Tag Archives: lettuce

Tropical curry banana salad

Posted on by
3

I’ve been taking Bikram yoga lately, and for those of you who haven’t done it before, it’s very unique. Classes are held in a very hot room, and it’s 90 minutes of slow, intense postures. You sweat from pretty much every place it is possible to sweat from, and although it’s very challenging, it’s incredibly cleansing and renewing. I like to do it on the weekends and after, I tend to feel like I’ve flushed out all the toxins and junk that’s accumulated in my system from the week. Afterwards, I’m usually starving and in the mood for something light and natural.

After my last class, I pulled together a tropical salad featuring curry and bananas. It’s just red leaf lettuce, sliced banana, raisins, shredded coconut and shelled sunflower seeds. As for dressing, I just whisked together olive oil, a bit of white wine vinegar and some curry powder, along with salt and pepper. It added just the right amount of spice to balance the sweetness of the bananas, raisins and coconut!

Tropical curry and banana saladAnyone have any great salad recipes for these hot days?

Fish sandwich

Posted on by
1

Leftover white fish went to good use in this yummy sandwich that I threw together on a short lunch break last week!

Fish sandwich

Ingredients:

1 fillet baked white fish (I used leftover flounder, but tilapia, cod or another would be good too)
lettuce
1 sliced radish
2 tablespoons sundried tomato pesto
bread of your choice (I used Safeway’s bakery bread)

1. Heat up the fish.

2. Spread the sundried tomato pesto on each side of the bread. (I had made some of 101 Cookbooks’ Red Pesto, and it’s making my mouth water now just thinking about it… so yeah, I used that)

3. Toast the bread.

4. Layer the fish, lettuce and radishes on the bread.

Serves one.

Salmon Caesar salad, done light!

Posted on by
Reply

Sometimes you just get a craving for a nice, garlicky Caesar salad. I did this less-guilt version a few weeks ago with some salmon and tomatoes on top for a bit of extra nutrition, plus homemade croutons! With all the toppings, you really couldn’t tell the dressing was light — just enough to satisfy a craving.

Salmon Caesar salad

Ingredients

a nice chunk of stale bread (I used some leftover loaf from Safeway’s bakery)
2 cups romaine lettuce
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
3 oz salmon fillet, cooked
2 tbsp light Caesar dressing
a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Cut the bread into chunks and toss it in a tiny bit of olive oil with some salt and pepper. Spread them over a pan and put them in the oven until they’re brown and toasty. The time this takes will vary depending on how big the pieces are, but check on them often so they don’t burn.

3. As the croutons bake, heat up the salmon (or cook it if you need to — I just made mine in the oven the night before and had some leftovers)

4. Wash and dry the lettuce and tomatoes.

5. Top the lettuce with the tomatoes, the salmon, the dressing and a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan. Add the croutons on top.

Serves one.

Falafel: deconstructed

Posted on by
Reply

I was planning on making falafel tonight, but after a somewhat heavy lunch (cough, Wingsday, cough) I didn’t want to put any more fried food in my system. World, meet the deconstructed falafel.

Deconstructed falafel

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp onion, sliced thin
1/4 cup cooked chickpeas
cumin and coriander, to taste (I used a liberal sprinkling of each)
1/2 cup chopped romaine lettuce hearts
1/2 small tomato
2 tbsp hummus of your choice (I used fresh garlic hummus from Whole Foods)
salt and pepper

1. Heat the oil over medium-low heat in a small pan. Add the garlic and onion and stir until fragrant.

2. Add the chickpeas, spices and salt and pepper. Stir all together and mash the chickpeas a bit with a potato masher. Add more olive oil and spices as needed.

3. Cook the chickpea mixture for about 5 minutes, or until it’s heated through and golden brown.

4. Chop the tomato and put it on a plate with the lettuce. Add the chickpea mixture and the hummus.

5. Serve with pita chips.

Serves one.

I actually served this with a tortilla that I had brushed with olive oil, dusted with S&P and baked for a few minutes in the toaster oven, since I don’t have pita or pita chips right now, and it worked fine. It would be really good inside a pita as well.

Orzo salad with lemon vinaigrette

Posted on by
Reply

I held off on posting this recipe for a little while because it’s been kind of evolving from the first time I made it. This summer heat has been really draining, so when I started making it, I was looking for something light and refreshing but still satisfying for a midday meal. Yesterday I made it again and I think it came out pretty well.

Orzo salad with lemon vinaigrette

Salad ingredients:

1/2 romaine lettuce heart, chopped
1/4 cup broccoli
2 stalks of asparagus
1/4 cup dry orzo
a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
5 slices of cucumber, cut into quarters
1/4 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons feta cheese
a sprinkle of red pepper flakes (optional)

Dressing ingredients:

juice of 1/2 lemon
3/4 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp mustard

1. Chop up and steam the broccoli and asparagus.

2. Cook the orzo according to the directions on the package. After it’s done, run cold water over it to cool it off.

3. Mix together the orzo, broccoli, asparagus, tomatoes and cucumbers.

4. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour the dressing over the orzo mixture.

5. If you have time, it’s nice to chill the orzo/dressing/vegetable mixture for a couple of hours. I was hungry yesterday, so I skipped that step and just ate it as-is.

6. Spread the chopped lettuce on a plate, then put the rest of the ingredients on top.

7. Sprinkle feta cheese and red pepper flakes (optional) on top.

Serves one.