Truly the best Italian chopped salad recipe, with chopped fresh greens and veggies in a simple Italian vinaigrette. This salad is vegetarian and easily vegan.  If you store the salad separately from the vinaigrette, it will keep well for up to 4 days.  Don’t tell anyone if you used bagged lettuce and store bought dressing.  Make it dairy/vegan free – omit the cheese! It’s still great without it

Ingredients:

A different coleslaw for your barbecue.  Don’t tell anyone – it is healthy too.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz cole slaw mix
• 1 bell pepper, julienned (red, yellow or orange)
• 1 bag shredded carrots
• 3 green onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
• ¼ c cilantro leaves, chopped
• Carrot Ginger Miso Dressing – purchase

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients.
2. Add dressing to taste.

Serves:  12 unless there are other salads – then it will serve more, hard to tell.

Source:   Allison and Cathy Painter

This healthy Greek salad is absolutely amazing when tossed in a light and refreshing lemon vinaigrette!

Ingredients:

• 1 large head romaine lettuce (or 2 hearts)
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1/2 c cherry tomatoes, halved (or 2 perfectly ripe Roma tomatoes)
• 1/4 cup sliced Kalamata olives
• 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 c olive oil
• 1/4 c wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic – mashed
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 3 Tab freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1. Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, garlic, lemon zest and juice and sugar in a small bowl.
2. Set aside.
3. Cut or tear the lettuce into bite size pieces.
4. Place romaine lettuce in a large bowl.
5. Top with red onion, cucumber, tomatoes, olives, goat cheese and pepper, to taste.
6. Pour dressing on top of the salad.
7. Gently toss to combine.
8. Serve immediately.

Serves:  4

Source:  GOK

In summer, there’s nothing quite as cool and refreshing as cucumber sandwiches, cucumber soup, or cucumber salads,  This refreshing salad makes an excellent side dish for salmon, or as part of a summer luncheon buffet.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c cider or white wine vinegar
• 2 Tab water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tab sugar
• 1/8 tsp fresh dill
• 2 medium-sized cucumbers – unpeeled, slice very thin

Directions:

1. Combining vinegar, water, salt, sugar, and dill.
2. Pour the dressing over the sliced cucumbers.
3. Cover with plastic wrap,
4. Let stand for at least 3 hours.
5. Serve in the true Scandinavian style, in the marinating dressing.

Serves:   4

Source:  James Beard

The Swedes will put booze in anything!

Ingredients:

• 3 navel oranges, peeled and chopped
• 3 red apples, cored and chopped
• 3 pears, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1 1/2 c. white/green grapes, halved
• 1/4 c. orange juice
• 1 Tab rum
• 1/2 c. mayonnaise
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/2 c. walnuts

Directions:

1. Combine fruit and orange juice and rum in serving bowl.
2. Mix mayonnaise and sour cream.
3. Spoon over fruit.
4. Top with nuts.

Serves:  8-10

Source:  cooks.com

Get ready for summer.  Wonderful with grilled salmon or chicken.  

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs small red potatoes
• salt
• 1 c mayonnaise
• 1/4 c buttermilk (or 1 T  lemon juice/white vinegar, fill to 1 c with milk, let sit 5 min)
• 2 T Dijon mustard
• 2 T whole-grain mustard
• 1/2 c fresh dill, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1/2 p diced red onion
• freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Cook potatoes with 1 T salt in a large pot of water. Cook until potatoes are tender, 10-15 minutes.
2. Drain potatoes in a colander.
3. Place colander with potatoes over the empty pot off the heat and cover with a dry, clean kitchen towel.
4. Leave potatoes to steam for 15-20 min.
5. In a small bowl whisk mayonnaise, buttermilk, Dijon and whole-grain mustards, dill, salt and pepper.
6. Cut potatoes into quarters or halves and transfer to large bowl.
7. Pour dressing over along with celery and red onion.
8. Toss.
9. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
10. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

Serves:  4-6

Source: epicurious, submitted by QIDOC

If the BLT ranks as one of the world’s great sandwiches, imagine what the combination can do for a salad. Shop: You know the drill: ripe heirloom tomatoes and thick-sliced smokehouse bacon. Excellence lies in the details.  It’s one of the rare occasions when iceberg lettuce works better than a designer green like arugula.  To make a red-blooded American twist on the ubiquitous Italian bruschetta you can spoon the salad on toasted slices of French bread instead of mixing croutons with the greens. Salad is good for you. Bacon is about to make it taste better.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb bacon, cut crosswise into 1 inch pieces
• 4 slices French bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 c mayonnaise
• 1 c rice vinegar
• 1/2 head iceberg lettuce
• 2 large or 4 medium-size luscious red ripe tomatoes
• Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Place the bacon in a cold heavy large skillet and heat over medium heat.
2. Cook the bacon until it is crisp, browned, and most of the fat has rendered (melted out), 4 to 6 minutes, stirring often.
3. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.
4. Place the mayonnaise and vinegar in a salad bowl and whisk to mix.
5. Set the dressing aside.
6. Coarsely chop the lettuce. You should have about 4 cups.
7. Remove and discard the stem ends of the tomatoes,.
8. Dice the tomatoes.
9. Place the lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon in a large bowl but don’t toss until serving.
10. Just before serving, gently toss the salad with the dressing (use the slotted spoon or a rubber spatula).
11. Season the salad with salt and lots of pepper to taste; remember, the bacon is salty already.
12. What else: For the best results, make your croutons from scratch. If you were sensible, you’d toast the bread with extra virgin olive oil or melted butter. But you’re not sensible and neither am I, so we’ll use the fat from the bacon and keep it between us. Of course, to save time, you could use store-bought croutons, but let’s pretend I didn’t say that.

Variation: BLT Salad Bruschetta
Prepare the BLT Salad,  but do not toss the salad.

1. Cut 8 slices of French bread sharply on the diagonal and about 1/2-inch thick.
2. Brush the bread on both sides with bacon fat or olive oil.
3. Bake the slices of bread in a 350°F oven or toaster oven until crisp and golden brown, about 5
   minutes per side, or brown the bread slices on the grill.
4. Lightly spread each piece of toast with some mayonnaise.
5. Toss the salad and spoon it onto the toasts.

Serves:   4 – 6

Source:  The Splendid Table