Tag: salad

Speedy Southwestern Salad – Easy picnic salad recipe

SpeedySouthwestSalad

The credit for this “recipe” goes to @snbLeslie who brought a version of it as a dip to one of our knitting weekends.

3 ingredients for the salad

The hero of the 3 ingredients is the TJs Corn and Chile salsa which adds the spice and lovely southwestern flavor.

Easy avacado cubes

If you keep a can of black beans on hand and this salsa you can squee a little bit like I did when I got avocados in my CSA.

Beans, Avacado, corn salsa

After cubing the avocado, rinse and drain a can of black beans, and add the salsa.

Salad mix

And you’re done. Serve it in a bowl as a dip with tortilla chips.

salad bites

Or schmancy it up a bit and assemble a plate to pass it in little tortilla “cups”.

Salad toppings - Southwestern

I kept the mix in the fridge during the week and just tossed it with a bowl of greens for a quick “Big Salad” meal.

As a vegan dish you can’t go wrong bringing it along on a picnic or to a pot luck.

Looking for another picnic salad? Try the 4-ingredient “Perfect picnic potluck salad recipe”

Perfect Picnic / Potluck Salad Recipe

Veggies for the perfect potluck salad

The Summer is upon us and I’m hoping for sunshine-y days with friends and family sharing food. Choosing a potluck or picnic dish can be tricky, you want something that won’t fade in flavor or possibly go bad in transit or while sitting around. And a salad can be the trickiest dish of all. This salad not only travels well, it actually gets better with time. I learned the basics from our chef at work who really knows the limitations of a salad bar.

The basics are:
Red bell pepper
white mushrooms, sliced
zucchini (the small young ones are best)
canned or bottled ( I use canned) artichoke hearts, quartered

good quality basic italian dressing (you can make your own if you have a favorite recipe, or buy the one you like – I have been using Newman’s and always get raves)

picnicsalad complete

Just slice up the veggies into bite-sized pieces, toss with the dressing and you’re done.
For this particular batch I used two small zucchini, one red pepper, about 1/2 lb of mushrooms and one can of artichoke hearts. I tossed it with about 1/3 cup dressing. The result was one quart of salad.

Want to add a little protein? – garbanzo beans work especially well.

It goes just as well beside burgers as it does a roast chicken or homemade ravioli. When I know a heat wave is coming, I’ll make a batch so there’s something healthy and refreshing in the fridge.