Here's what I've been up to:
This picture features a medley four of my recent salads: tortellini salad, pesto roasted vegetable quinoa salad, green and bean potato salad and my tuna salad.
The tuna salad has appeared on here before - just click the link above. I found the recipe for a delicious, mayo-free green bean and potato salad on allrecipes.com and made it exactly according to the recipe.
The other two recipes are my own creations.
Tortellini Salad:
2 packages of tortellini - 4 cheese and spinach and 4 cheese
Olive oil
1 small head of broccoli - steam for 2 minutes until bright green
Chopped sun dried tomatoes
Sun dried tomato pesto
Red onion chopped
Grated carrots
Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
Julienned red pepper
Chopped spring onions
Fresh mozzarella, diced into 1 cm cubes
Grated Parmesan
Freshly ground salt and pepper
Fresh baby spinach leaves
Cook tortellini according to package instructions. Drain and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. Steam broccoli for 2 minutes until bright green. Add to tortellini in large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and serve over fresh baby spinach leaves (or fold in with the rest of the ingredients). Store in refrigerator and serve cool.
Pesto Roasted Veggie Quinoa Salad
Red and Regular Quinoa - For a larger salad use 2 cups of quinoa (1 c. red/1 c. regular), for a smaller salad, use only 1 cup of quinoa.
Squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes (heirloom blend), mushrooms, red onion, carrots, garlic, yellow/orange/red bell pepper
Green pesto
Olive oil
Parsley
Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Add all chopped veggies to a large bowl. Add a couple splashes of olive oil, stir in a generous amount of green pesto and broil on high for about 15 minutes. Add broiled veggies to the cooked quinoa. Add chopped parsley and olives and the juice of one lime. Store in refrigerator and serve cool.
This last salad is a Moroccan eggplant salad, which turned out to be incredibly delicious. I had so much eggplant in my produce box a couple of weeks ago that I simply had to find something to do with it. Most of the ingredients in this salad are local: squash from my parents' garden, local eggplant, local zucchini local heirloom cherry tomatoes, local red peppers (all from the Produce Box). I altered the recipe a bit to include a few more veggies and substituted sesame seeds for pine nuts since I didn't have any on hand. Original recipe courtesy of myrecipes.com, but I made my own adjustments.
1) Make marinade:
Marinade:
3/4 c. olive oil and red wine vinegar (total - half of each)
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger
1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic (fresh, pressed)
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cumin (I might have used a tad more)
1/4 tsp. ground pepper (I ground it fresh, so not sure how much I used)
Dash of cayenne pepper or freshly ground red chili flakes (I used ground red chili flakes)
Mix all together.
Ingredients for the eggplant salad:
2 large bell peppers (I used red and purple, but you can use red, orange and/or yellow as well) rinsed, seeded and chopped into chunks
1 zucchini and 1 squash, chopped into chunks
1 large eggplant, chopped into chunks (I used several eggplant varieties, Japanese, white and regular)
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped into chunks
1/2 purple onion, chopped into chunks
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Later: 1/2 c. toasted pine nuts (or substitute with a few dashes of sesame seeds if you don't have pine nuts)
1/4 c. chopped fresh mint leaves
Mix all the veggies together in a bowl and add the marinade. Coat veggies, spread onto baking sheet and broil on high for about 15 minutes.
When the veggies come out of the oven, allow to cool for a bit, then put back in the bowl. Add pine nuts and fresh mint leaves. Add a bit of red wine vinegar and freshly ground salad and pepper to taste, if desired (I didn't and it was fine). Store in refrigerator and serve cool. Can also be served warm if preferred.
The other two recipes are my own creations.
Tortellini Salad:
2 packages of tortellini - 4 cheese and spinach and 4 cheese
Olive oil
1 small head of broccoli - steam for 2 minutes until bright green
Chopped sun dried tomatoes
Sun dried tomato pesto
Red onion chopped
Grated carrots
Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
Julienned red pepper
Chopped spring onions
Fresh mozzarella, diced into 1 cm cubes
Grated Parmesan
Freshly ground salt and pepper
Fresh baby spinach leaves
Cook tortellini according to package instructions. Drain and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. Steam broccoli for 2 minutes until bright green. Add to tortellini in large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and serve over fresh baby spinach leaves (or fold in with the rest of the ingredients). Store in refrigerator and serve cool.
Pesto Roasted Veggie Quinoa Salad
Red and Regular Quinoa - For a larger salad use 2 cups of quinoa (1 c. red/1 c. regular), for a smaller salad, use only 1 cup of quinoa.
Squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes (heirloom blend), mushrooms, red onion, carrots, garlic, yellow/orange/red bell pepper
Green pesto
Olive oil
Parsley
Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Add all chopped veggies to a large bowl. Add a couple splashes of olive oil, stir in a generous amount of green pesto and broil on high for about 15 minutes. Add broiled veggies to the cooked quinoa. Add chopped parsley and olives and the juice of one lime. Store in refrigerator and serve cool.
1) Make marinade:
Marinade:
3/4 c. olive oil and red wine vinegar (total - half of each)
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger
1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic (fresh, pressed)
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cumin (I might have used a tad more)
1/4 tsp. ground pepper (I ground it fresh, so not sure how much I used)
Dash of cayenne pepper or freshly ground red chili flakes (I used ground red chili flakes)
Mix all together.
Ingredients for the eggplant salad:
2 large bell peppers (I used red and purple, but you can use red, orange and/or yellow as well) rinsed, seeded and chopped into chunks
1 zucchini and 1 squash, chopped into chunks
1 large eggplant, chopped into chunks (I used several eggplant varieties, Japanese, white and regular)
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped into chunks
1/2 purple onion, chopped into chunks
-----
Later: 1/2 c. toasted pine nuts (or substitute with a few dashes of sesame seeds if you don't have pine nuts)
1/4 c. chopped fresh mint leaves
Mix all the veggies together in a bowl and add the marinade. Coat veggies, spread onto baking sheet and broil on high for about 15 minutes.
When the veggies come out of the oven, allow to cool for a bit, then put back in the bowl. Add pine nuts and fresh mint leaves. Add a bit of red wine vinegar and freshly ground salad and pepper to taste, if desired (I didn't and it was fine). Store in refrigerator and serve cool. Can also be served warm if preferred.
