Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Quinoa and Arugula Salad with Almonds, Pomegranate and Feta in a Lemony Tahini Dressing

After all of the football snacking in January it was time for some healthier dishes starting with this roasted cauliflower and chickpea quinoa and arugula salad/grain bowl. I start this salad out with a base of quinoa and arugula and I build it up with some meaty roasted cauliflower and chickpeas. From there I add some toasted almond slivers for crunch, pomegranate for both the colour and the juicy bursts of sweetness and some salty feta before finishing it off with plenty of fresh herbs like parsley and mint. Continuing with the Mediterranean theme I went with a simple lemony tahini based dressing and despite it simply consisting of tahini, lemon juice and salt it is so amazingly good! One of the things that I like most about this salad, other than the fact that it tastes amazing, is all of the vibrant colours from the black quinoa to the green arugula to the white cauliflower and finally the red pomegranate and I also thoroughly enjoy all of the contrasting textures. If you are looking for a healthy light meal (or a side dish) you just cannot go wrong with this tasty roasted cauliflower and chickpea quinoa and arugula salad/grain bowl!

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Roasted Pumpkin and Green Bean Quinoa Salad in Thai Peanut Dressing

It's time for another pumpkin recipe and this time we've got a roasted pumpkin and green bean quinoa salad in a tasty Thai peanut dressing. Quinoa makes for both a nice addition to a salad and a great base for salads and if you are using it as a base for a salad all you really need to do is add some veggies, like pumpkin, along with a dressing and you're done! In addition to the pumpkin I added green beans (which I blanched rather than roasted to retain their bright green colour and crispy crunch) and red peppers along with some green onions and cilantro. The pumpkin and Thai peanut sauce combo is a fabulous one, and the inspiration for this salad, so a dressing based on it was a must! Although it's not required, I like to serve this salad on a bed of baby spinach, just to get some more veggie goodness!

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Pesto Zucchini and Corn Quinoa Salad

Although fall is officially here and the days are cooling, there is still plenty of zucchini around and I wanted to give summer one last hurrah with this zucchini and corn quinoa salad with a basil pesto dressing. This salad is as easy as it sounds with the quinoa, sautéed zucchini and corn, the basil pesto dressing and I like to add some chickpeas to fill it out a bit along with some green onions and toasted pine nuts as garnish. Really all you need to do is cook the quinoa, zucchini and corn and mix everything and you are done! This pesto zucchini and corn quinoa salad makes for a great side or even a light meal and it's sure to brighten your day!

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Blackened Shrimp and Fried Green Tomato Po Boy Salad

The blackened shrimp and fried green tomato po'boy is one of my favourite sandwiches and when I found myself thinking that it would also make a great salad I just had to try it. The po'boy submarine style sandwich can have pretty much much anything in it with common ingredients being fried seafood but this flavour combo is what I usually go with so that's where I started the salad out. The shrimp are simply tossed in some creole seasoning and then cooked at a high temperature in a pan and the fried green tomatoes are just sliced green tomatoes that are dipped in buttermilk followed by flour and/or cornmeal and fried until golden brown. The rest of the salad composed of lettuce and ripe tomatoes and I could not resist throwing some bacon into the mix! The final component of the salad is a tasty remoulade sauce thinned down a bit with buttermilk to make into more of a dressing. The po'boy sandwich salad experiment was a complete success with all of the flavours working well together and working well in salad form; I know I will be making this salad a lot in the future!

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30 Summer Salads

We're in the middle of summer right now and summer is definitely the salad season! Salads are amazingly versatile in that they can contain so many different things from a basic lettuce, cucumber and tomato salad to chicken salads, to potato salads, etc., they can be served either hot or cold and they can be everything from a side dish to a main course. After a long hot summer day I somethings don't feel like cooking, or eating a hot or heavy meal and a light, cool and crisp salad is the perfect solution! Summer is a great time for salads since there are so many fresh vegetables and fruits that can be used in them and as the ones that are available change, your salads change ensuring that they are always exciting! After thinking about salads so much I figured that it was about time that I gathered a few of my favourites and shared them with you and below you have 30 of them along with a few tasty dressings!

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Strawberry and Avocado Salad with Strawberry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

It's time for another salad recipe and this time it's a strawberry and avocado salad with strawberry poppy seed vinaigrette! Strawberries work so well in salads and I find myself making them on a near weekly basis all summer long! This salad combines so many of my favourite ingredients from the strawberries to the avocados, the BACON, and feta and the dressing is just so tasty and summery fresh! The strawberry poppy seed vinaigrette uses fresh strawberries with white balsamic vinegar, honey, tamari, mustard, garlic and a touch of sriracha for some spicy heat and it is just perfect on this strawberry salad!

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Taco Salad

During the summer I often like to have salads as light meals and one of my favourites is a taco salad, which as the name implies has all of the flavours of tacos! This salad is a great way to finish off any leftover ingredients from taco night though I am usually too impatient to wait and just make it from scratch starting out with a homemade taco seasoning. This recipe is very flexible where you can use whatever your favoutite taco ingredients are and I generally like to pack the salad with plenty of healthy ones like beans, corn, tomatoes and avocado before moving onto things like cheese, Greek yogurt and salsa. Although a number of salad dressing would be perfect on this, I usually go with salsa verde as a dressing. As far as salads go this taco salad certainly makes for one tasty, light and satisfying meal meal!

