Specific sorts of salads

December 28, 2015 6:22 AM

I'd love to improve my range of salads (or other things involving vegetables) to bring to work, but I'm finding just searching for recipes tricky because of a combination of foods I don't eat, a nut-free workplace, and the fact I live alone (so don't necessarily go through more delicate ingredients before they go bad.) I'd love your suggestions for things to try: special snowflake details inside. Recommendations for cookbooks, websites, etc. to mine also very welcome.

Me: I live alone, and lettuce and salad greens are one of those foods I have trouble eating multiple days running (and yet, if I don't, they go bad, and that isn't good either.) I love berries, but often hit the same problem with them.

I have some chronic health stuff that means the amount I'm willing to cook on a workday evening varies a lot and means I shouldn't plan on being up for lunch prep as well as making dinner. Mornings are also usually very slow moving for me, so I'm looking for things I can make ahead, stick in the fridge, and pack each day with minimal exertion. (Possibly with added heating up soup, but nothing more involved.)

Ideally, I would have a dozen or so salad-type things I could rotate between, half of which require more prep that I'd make on the weekend, and half of which require a lot less, that I could make mid week, and they'd make 2-3 servings each, not 6.

Things I avoid: soy protein (so no tofu), uncooked brassicas (spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage: this limits a lot of options), peppers (both red/green and higher heat levels.) Cooked brassicas are fine.

Things I need to avoid because of where I work: nuts (nut free campus. Alternate suggestions for things that add crunch appreciated.) Prep before I can eat that requires more than a table (we often don't eat near the microwave and sink and I don't want to have to haul stuff around.)

Examples of salads I currently enjoy: Autumn Harvest salad, tzatziki potato salad, marinated beets and fresh mozarella. Mix of black beans, corn, salsa, olives, cilantro, avocado, lime.

I tend to be all over things that involve dill, tomatoes, olives, cheese, or marinated artichokes (not necessarily all at once!)

Other useful data: I do most of my grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, so 'combine these things from there' options would be lovely (but I also have access to other grocery stores.) I'd prefer things that aren't heavily starch based, but they're usually okay if they're balanced like the tzatiki potato salad above, where there's plenty of protein from the Greek yogurt.

I'd also be great with suggestions that aren't technically salads, but are vegetable things that taste good cold. I keep thinking there have to be options for green beans, for example, I haven't sorted out yet.

posted by modernhypatia to Food & Drink (20 answers total)

Ottolenghi's salads are brilliant:

Chargrilled asparagus, courgettes and halloumi

And ten more: Yotam Ottolenghi: 10 great salads
posted by nickrussell at 6:50 AM on December 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: If you do tuna, you could do a Salad Nicoise. Or just use eggs. You can buy them pre-cooked at Trader Joes.

Another fun thing would be Deviled Eggs as an entrée with steamed veggies in dressing on the side.

An easy thing to pack and go would be frozen berries and Greek yogurt.

Lentils make a great salad, easy to make ahead, hearty and full of protein. Ditto quinoa.

People swear by Mason Jar salads. Can be put together on the weekends and shake and serve. Keep greens fresh for days.

Tomatoes, Feta, Dill, Olives and onions (if you like them.) So yummy.

You get the idea.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:51 AM on December 28, 2015

There is not plenty of protein in that potato salad you linked to - 3/4c. Greek yogurt is maybe 16g depending on the brand- and that's for the whole recipe. Now, if you took that potato salad, layered it into a big mason jar and added 1/3-1/2c. garbanzos, a bunch of veggies that you can eat (cukes, toms, sprouts, onion, salad greens) added a touch of crumbled feta and put a lid on it, you'd have a kick ass salad. Make a few jars like this, pack your dressings separate (I know some people like the dressings IN the jar, but...) and you're good for lunch. You can do the same with:

Ranch dressing, black beans, salsa(homemade per your restrictions), toms, cukes, greens, scallions, jack cheese, side of tortilla strips.

