fabulous.

I use to go to a restaurant at Bayview Village for their famous salad bar but for some reason I stopped going there too.

I guess I really like to go to restaurants to eat food I can’t make at home. Anyone else agree?

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