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Chicken Carnitas Burrito Bowl with Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice

Whenever I make a tasty Mexican style meat like chicken carnitas I like to make extra to ensure leftovers for things like quesadillas and burrito bowls! Burrito bowls are essentially burritos that are served in bowls minus the tortillas and they are super easy to make! Typically a burrito bowl will start off with rice, but a lighter alternative is a cauliflower rice, followed by beans, vegetables like lettuce and tomatoes, and then finished off with things like guacamole, sour cream, salsa and cheese. Although you can go overboard filling out a burrito bowl it is pretty easy to keep them nice and light, healthy and satisfying and this burrito bowl does it with style! Forget waiting for leftovers! I am going to make another batch of chicken carnitas for more burrito bowls now!

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Greek Style Salad

With spring here I have been thinking about salads more often and one of my favourites is a Greek style salad! A Greek salad is nice and simple containing tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives, feta, onions, and a vibrant dressing. I really like the way the juiciness of the tomatoes and cucumers balance the saltiness of the olives and feta and the red onions provide a sweet and spicy counterpoint. The dressing for this salad is also pretty easy containing olive oil, lemon juice and oregano and the lemony vinaigrette really brightens the salad up.

Note: Traditionally Greek salads do not contain lettuce but it is always nice to add.

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Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

The Greek style salad, a salad with juicy tomatoes and cucumbers, tangy red onions, and salty kalamata olives and feta in a lemon and oregano vinaigrette, has to be one of my favourites and it is so easy to turn it into a light and yet satisfying meal with the addition of quinoa (or a whole grain) along with some chickpeas! I always enjoy using quinoa in salads like this since it is such a nice source of protein, especially when combined with a bean, and it really makes for a salad that eats like a meal. I particularly enjoy this quinoa and chickpea salad because of all of the wonderful Mediterranean flavours where the juicy tomatoes and cucumbers play brilliantly with the salty olives and feta. Another wonderful thing about this salad is how versatile it is, I always have fun changing up the ingredients and some more that work well are roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and even cool and creamy avocados!

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Apple and Pomegranate Quinoa and Kale Salad with Feta in a Curried Maple Dijon Dressing

Just because it's winter doesn't mean that you can't have some tasty salads! This has to be one of my favourite winter salads using apples, pomegranate and kale, all of which are still readily available in the colder months. Kale makes a surprisingly good base for salads and when you pile on quality ingredients like apples, pomegranate, walnuts and feta things just keep getting better. I like to bulk this salad out with the addition of quinoa making it a nice light meal that is just packed with healthy ingredients. For the dressing I like to go with a simple maple dijon vinaigrette spiked with a touch of curry far a hint of the exotic that goes perfectly with apples.

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Roasted Green Bean Red Pepper Quinoa Salad

Just because the weather is cooling doesn't mean that salads are off the menu, especially when they are like this tasty, hearty and healthy quinoa salad with roasted green beans and red peppers! I always enjoy making salads like this and they are super easy to make! I usually like to start with a rice, whole grain or quinoa and then I add some in season vegetables like green beans and red peppers followed optionally with a bean, some cheese, nuts and a dressing and in no like you have tasty salad that eats like a meal! When it comes to the vegetables, I often like to roast them as roasting helps bring out more of their flavour and in this case both green beans and red peppers are particularly nice when roasted. This roasted green bean and red pepper quinoa salad is definitely a great way to enjoy salads this fall!

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Esquites Quinoa Salad with Avocado

One of the best ways to enjoy corn is right from the cob and one of my favourite ways to do that is Mexican style, aka elote, where the corn is covered in butter, mayo, cotija cheese, a squirt of lime and a touch of chili pepper. Of course you can easily cut the corn from the cob and if you do that with elote you get esquites, a Mexican style corn salad which I also like a lot! Quinoa is often on my mind and I could not help think that adding some would only make things better both by adding an amazing texture and by adding a healthy source source of protein! I often enjoy the addition of avocado to my esquites and so I could not leave it out of this quinoa salad! I have to say that the combination of sweet corn, creamy avocado and quinoa is quite amazing and it makes for a great side dish or even a light meal!

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Chipotle Lime Grilled Shrimp Salad in Cilantro Lime Dressing

Summer isn't quite over yet which means that I can still squeeze in some more salads, especially if they contain grilled meat like this chipotle lime grilled shrimp salad in cilantro lime dressing! I have been totally obsessed with grilled shrimp this summer including the chipotle lime grilled shrimp which has to be my favourite! I wanted to make the chipotle lime grilled shrimp at least once more and enjoying it in a salad with my newly minted cilantro lime vinaigrette seemed like a great way to go. I went for a simple salad using some more fresh summer produce including corn and tomatoes along with some avocados and black beans to get a nice mix of sweet, juicy and creamy. The cilantro lime vinaigrette and the chipotle lime shrimp go particularly well together in this salad but then again I think that the cilantro lime vinaigrette would go well on pretty much everything! This salad is definitely a great way to enjoy some of the amazing freshness of summer!