Organic Girl "Salads Love Cheddar" (OMG, yum!) toms, hard boiled egg, cukes, scallions/onion, croutons, ham cubes, greens.

Salad jars keep 4-5 days in my fridge. I make up a bunch each Monday when the offspring are in school and I have a few minutes. The possibilities are endless really. I find that having the jars prepped makes me finish up the greens that would otherwise go bad as the work is already done.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 6:57 AM on December 28, 2015

I really like this this salad and find it adaptable (you can leave out the tomatoes, add in/sub different beans, use a different cheese, etc.). It keeps several days and it's one of those things where I haven't minded eating it every day for lunch after I make it (and that's usually a problem).
posted by darksong at 7:04 AM on December 28, 2015

Some ideas:

* Pesto pasta salad without the spinach and with a nut/seed-free pesto such as this
* Green bean salad without the almonds
* Potato salad with yogurt, arugula, and dill
* Shrimp ceviche and avocado salad
* Vegetarian taco salad without the cashew-based dressing
* Greek salad without peppers
posted by neushoorn at 7:07 AM on December 28, 2015

I've got some fennel and apple in my fridge right now that I was planning on throwing together with some home made mayo, lemon juice and whatever spices or herbs I felt like later (probably dried dill and pepper because I have them, fresh dill or thyme or mint or really anything would go well too).

As for things that aren't technically salads you could eat any number of roasted veg at room temp the next day - I actually roasted some asparagus this am and let them cool and threw em in a Tupperware w some leftover bolognese on my way out the door. Cold Brussels sprouts are also pretty good if you can get yourself over the temp issue.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 7:18 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

For crunch in a leafy green salad, you can use apples, carrots, celery, water chestnuts (canned, not actually a nut), radishes, Jicama, or raw beets. Also croutons, but I prefer the fried noodles that you sometimes get with soup at Chinese restaurants.
posted by rakaidan at 7:30 AM on December 28, 2015

Best answer: It sounds very Pinterest-y but I started making and LOVE salads in a jar for maximum ease. Here is a handy chart to help you build them so they stay fresh for the longest possible time (up to 5 days). I buy a big bag of spinach or something, a ton of cherry tomatoes or blueberries or pistachios or whatever looks good, pre-cooked chicken breast, and sometimes throw in other leftovers, and make about eight jars in a Sunday (four for me, four for husby). I realize you do not eat some of these ingrediants, but my point is that you can really throw anything in there, as long as it's layered correctly, and still have an awesome salad a few days later.

For the most part when I'm making these for the whole week I do not do any cooking whatsoever.

Here's another great guide. This one has a ton of recipes.
posted by Brittanie at 7:34 AM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Crudités. And a dip. I like Hummus. Just the change in eating method can offer a mental break from salads. You can channel up what you do it into, there are some great yoghurt do dip recipes out there, and it helps us up the word bits of veg you end up with.
posted by wwax at 7:41 AM on December 28, 2015

If a quick blanch is enough to allow you to eat brassicas, the whole world of kale salads will open up to you. If you make a big one on Sunday, it will be nice through Wednesday and edible on Thursday. I find it's a little too far gone after 4 days in the fridge.

Can you have seeds at your workplace? If you can, toasted pumpkin seeds are great in salads, as are sunflower seeds. Crumbled tortilla chips are surprisingly good on salads, just bring them in a baggie and toss them on right before you eat.

Quinoa salads, like this one (just leave out the pistachios or sub pumpkin seeds) would be great too.

Also, seconding Ottolenghi salads. He has a ton of nice ones.
posted by snaw at 7:47 AM on December 28, 2015

Best answer: Crunch: sesame seeds, pepitas (unshelled pumpkin seeds, roasted - and get the salted ones), onion crunch and pickle crunch, a few crumbled potato chips (I like the kettle kind for this, though otherwise I do not eat them, and I like the strongly-flavored ones like sriracha or black pepper - in any case you should be able to make a $0.99 bag last a week). Also you can make fricos (via mefi's own xingcat).

