Asian salad

For lunch today i was feeling like i needed a bit of an asian kick, but without resorting to a Chinese luncheon. So i put this together:

Spring greens
Julienned carrots
chopped raw cauliflower
red onion
wasabi peas
pepitas (ive been known to use dry-roasted peanuts, but sometimes that throws off the flavors)
garlic and ginger wonton strips
Marie's sesame ginger dressing

As desired, toss everything together.
Serve with a crisp and cold pinot grigio, maybe a sauvignon blanc. ICE COLD.

Father's Day salad

The menu was fit for a summer barbeque--hamburgers and hot dogs, potato salad and cole slaw. And i wasnt' cooking (nor cleaning, since this was at someone else's home). I was in charge of a 'regular' salad. I wanted to make it 'manly,' since the company was all going to be fathers whose children (and their children) live far away.

Taking this into consideration, I came up with these ingredients. I chose them for their nutritional value to men's health, so they can continue to be the awesome fathers they are. From these simple pieces (and an easy grab from the grocery store on the way...), nothing but rave reviews.

As always, I rely on the big wooden salad bowl my sister gave me about 10 years ago. And all the pre-made fixings at the local grocery store.

Serves six generously, eight possibly

Bag of baby spinach, rinsed
Bag of julienned carrots, rinsed
Red onion, sliced thinly
Ranch Dressing. I really much prefer Kraft Peppercorn Ranch, but they don't make it anymore. Second choice is their Buttermilk Ranch, as desired
Bag of Kraft shredded medium cheddar cheese, 8 oz.
Small bag of Hormel REAL peppered bacon
Bag of Safeway Herb croutons

Toss the vegetables together in a salad bowl and refrigerate. No small task in Arizona in summer, but the crispiness of the spinach is essential to a nice experience.

Plate up with a portion of salad and the next ingredients in order, divided by number of servings.

It goes without saying, "Who doens't like bacon?" I think that's the part they really liked.

Barbequed Pulled Pork w Cole Slaw

Ok. sometimes you just need something a bit decadent, totally unhealthy for dinner, right?
well this mostly fits the bill and the obligatory cruciferous mayo-laden 'salad' makes for pretending to be watching what you eat. yeah, right!

3-4 lbs boneless pork roast (in 2 parts is good)
1 tsp bk pepper
1 t salt
1 t cumin
1 t paprika
1 pepper sliced (green, if that's okay by you, i like red. easier to digest)
1 onion, sliced
1- 18oz bottle barbeque sauce
1/2 c packed brown sugar

Combine all the spices and rub into the pork
Place sliced veggies in slow cooker, place pork on top
Combine sugar and sauce, pour over pork
Cover and cook on low about 8 hours; may start shredding pork at hour 6 or 7.

my coleslaw
everybody has one recipe for coleslaw

1c shred green cabbage
1c shred purple cabbage
1c shred carrot
1/2 sliced, diced onion
3 T miracle whip
1/2 t ground powdered mustard
bk pepper

Fold veggies together in a 2 qt bowl
stir in mayo and mustard until mixed
bk pepper on the side at the table as desired

cool italian

it's hot. i'm not cooking.
this calls for leftovers and a stockpile of the usual ingredients
with variations depending on really what's available and how ambitious
you are. today i'm not.

romaine
one large carrot, shredded
1/2c dried tomatoes
1/2c diced mozarella cheese
1-2 oz salami, sliced julienne
couple spoonfuls sliced black olives
1/4 sliced red onion
2 cups cooked rigatoni or rotini, refrigerated

kens' creamy ceasar or marie's garlic italian dressing
texas toast ceasar croutons

chop up enough lettuce, put in big bowl with carrots
in another bowl, mix all the other ingredients except croutons.
chill to meld flavors for an hour or so.

dish out vegetables, pasta salad on top, croutons as desired.

i haven't found a wine that quite works with this yet. maybe the menage a trois
table red. the sharp flavors do not work with a cabernet or shiraz. maybe go white???

elena's salad

in what seems another lifetime ago, i had a friend named elena enter my life. Our lives were mirrors of each other--a husband, a boy, a girl, a dog and a job. she invited me and the kids to join her and hers for pizza, delivered, and a salad one day.
alas, she has moved aways from here, but never away. when i make this, i think of her, as she helped expand my concept of what a salad is. (it is NOT iceberg, tomato and cucumber. more on that another time).

spring greens
broccoli slaw
sliced onions (optional)
nuts--almonds, pistacheos
dried cranberries
crumbled bleu cheese (also optional)
balsamic vinagrette

the ten dollar salad

the name of this comes from my sister who used to work at a HoJos, or more formally a Howard Johnsons restaurant. there was a one-price salad bar and of course some customers probably abused the concept. to organize this would cost more than ten dollars, certainly, but assemble what's available from leftovers and it's a cool and inexpensive answer to WFD?

the salad:
lettuce
carrots
onions
celery
cabbage
frozen peas, thawed
broccoli
cauliflower
radishes
etc














the stuff on top that makes it taste good, makes it an expensive, calorie-wise choice:
ham
cheddar
hard-boiled eggs
turkey
sesame seeds
raisins
chinese noodles
croutons



the idea is to make everything bite sized and an interesting combination of flavors
for this, ken's steak house thousand island is the only choice for dressing.

friday nite

pizza for dinner. it's friday.
the cheesiest and cheapest tonight: 2.99 for a red baron cheese pizza.
only nominally nutritious with a salad.

this one had romaine
onions
shredded carrots
radishes sliced thinly
red cabbage
safeway seasoned croutons
kraft ranch (girlie pours it right on the pizza. yuck)