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Southwestern Grilled Chicken Jalapeno Popper Salad

Now that I had my brand new jalapeno popper dressing I needed a salad to test it on and it could not just be any salad, it needed to be one that was strong enough to stand up the the total amazingness of the dressing. One of the first salads that came to mind was a southwestern style chopped salad filled with plenty of hearty and tasty ingredients including grilled corn, black beans, tomatoes and avocado. Continuing with the dressings jalapeno popper theme I added pickled jalapenos to the salad along with cheddar cheese that the poppers are sometimes filled with, bacon that they are sometimes wrapped in and crumbled tortilla chips for the crunchy popper coating. I wanted this salad to eat more like a meal so I topped it off with some seasoned grilled chicken. All of the flavours and textures in this salad work wonderfully together from the creamy beans and avocado which temper the jalapenos heat to the juicy tomatoes, the salty bacon, the crunchy tortilla chips and of course the super tasty jalapeno popper dressing! What a salad!

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Strawberry and Avocado Spinach Salad in Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

Right now the markets are filled with fresh strawberries and raspberries and that made me think about one my favourite ways to enjoy them together, in this strawberry and avocado spinach salad with raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. You might think that it is a bit odd combining strawberries in the salad and raspberries in the dressing but they work beautifully well together especially in a baby spinach salad with cool and creamy avocado, salty bacon and tangy blue cheese! Individually all of the ingredients in this salad are pretty amazing but combined they take things to a whole new level! This strawberry and avocado spinach salad in raspberry balsamic vinaigrette is so easy to throw together and it makes for a tasty treat of a light meal on hot summer days!

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Strawberry Quinoa and Spinach Caprese Salad

A nice fresh strawberry caprese salad is a great way to enjoy some of those perfectly ripe and juicy summer strawberries but if you are looking for something that could be more of a light meal how about a strawberry quinoa and spinach caprese salad? This salad is pretty much just a simply amazing strawberry caprese salad served on a bed of baby spinach and light, fluffy and tender quinoa and it makes for a really quick and easy light meal! When doing a strawberry caprese salad like this I like to kick up the flavour a bit by using a tasty homemade balsamic vinaigrette rather than just a splash of balsamic vinegar.

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Strawberry Caprese Salad

Out of all of the great ways that there are to enjoy strawberries sometimes the simplest ones are the best! Field ripened strawberries certainly don't need anything added to be ridiculously good, certainly not any sugar, but a splash of balsamic vinegar can help brighten them up and coax out even more of their natural flavours. There is only a small step between balsamic strawberries and a caprese style salad with the addition of fresh mozzarella and basil and this salad is truly one of summers finest treats!

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Crispy Baked Thai Peanut Sauce Coated Chicken

Recently I have been changing some typically deep fried dishes into healthier versions by coating them in panko breadcrumbs and baking them until golden brown and crispy. Normally I get the panko breadcrumbs to stick to the food by first dipping it is egg or an egg based batter but a when a reader asked about egg-less alternatives, it got me to thinking. When I made the Pad Thai shrimp burgers on the weekend the peanut sauce on them led me to the though of coating chicken in a Thai style peanut sauce follwed by the breadcrumbs and then baking them, which sounded so amazingly good! I am completely addicted to peanut sauce so I hardly needed an excuse to make a healthy baked crispy chicken dish with it!

The recipe for this crispy baked peanut chicken is really easy, you pretty much just thin the peanut sauce down until coats the chicken with just enough to get the panko breadcrumbs to stick and then bake until crispy and golden brown! All I have to say about this peanut chicken is that you have to try it! The peanut sauce works amazingly well at holding the breadcrumbs onto the chicken and the breadcrumbs bake up nice and crispy! Of course that does not even come close to being as good as all of the flavour that the peanut sauce adds to the mix!

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Vietnamese Summer Roll Salad

When I came across the idea of a Vietnamese summer roll salad on Tasty Kitchen I immediately knew that I would have to try it! Vietnamese summer rolls, goi cuon, consist of meat, vegetables, rice noodles and fresh herbs that are rolled up in rice paper and served at room temperate, without deep frying, accompanied by a dipping sauce. I like to make my summer rolls with shrimp along with plenty of fresh vegetables like cucumber, peppers, carrots, lettuce, bean sprouts, etc and fresh herbs like basil, mint and cilantro and since they are served at room temperature or even cool, it makes them a truly amazing treat on hot summer days. Vietnamese summer rolls are usually served with a dipping sauce the most common of which are a fish sauce based nuoc cham or a Vietnamese style spicy peanut and hoisin sauce. As you can see these summer rolls are practically already just salads wrapped up in rice paper so it is pretty easy to transform the rolls into a salad and to change the dipping sauce into a dressing and I did just that for this salad!

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