The Ultimate Side Dish: Salad

[dabrockster]

Since I love avocado's I thought I would post one here that looks good.

Sometimes I add Black beans to my avocado salad so I decided to look for one and found one that looks good. I plan on trying it out.. However, I may leave the corn out but we'll see..

Ingredients
1/4 cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 tablespoon Grainy Mustard
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1 can (19 ounces) Black Beans
1/2 cup chopped Red Onion
1/2 cup Frozen Corn, thawed
1 Sweet Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Avocado, peeled and chopped
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped Fresh Coriander


Preparation
In large serving bowl, whisk extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper.

Add black beans, red onion, corn, red pepper, avocado, garlic and coriander. Toss to combine.

[Indy Coug]

Cabbage Ramen Noodle Salad
2 Tbsp toasted slivered almonds (if we have these we use them if not we don't)
½ head cabbage, thinly sliced
½ pkg. Top Ramen noodles, uncooked, crunched up (we usually do the entire package since we've used the seasoning and we also usually add the noodles early on since we prefer the noodles to soften some)
Dressing:
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. salad oil (vegetable oil) - Could substitute with other oils (Olive Oil or Sesame Oil etc..
3 Tbsp. vinegar
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
seasoning pkg. from Top Ramen

Preparation:
1. Mix slivered almonds and cabbage. Add dressing (refrigerate a few minutes before).

2. Add dry Top Ramen at last minute (we don't do this but if you like crunch go for it), just before serving. May add cooked, chopped chicken or shrimp for variety.

We eat this all the time at home. We add chicken to the recipe. I'm not sure we use exactly the same dressing recipe, but it's close. Yum yum.

[cougjunkie]

Sorry to interrupt the cabbage/ramen noodle debate.....let's shelve that one until people have actually tried it.

Let's move on to another hearty side salad that contains a lot of fun flavors.

Consists of fresh leafy spinach greens, with a base flavor of chicken and pasta, complimented by contrasts of onion and the sweetness of grapes and almonds. It is basically a huge party in your mouth and almost everyone is invited.

Another nice thing about this salad is that it is very versatile. You can serve it with all sorts of mains....traditional sit-downs of pork, beef, chicken, or as a casual side for sandwiches or soup.

As with any other salad, it should be made to taste. However, the big mistake with this recipe is that people get over-zealous and put in too much pasta or too much chicken. Ideally, the finished dish should be a fairly good ratio (visually) of green and white.

Chicken Pasta Salad

5 cups cooked chicken (approx 3 breasts....boiled and then shredded. Don't completely destroy the chicken. Leave the shreds in sizable pieces. You want them to look more like yummy chunks of flesh than pieces of sinewy string)
2 cups red grapes (you can use green but red looks cooler in the presentation...nice contrast with the fresh green spinach. Seedless, btw. No seeded grapes!)
4 cups fresh spinach (you can buy the bags of salad-ready spinach...very convenient...use maybe half the bag? we also hand shred the large leaves of spinach...maybe tear them in half? up to you)
7 oz. corkscrew pasta (corkscrew looks nice with this salad. do not overcook....if you dig al dente, go for it. If you want to cook it all the way, no problem, but don't make your pasta soggy....you shouldn't overcook pasta, regardless of the dish you are making...but you already know this)
3 green onions (chopped into small but not finely diced sections)
1/2 cup slivered almonds (toasted and candied is awesome, although you can go plain...still delish, just not as sweet. we always go toasted and candied)


Dressing:

1/2 cup oil (vegetable)
1/4 cup sugar
2 T. white wine vinegar
1 t. salt
1/2 t. dried minced onion
1 t. lemon juice
2 T. minced fresh parsley

Note about dressing: we have tried it with olive oil but didn't taste as good (shocker because olive oil is better in every conceivable way.). Use the vegetable oil. If you go off the reservation, I am not responsible.

To make salad:

Go ahead and boil your chicken and let it chill in the fridge, shredding it later when you are ready to make the salad.

Combine the shredded chicken and all other salad ingredients into your large bowl; toss.

Mix dressing separately. Add mixed dressing to mixed salad and toss entire mixture once more. You should add dressing to taste. The recipe yield is usually more than sufficient so don't feel compelled to use all of it.

One word of advisement: do not add dressing until you are ready to eat salad. Otherwise, the salad could get soggy.

Return and report.

My wife makes a similar salad a lot but uses Craisins instead of grapes.

[Fiyero]

Today at Lamb's Grill Cafe I had a simple Greek salad but it was amazing, with just the right blend of flavors: cubes of feta, seedless red olives, yellow bell pepper, red onion, small tomato quarters, and radishes. Mmm!

[SeattleUte]

This is the real salad thread. Some people just never get it.

[SeattleUte]

I wish to express my disapproval of the current trend of putting watermelon in green salads.

[Katy Lied]

Heaven help me, I am currently experimenting with a coleslaw made of pre-shredded, pre-bagged cabbage, and a tub of Chic Fil A sauce.

[FN Phat]

I love chic-fil-a sauce.

[Surfah]

I love chic-fil-a sauce.

Invented at the Spotsylvania Mall.

[YOhio]

Is there any bigger high than a good salad?

[SeattleUte]

Sorry if this is been posted. But it's hilarious.

http://offbeat.topix.com/story/12765

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Sorry if this is been posted. But it's hilarious.

http://offbeat.topix.com/story/12765

Thank you, that made for a fun night.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

Sorry if this is been posted. But it's hilarious.

http://offbeat.topix.com/story/12765

Wow. That's unbelievably disgusting. So essentially, gelatin was the glue to casseroles before cheese was invented.