Tag: summer salads
Mango and Rice Salad
I love, love this salad. I utilized our favorite fruit in the house-mangoes. I make everything with this delicious fruit- entrees, appetizers, salads and dessert, oh, and some delicious drinks as well. I needed to serve a side dish with the shrimp curry I posted yesterday. I wanted to make some kind of a starch and also vegetables. I decided to make a rice salad (never made one before) and use mangoes, red peppers, green onions, cilantro and mint. How can you go wrong with all those delicious ingredients??
I made a fabulous dressing consisting of rice vinegar, honey and olive oil. It is amazing to me how just the right ingredients can make such a big difference in a dish. The tangy dressing made the rice salad absolutely delicious and it went perfectly with the shrimp curry. We ate the rice salad a few days even after the curry was finished. It tasted better the next day.
This salad will be perfect with any grilled entree like hamburgers, hot dogs or even steak. This will be a staple in our house for the summer.
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Spinach and Strawberry Salad
This salad epitomizes summer according to me. It looks bright and colorful with the baby spinach and strawberries. It is super healthy and includes walnuts- which, just like spinach is a super food.
We were having one of our Friday pizza parties and I was grilling pizzas outside. I wanted to make a light, easy salad that will be delicious with the dinner.
I had lots of strawberries and always keep baby spinach in the fridge. I paired them together and added the walnuts to the mix. I came up with a simple balsamic dressing. Since strawberries were the main ingredient, I added some strawberry jam to the dressing. It added a great delicious tang to the vinaigrette.
Overall the salad was delicious. It went perfectly well with the grilled pizzas, in fact I think it will go well with any entree. I served a chilled white wine and the meal was great.
Try this salad this summer, you will love it.
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Tomato and Egg Salad with Arugula
I was at Whole Foods and the farmer’s market today. Every where I looked, I could see tomatoes in abundance. I mostly buy the cherry or grape tomatoes- they make fabulous sauces and are great to cut in half for sandwiches or salads. Today the orange and green tomatoes were just too tempting and I decided to spend the big bucks to buy the colorful tomatoes. My first thought was to pair them with fresh mozzarella cheese and basil- it’s my husband’s favorite. I wanted to make something different- but couldn’t come up with anything.
I came home and as dinner time came around- hunger levels were not too high. I thought of tossing the tomatoes with some salt and eating them as a meal- but then as I was putting the eggs in the fridge- egg salad came to mind.
I boiled a few eggs and cut the tomatoes. I added mayonnaise and dijon mustard to the mix. Some salt, lemon juice and pepper finished it off. I asked my husband to bring some thyme from the back yard for the salad. I always like a little burst of sweetness in my salad- currants came to mind.
I dressed the arugula simply with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. The tomato and egg salad was served on arugula with a garnish of currants. It was simply delicious- a whole meal with greens, protein and fabulous tasting tomatoes. It was a perfect end to the day.
- 2-3 large heirloom tomatoes, cut into ½ inch pieces
- 4 eggs, full boiled, peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- Salt
- Pepper
- Juice of half a lemon
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
Add the tomatoes and eggs in a mixing bowl. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper, lemon juice and fresh thyme. Mix well careful not to break the tomatoes. Keep aside.
- 4 cups baby arugula
- Salt
- Pepper
- Juice of half a lemon
- Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, about a tablespoon
- 2 tablespoons currants
In a large platter, add the arugula. Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice. Add the salt and pepper and toss the greens. Add the egg and tomato mixture on top. Garnish with the currants and serve.