un’ruly life: 14 days of salads (part 1)

Love this? Share it!

– by Antonia

I rang in the new year as most people did, having eaten truckloads of food over the holidays and promising to be on my best epicurean behavior in the new year. To kick the year off right, I’d make sure I would get my veggies in each day by having a salad for one of my daily three squares. I’d do this for two weeks. I figured it could be fun if I stepped out of the usual salads I’d made. So I surfed the net for some inspiration. Here’s how the first week went.

Note: When it comes to measuring the ingredients, I eyeball it for the most part, unless otherwise specified.

a niçoise of sorts

nicoise_salad_2

This is my take on a Niçoise salad. I had potatoes left over from the previous night, so I grabbed some green beans and created this.

Ingredients: Arugula, green beans, handful of cherry tomatoes halved, sliced radishes

Dressing: Olive oil, salt, black pepper, balsamic vinegar

tuna salad

tuna_salad_with_corn

This is a hearty dinner salad packed with protein via the tuna and soft boiled egg.

Ingredients: Arugula, 1 can of tuna, handful of cherry tomatoes halved, canned corn and one soft boiled egg

Dressing: Olive oil, salt, black pepper, balsamic vinegar

a taste of summer in winter

cucumber_salad

The picture doesn’t do justice to this salad. It’s such a fresh tasting summery salad. The cucumbers and mint are a great way to give your tastebuds a break from Winter and the sautéed shrimp adds a nice BBQ-like kick. I served this with homemade garlic bread on the side.

Ingredients: 1.5 cucumbers (peeled for the hell of it), 1 small bag of radishes, sprinkle of watercress, about a handful of peeled shrimp sautéed in old bay seasoning, about 2 sprinkles of fresh mint.

Dressing: Mix 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil with .5-1 whole lemon (try a half and see if you want more); salt and pepper to taste. If you’re going to eat all of this in one sitting, add the dressing to the salad. If not, keep it on the side and mix as desired.

For the “homemade” garlic bread, simply slice up a baguette. Put butter on each slice; then add garlic powder (not garlic salt; the butter provides enough salt). Toast all the slices until lightly brown and garnish with parsley. All of this comfortably served 3 people.

spicy carrot salad

carrot_salad

This is a combination of this and this recipe.

Ingredients: 1 bag of shredded carrots, 1 whole red bell pepper cut into thin strips, about 2 sprinkles of chopped fresh cilantro, as much chopped green onions as you like

Dressing: In a separate bowl mix 1 tablespoon of olive oil, half a lime, 1 tablespoon of tabasco sauce (you can do less or more to get it at your desired spice level, salt and black pepper to to taste.

After making the dressing, mix the salad and the dressing together in a large bowl and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then serve. I ate this with some pita bread and hummus on the side.

couscous, tomato and mustard

couscous_mustard

I made this salad when my cupboards were running bare and I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store. I pulled together some random things I had in the kitchen and actually came out with something yummy. The couscous and mustard (I used a really grainy one) give the salad a fun texture and a taste you wouldn’t expect.

Ingredients: Arugula, chopped tomato, couscous seasoned with salt and pepper and cumin, top everything with grainy mustard!

shrimp thai salad

thai_salad

Ingredients: Mixed greens, chopped cucumber, sprouts, shredded carrots, shrimp sautéed in salt and red pepper flakes

Dressing: I really eyeballed this one; just kept tasting it as I went… Sesame oil (lets say about 3 tbsp), soy sauce (or fish sauce), red pepper flakes, a tsp or two of sugar, 1/4 lime, a little cilantro for garnishing

cucumber, avocado and crab salad (no mayo!)

avocado_crab_salad_1

This was my favorite salad to make just because I had never attempted anything like it before. It’s actually quite easy to put together.

Ingredients: A few thinly sliced cucumbers for the base, 2 chopped avocados, red pepper flakes, chopped cilantro, 1/2 lime, garlic salt, 1 can of crab, old bay seasoning, 1/2 tbsp of olive oil

avocado_crab_salad_collage

Avocados: Dice the avocados and place them in a bowl. Then gently mix in the lime juice, garlic salt, red pepper flakes and chopped cilantro. (It’s sort of like making guac, except you don’t mush up the avocado).

Crab: Place crab into a second bowl. Use a fork to shred it a little and to look for any shell. Mix in olive oil, old bay seasoning and garlic salt to taste.

Find a short glass and begin building your cylinder. The crab will go first, since it’s what I wanted on top. I used about 2 tbsp of the the crab mix and followed with about 2 tbsp of the avocado. Then I placed a few of the sliced cucumbers on top and patted everything down so it would all stick together. I placed my plate face down on top of the glass and then flipped it over! I gave the base of the now upside-down glass a little pat to get its contents to fall to the plate; removed the glass and voila! Top it all off with a little cilantro for looks.

I served this with some sautéed potatoes on the side. All of the above and about three big potatoes served two people.

Hope you guys try one of these recipes because they were so fun to make and yummy to eat! Look out for Part 2, where I share how seven more days of salads goes.

If you have any salad ideas, feel free to share in the comments below!

Love this? Share it!
Antonia
Antonia

An entrepreneur at heart, I founded Unruly in 2013 after spending six great years in advertising. I’m über lazy when it comes to doing my hair so I’m always looking for easy and quick ways to care and style my hair.

Articles: 190

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *