9 Cheerful & Colorful Salads

Ah! Spring is in the air!

Wait. What?

It’s only November?

Oh.

I guess my wishful thinking got the better of me again… Wish we could fast forward to spring …

Hmmm. Perhaps we can. There must be a way. But how?

Ok, you guessed it.
The title to this post is kind of a heavy clue, isn’t it?

Salads, my friends, fresh, delicious, vegetable-packed salads!

We’ll be practically celebrating spring on our plates!
There! I knew there was a way.

So we’re talking lots of veggies here.

And no, I won’t hold you long on the nutritional powerhouses that vegetables are. I’m sure we’re all fairly savvy about that.

But seriously,
Bursting with freshness and life force, these little gems with their vibrant colors, are Mother Nature’s gifts to us.
Let’s welcome them onto our dining tables!

Awesome salads, here we come!

1. Super Easy Fresh Veggie Salad

This salad has a special place of honor in my heart.

It brings back memories of our weekly visit to the local green grocer, with me and my parents filling baskets upon baskets with fresh produce to take home.
Oh, those were the days…

On the way back I would help myself to some of the brilliant red tomatoes, and crisp cucumbers, smiling innocently at my parents as they turned to me to find where the sounds of crunching and munching came from…

This salad is so easy to whip up, that it’s simply magnificent. And magnificently simple!

Preps: 5 minutes
Serves: 1-2

You will need:

• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 cucumber, diced

Dressing:

• Extra virgin olive oil to taste
• Apple cider vinegar to taste
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Optional: a small splash fresh lemon or lime juice

How to make it:

1. In a bowl combine veggies and a generous dose of dressing. Mix.
2. Serve immediately.

2. Mediterranean Salad

There’s something about the soft texture and the sweetness of the mozzarella together with the zing of the vinegar and the crunch of the fresh lettuce, which makes this salad totally irresistible to me.

This is my take on fresh Greek salad and Italian salad combined.

Preps: 5 minutes
Serves: 1-2

You will need:

• A handful lettuce (Iceberg or Romaine), coarsely shredded
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 cup soft fresh mozzarella, coarsely sliced or diced

Dressing:

• Extra virgin olive oil to taste
• Apple cider vinegar to taste
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Optional: a small splash fresh lemon or lime juice

How to make it:

1. In a bowl combine veggies, mozzarella, and a generous dose of dressing. Mix.
2. Serve immediately.

3. Fruity Carrot Salad

We’re seriously into colors today.

Here it is with all its orange glory: the sweet carrot salad!

With only three simple ingredients and under ten minutes of preps, there are no more excuses…

Let’s make it!

Preps: 5-10 minutes
Serves: 3

You will need:

• 2 big carrots, shredded
• ¾ cup raisins, soaked in water for a couple of minutes, then drained
• 1 orange, juiced (with flesh)
• Optional: a small splash fresh lemon or lime juice

How to make it:

1. In a bowl combine all ingredients.
2. Mix and serve cold.

4. Niçoise Salad

The breeze of the Mediterranean is here!

This flavorful salad, and one of my favorite choices for a light lunch, is a meal all by itself, and a bite of pure bliss!

The cool thing about it is that you can tweak it in almost any way that tickles your fancy, and it will still come out fantastic!

So go ahead, you really can’t go wrong here.

Preps:

• Steaming: about 20 minutes
• Making: about 15 minutes

Serves: 6-7

You will need:

• 2 steamed or cooked potatoes, diced
• 2-3 hardboiled eggs, diced
• 120 g (1 tin) tuna in water, drained
• A handful steamed or cooked green beans, sliced into 1 inch pieces
• A handful steamed or cooked yellow beans, sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 340 mL (12 fl Oz) cooked corn (drained if from a can)
• 2-3 artichoke hearts, cubed
• 1 fresh tomato, diced
• 1 cup lettuce (Iceberg or Romaine), coarsely shredded
• ¾ cup cheddar cheese (or any other similar cheese), diced
• 2 tbs. black olives
• Optional: 1 onion, chopped

Vinaigrette:

• 1 cup plain kefir / plain yogurt / buttermilk
• Apple cider vinegar to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil to taste
• Mustard to taste
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

How to make it:

1. Combine all ingredients and vinaigrette in a bowl.
2. Mix with a spoon until well combined.
3. Refrigerate for an hour to let flavors set.

5. Pink Salad

There’s a story that goes in my family that my grandpa concocted this salad especially for me when I was little and in one of those childhood phases where I was completely obsessed with anything pink.

He combined two of my BESTEST EVER favorites:  potato salad and beets in vinaigrette.

I loooved the result so much, it became a family tradition to serve this salad on almost any occasion.

I’m so honored and utterly excited to share this Pinkalicious joy with you today!

