As the weather starts to warm up, our appetites start to get a hankering for fresh and bright flavors. Move over slow cooker meals, bring on the salads! There are so many flavor combinations to dress up a salad, it’s difficult to be bored.
Last week we enjoyed this salad that hubs deemed, “Excellent.” I wouldn’t say that he’s hard to please, but an E is high praise, indeed. Makes my heart sing, actually.
Make Salads the Star
Salads are not only a great food experience, but they are also a wonderful way to include fresh produce into your diet. You can sneak in certain veggies that might not fly on their own, but taste great in combination with other foods.
A good salad has a combination of flavors and textures. This one fits the bill.
Spring Greens — Easy to come by during this time of year, early greens are tender and delicious. I buy an organic mix at Costco for just a few dollars. I simply wash and spin dry in my salad spinner.
Veggies — Tomatoes and green onion add flavor.
Protein — Garbanzo beans, aka Chick Peas, add nice texture and protein.
Cheese – Feta adds a salty contrast to the rest of the salad.
Crunch — Pepitas, roasted pumpkin seeds, add a nut-free, gluten-free crunch, as well as protein and minerals.
Dressing — This Cilantro-Lime dressing adds sparkle and brightness. It just screams, “Winter’s over.”
Spring Greens with Pepitas & Cilantro-Lime Dressing
Make this delicious salad “more” by adding grilled shrimp or chicken.
For each plate, you will need:
2 handfuls spring mix
Cilantro-Lime Dressing
1/2 tomato, chopped
2 Tablespoons garbanzo beans, rinsed
1 Tablespoon chopped green onion
2 Tablespoons feta cheese crumbles
2 Tablespoons pepitas
In a large salad bowl, toss the greens with enough dressing to coat. Place the lettuce on dinner plate(s). Arrange the other salad ingredients on the bed of greens.
Cilantro-Lime Dressing
1 handful cilantro, about 1/2 cup
juice of one lime
1 Tablespoon chopped green onion
salt and pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
In a blender or food processor, blend the cilantro, lime juice, and green onion. Season with salt and pepper. Add the olive oil in a thin stream, blending well.
Put Your House in Order
I’m participating in a series, called “Put Your House in Order,” with a bunch of great bloggers. Each of us is tackling a different area of home management and sharing suggestions for organizing in the new year.
Check out how the others are enjoying new growth:
- Earning Extra Money From Home – Kingdom First Mom
- Measuring Kids’ Growth With Picture Frames - Smockity Frocks
- Easy Spring Banner Craft Tutorial- The Casabella Project
- New Beginnings – How to Become More Self-Disciplined – Women Living Well
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This looks delicious! I will make this as a celebration feast when winter is actually over here. We had snow last night! Snow! While it didn’t accumulate, it wa still a disappointment to see. Happy Spring!
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This looks SO YUMMY! I will definitely try it sometime soon. I think i have you to blame for my running to the store and buying lots of fresh cilantro last week. I’ve totally been craving some fresh, summery flavors and to me, this fits the bill.
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Oh MY yum!!! Girl, you never cease to amaze me with your creativity in the kitchen!
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I am making that salad. It looks good at 9:30 p.m. right now. And I can’t wait to make that cilantro dressing-never tried it. Oh, I think I will try freezer cooking garbanzo beans. Hmmm…never done it. let me know if you have or is the cost difference worth it.
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Jessica Reply:
April 4th, 2011 at 6:40 pm
I just bought a bag of garbanzos to give it another try. LOL I did it years ago and can’t remember why I gave it up. With the high price of canned — and how much I love garbanzo beans — it’s time to try it again.
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This looks and sounds believably delicious!!! I can never understand how someone can fail to enjoy something like this…………Salad is not JUST salad….salads can be taken in any direction!!! That is what is so great and limitless about them! They are exciting to combine and even more exciting to enjoy! I agree with your husband…a big, well-deserved E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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looks SO yummy! the dressing sounds awesome! can’t wait to try, minus tomatoes of course!
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I love that dressing! Thanks!
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Mmmmmm…this looks so good! I have a silver bowl just like yours in the picture – I need to pull it out and put it to use! Thanks for the inspiration!
Courtney
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We have had this several times since you first posted it- it’s SOOO good! And now that my husband started P90X, this is a great salad that can fit into his diet AND be a meal that the kids can enjoy too!
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I’ll make this dressing soon–thanks. I love salads all the time. But I sort of disagree about the slow cooker–summer is a great time for the slow cooker since it doesn’t use a lot of power and it doesn’t heat up the house.
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