Fresh greens salad with orange-basil vinaigrette

Along with this unbelievably gorgeous weather comes my increased yearning for salads. There is something about nice weather that makes me want to consume salads at every meal, perhaps served with a rim-salted margarita on the rocks. I definitely have my standard go-to salads that I make a lot in the summer-time, but I also love experimenting with new combinations. I spotted blood oranges at the grocery store the other day and decided to add them as an ingredient in a salad dressing. And so, there in the produce aisle, this super simple yet delicious little salad was conceived.

In a medium bowl, combine:

2 heads Artisan lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces

20 cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup dried cherries

1/4 cup feta cheese

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

In a small bowl, whisk together:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Juice from 1/2 of a blood orange (substitution: Juice from 1/4 of a regular orange)

1 teaspoon dried basil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Just before serving, drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss.

Happy summer! Or spring! Or winter! Or whatever season it is right now.

Printable recipe: Fresh greens salad with orange-basil vinaigrette

Creamy feta vinaigrette

This is Week #33 of my 2011 cooking challenge! Click on the above graphic to view all P&TC recipes. All recipes created for this challenge come from the Food and Wine Annual Cookbook 2010: An Entire Year of Recipes.

I'm not gonna lie. This week has been a tough one and it has left my head spinning. So tough that even food blogging is a challenge for me, which is saying a lot because cooking and blogging about food happens to be one of my favorite things in the world. So I was pleased to see an easy recipe on my challenge list for this week. Easy and delicious...even better! Once I made it, I kind of fell in love. I want to put this dressing on everything! And now I'm encouraged to make more of my own salad dressings. Who needs Paul Newman?! 

In a food processor, add:

3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (3/4 cup)

2 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Pulse until smooth and season with kosher salt and pepper.

Drizzle over a salad or grilled veggies. I can imagine this to be delicious drizzled over just about anything. It is one tasty, creamy little dressing.

Click here for a printable recipe!

Mediterranean rice salad

This post written by the original Ebby.

After a slow start, it's finally starting to feel like spring around here. The past few weeks have been filled with rain, wind and cold. And lots of tornadoes. So it was a nice surprise to find the sun peeking out yesterday. I battled 30 mph winds to mow my lawn, and the smell of cut grass filled my head with a yearning to be on a boat in the middle of a lake--somewhere, anywhere!--with a cold drink in hand.         

Since it's not quite yet boating weather in Iowa, I settled for a fresh tasting salad instead. Its flavorful combination of Mediterranean ingredients, including olives, sundried tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, artichokes, lemon and feta, felt much more spring-like than the heavy winter meals I'd been eating to get me through the gray days. And also, it really made me want to slip away to Italy for the weekend. Not that this is an authentic Italian dish or anything, but anything with olive oil always makes me dream about places like Tuscany. Remember the movie with Diane Lane? That's pretty much what I imagine my life will be like. Someday.

Yes, I'm an idealist. Why do you ask?

Anyway, in my normal, everyday, non-Italian life I've been pressed for time, and haven't grocery shopped with a list in hand for months. This salad materialized while I was pulling random ingredients from my fridge and pantry, so feel free to substitute with whatever you have on hand. If your rice is precooked, this dish can be thrown together in about 10 minutes. A definite bonus for those summer days (coming soon!) when you've got more important things to do than spend time in the kitchen. 

Click here for a printable recipe!

Chopped salad with grapes and mint

This is Week #17 of my 2011 cooking challenge! Click on the above graphic to view all P&TC recipes. All recipes created for this challenge come from the Food and Wine Annual Cookbook 2010: An Entire Year of Recipes.

I made this chopped salad on Sunday and I have had it for lunch every day since. Well, except for yesterday when I met my husband for sushi only to return to work to find that roasted chicken, glazed carrots and mashed potatoes had been brought in by the company. My intention was to take just a teeny sampling of the food because, goodness, I had just eaten lunch. But my "sampling" turned into an entire heaping plate of food, which I had no problem stuffing into my face. Then someone said to me, "You have to try the carrot cake!" I do? Ok. So I tried the carrot cake. And then my belly hurt until dinner, which I wasn't at all hungry for.

So aside from that ridiculous double-lunching day, I have been enjoying this salad for my lunches all week. It's the absolute perfect lunch, packed with flavor and nutrients and it didn't leave me feeling either hungry or full. I'm pretty sure I emptied the salad bowl this morning, so tomorrow I'll be back to Ramen noodles. Wooo.

In a large bowl, combine:

1 heart of romaine, coarsely chopped

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

1 medium cucumber, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 small red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

1 cup corn kernels

1 cup diced cooked chicken (I used meat from a Rotisserie chicken)

1/2 cup green grapes, halved

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh basil, finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Toss all ingredients together and serve!

By the way, I combined the ingredients for the dressing separately since I knew I would be eating the salad over the course of a few days.

I loved it! Totally delicious!

Click here for a printable recipe!