Preps:

• Steaming potatoes: about 20 minutes
• Steaming beets: 50-55 minutes
• Making: about 15 minutes

Serves: 6-7

You will need:

• 3 steamed or cooked beets, diced
• 3 steamed or cooked potatoes, diced
• 2 eggs, diced
• 1 small fresh cucumber, diced small
• 1-2 pickled cucumbers, diced small
• ¾ cup Granny Smith apple, diced small
• Optional: ¹⁄₃ onion, chopped

Vinaigrette:

• ¾ cup plain kefir / plain yogurt / buttermilk
• Apple cider vinegar to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil to taste
• Mustard to taste
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

How to make it:

1. Combine all ingredients and vinaigrette in a bowl.
2. Mix with a spoon until well combined.
3. Refrigerate for an hour to let flavors set.

6. The Simplest Coleslaw

With only a light dressing made of salt, pepper and fresh lime juice, this new take on the iconic coleslaw highlights the pure flavors of the cabbage and carrot.

Time for these awesome veggies to shine!

No more hiding behind a sugary vinaigrette.

How else would you savor the gentle sweetness of the carrot and the crisp earthiness of the cabbage if they’re always drenched in a thick coat of sugar and mayo?

Go ahead, give it a try.

Preps: 5 minutes
Serves: 1

You will need:

• 1 carrot
• 1 large chunk of green cabbage
• Juice from ½ - 1 fresh lemon or lime
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

How to make it:

1. Finely shred cabbage and carrot.
2. Season with salt, pepper and lemon or lime. Mix. Serve.

7. Super Green Fresh Cuke Salad

This super fresh salad pairs great with fish and rice, and adds a lovely color to your plate.

The recipe dates back at least a 100 years. I found it in an old family hand-written recipe book. 

It has been passed down to us from my German great-great-grandma, and is said to have been often served as a side for fish dishes in their home somewhere in rural central Germany.

Preps: 5-10 minutes
Serves: 3-4

You will need:

• 1 large firm cucumber or 5-6 small firm cucumbers, finely sliced
• A few sprigs fresh dill, finely chopped
• Apple cider vinegar, a generous splash
• Extra virgin olive oil, a splash
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Optional: a small splash fresh lemon or lime juice

How to make it:

1. Combine all ingredients in a see-through glass bowl.
2. Season to taste, mix, and serve.

8. Fresh Tomato Salad

Perhaps the time is ripe now to mention our salad-related ‘Tunki Tunki’ ritual… (pronounced ‘Toonkie’)
You will see the connection in a minute.

Tunki Tunki (from German, ‘to dunk’) is a family tradition, where a slice of bread is dunked into the salad dressing (which, as you may have guessed, would be in abundance…), and then munched with delight…

In fact, we call any dunk-worthy salad a Tunki Tunki, almost regardless of its ingredients…

What would promote a simple-ranking salad into the prestigious Tunki Tunki status?

It’s all in the dressing, my dears!
A high quality extra-virgin olive oil paired with a liberal dose of raw/unpasteurised apple cider vinegar would usually do the trick…

So go for it! Don’t be shy!

Preps: 5-10 minutes
Serves: 4-5

You will need:

• 2 large tomatoes (organic is great)
• ½ - ¾ red onion, finely chopped
• Apple cider vinegar, a generous splash
• Extra virgin olive oil, a splash
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Optional: a small splash fresh lemon or lime juice

How to make it:

1. Combine all ingredients in a see-through glass bowl.
2. Season to taste, mix, and serve.

9. Rustic Caesar Salad

I had the pleasure of ordering this gorgeous salad at a local diner in Northern New Hampshire during one of our winter vacations a while back, and I just couldn’t get it out of my head.

The dressing is exquisite and very light, and serves to highlight the freshness of the lettuce.

Meaning, when you do your groceries, you’ll be looking for the freshest and crispest lettuce you can find.

For the same reason you’ll cut the lettuce just before serving.

If you can’t find Iceberg lettuce, go for Romaine. It should work just fine.

Preps: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 4

For the salad you will need:

• 1 Iceberg lettuce

For the dressing you will need:

• 1 cup plain kefir
• 1 tbs. high quality Dijon mustard
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• A splash wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• A splash extra virgin olive oil

For the toppings you will need:

• 1 ½ cups cheddar/parmesan cheese, shredded

For the bread croutons:

• 2-3 slices white bread, preferably dried out of the fridge for a couple of hours
• Olive oil

Also recommended:

• 1 quart Mason jar with a tight fitting lid

How to make it:

1. We’ll start with the croutons:
   Cut the bread into 1 by 1 inch slices, brush with some olive oil, and bake on 350 F for 5-10 minutes until crisp.
2. Now the dressing:
   Add all dressing ingredients into a 1-quart Mason jar. Shake well. Adjust seasoning if needed, and shake again.
3. Now let’s assemble:
   Cut the lettuce into large chunks, drizzle liberally with dressing, and top with cheese and croutons.
4. Serve.

Boy, am I hungry now…

Just before I let you go, if this post has charmed you into adding some vegetables to your grocery list, kudos!
We’ve done our job.

See if you can find organic and local produce. If not available, we’ll make do with what we have.

Have a lovely and delicious weekend!