Good Eats: Different kinds of Salads

Chicken Salad Recipes

Chicken salad recipes can be eaten as side dishes or full meals. They can also be used in sandwiches.<<

>>Here are a couple of basic recipes to get you started.
You can add other ingredients if you like-any fruits, vegetables, nuts etc. can make each salad a unique eating experience.

1-Creamy:
This version is similar to making a chicken salad sandwich filling. Instead of putting it between 2 slices of bread you are putting it in a bed of bite-sized salad greens, of which you can use any type(lettuce, spinach, argula etc). A bag of pre-washed mixed greens is a great option as well.
Ingredients:
1 cup cooked chicken meat(1 medium chicken breast)
1 celery stalk-sliced and chopped
1 Carrot-grated
1/2 cup red onion-chopped
1/2 Bell pepper
Salad greens
Dressing:
2 tbsp. Mayonnaise
1 tbsp. Vinegar
1 tsp.Mustard
1 tsp.Celery seed
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
Chop cooked chicken into 1/2 inch pieces and set aside.
Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl until smooth and creamy.
In a large bowl mix the chopped vegetables, chicken and dressing together and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
Just before serving, wash & dry salad greens, break it up into bite size pieces and lay in the bottom of a small salad bowl.
Stir the chicken salad mix again and scoop into the lettuce lined bowl. Serve immediately.
Makes 2 side servings or 1 meal serving. Just double up the ingredients for each 1 or 2 servings you need to make.

2-Oil & Vinegar:
If you're looking for an easy chicken salad recipe this one is a basic green & vegetable salad with chicken added. You can make the dressing recipe below or use your favorite bottled variety(it can be a creamy or oil/vinegar type).
Ingredients:
1-Chicken Breast
1-Celery stick
3-Green Onions
1/2 bell pepper
6-8 Cherry or grape tomatoes
Salad Greens
Dressing:
2 tbsp. Salad oil
1 tbsp. Vinegar
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Cut tomatoes in half and squeeze out the seeds. If they are the larger grape type cut them into quarters. For the smaller cherry tomatoes just leave them cut in half.
Chop remaining vegetables and add them to a salad bowl with the tomatoes.
Cut the cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to salad. Cover and refrigerate if not serving right away.
Add the salad greens and dressing when serving.

Classic Potato Salad Recipes

They may take a little time to make, but these classic potato salad recipes are very popular and easy to make.
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>>You don't need any fancy ingredients to make the basic version of this dish.
Start with potatoes and mayonnaise, add some vegatables of your choice, season with a little salt or other condiment and you have your own unique version.
Here's an easy potato salad recipe with some step by step instructions...

Ingredients:Potatoes
6 hard boiled eggs
mayonnaise
I added a few extra veggys:
Purple onion
Orange peppers
broccoli
celery

Peel and boil enough potatoes to fill your salad bowl. Rinse cooked potatoes under cold water and let cool. When cooled, put the potatoes back in the pot and chop them into roughly even sized pieces.

Peel and chop 4 of the hard boiled eggs and add them to the pot.

Chop the vegetables and add a little at a time until you have an even mix

Add mayo a little at a time while mixing it into the salad.

When you have the right consistency, sample and add salt to taste. For this salad I added a touch of louisiana sauce to give it a little zip.

When ready, transfer salad to your bowl, peel and slice the remaining 2 eggs and place on top of the salad. Garnish with a little paprika if desired and you are ready to eat.

Classic Potato Salad

Bean Salad Recipes

There are probably more bean salad recipes that haven't been invented yet as opposed to those that have. <<

>> These salads are often called 3,4,5,or 7 bean.
The beauty of these dishes is that you can just keep adding stuff until you have enough to fill your bowl.
The list of ingredients is endless for all the versions you could make.
The usual recipes call for 3-7 different types of beans, usually canned, some oil/vinegar dressing, some veggies and spices.
I'm going to show you a simple one to start with, using a can of 6-bean variety rather than one can of each bean.
This is a great way to get a good variety of beans without having to make a giant salad.

Ingredients:
1 can mixed beans
Olive oil(about1/3cup)
Balsamic vinegar(about 50/50 with oil)
1-2 slices red onion
1/4 orange pepper
1 celery stick
1/2-1 clove garlic
Oregano-1 pinch
Basel-1-pinch
1/4 cup sugar(optional)

Drain can of beans and put in large bowlChop vegetables, mince garlic and mix with beans
Mix oil and vinegar with oregano and basel. The oil/vinegar should be about 50/50 but mix it to your preference.
Add dressing to bowl, stir and marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight. Drain dressing and transfer salad to a smaller bowl. If you prefer a stronger flavour just keep the salad in the dressing until it's eaten.

Finished mixed bean salad ready to eat.

Green Salad Recipes

When making green salad recipes you have a choice of just using leaf lettuces or making a mixed veggy and lettuce salad.
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>> We'll start with the leaf lettuce variety first.There are many types of greens to choose from. I like to get a few different ones from the produce department and mix them up a bit. You can also buy pre-mixed salad greens.

Having chosen your variety of greens,you should pick out any broken or damaged leaves, and break them up into slightly larger than bite size pieces.
Gently wash your greens in a bowl of water, and dry them on a dishtowel or use a salad spinner. If you bought a bag of pre-washed greens you can skip this step.

Make sure the leaves are cool and dry, as you don't want to dilute your dressing. Put the salad in a bowl and wait until you are ready to eat before adding the dressing,as it will wilt otherwise.
As for dressing, a little oil and vinegar and salt to taste is all you need for a tasty, basic little salad. A flavoured vinegar is also nice, such as raspberry or garlic. I usually mix 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. A touch of salt sharpens up the flavour a bit as well.