All of the above can be kept in the freezer to make them last longer.

I like fruit for a pop in salads: grapes, strawberries, apple, mandarin orange (or clementines since they're all over the stores right now).

I cook almost all of my lunch proteins on the weekend (I just got an Instant Pot and it's kind of changed my life there) and freeze in portions so they're relatively easy, as long as I remember to do it, take out a portion or two at night for use over the next day or two.

If you don't mind room temp eggs or making the hike to warm them up, I really like packing in quiche to go with salad. But even leftover scrambled eggs (though it'll give you a Frasier theme song earworm) are nice with salad.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:53 AM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

I got some small bags of roasted edamame and corn that would add a nice crunch to salad. Mine are from Costco, but I'm sure Trader Joe's has something similar.

Roasted chickpeas would also be a nice addition. You could make them sweet or savory, depending on the flavor accent you want.

chickpea salad - drain a can of chickpeas, add feta, balsamic vinegar, and some tomatoes/cucumber/olives.
posted by belladonna at 8:29 AM on December 28, 2015

As far as keeping your fruits and veggies good for longer, have you tried the green bags from Debbie Meyer? They are awesome. My veggies keeps nearly twice as long when I use them. I don't know what the science behind them is, it could be magic of some kind.
posted by backwards compatible at 9:00 AM on December 28, 2015

Moon Cheese is like cheese made into a crouton. Parmesan tuiles are a home-made equivalent, though they are little curls, not lumps of cheese.

If you're not opposed to frozen berries and other fruits, I find that this is the best way to maintain them. When fresh fruit starts to go limp and sad, you can stew it and eat it cooked, which is nice with yogurt or cottage cheese.

How do you feel about pickles? You can make refrigerator pickles with a pretty good crunch.
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:41 AM on December 28, 2015

Response by poster: A couple of clarifications/answers to questions (thank you! Have some good ideas already.)

- Part of my issue with salad greens is storage, part of my issue is that they stop looking like food, so I've been concerned that the Mason jar salads would end up with several jars I can't talk myself into eating. Suggestions to avoid this very welcome, especially on adapting shopping amounts to, say, do two varieties in the same week of two different salads (since so many of the mason jar sites view 'bunch of the same things in that week' as a plus, not a minus.)

(Basically, this is also why I'd like things that make 2-3 servings, not 4-6, because somewhere around serving 3 in a week is when my body semi-regularly decides that this perfectly good recipe is no longer food for a while. Frozen stuff, I stick it in the back of the freezer for a few weeks, but you can't do that with salad.)

- Pickles are amazingly awesome, and I would like more pickles in my life.

- Edamame, also a thing I don't eat, because soy. (Alas. I love them. My brain does not love working when I eat soy, though small amounts of soy sauce/etc. in dressings aren't generally a problem.)

- Seeds are fine. (I work at a nut-free school, I don't interact with students, but we do eat lunch in spaces in the building students also use, basically. More flexibility on this point when the weather's nice enough to eat outside.)
posted by modernhypatia at 10:20 AM on December 28, 2015

Check out the salad recipes of Molly at Orangette. They are mostly all yummy. Specifically, the French style lentil salad is great. It's labeled as a warm salad, but is perfectly yummy room temp; and lentils are a great high protein salad option. (Same for the chickpea salad.)
posted by snorkmaiden at 10:32 AM on December 28, 2015

In addition to roasted pepitas, roasted shelled sunflower seeds are good crunchy nut substitutes and are very cheap at Trader Joe's.

Broccoli and spinach are also amenable to quick microwave cooking so you can potentially pack them separately (with e.g. a little garlic salt), and then heat them up with a splash of water at work and have a hot-and-cold salad.
posted by en forme de poire at 11:48 AM on December 28, 2015

Could you prep the fun stuff (seeds, fruit, toppings, dressing) beforehand in a baggie, mason jar or tubberware to keep in the fridge at work and grab just salad greens from a grocery store salad bar on the way to work? Just greens won't be too expensive because they charge by the pound.
posted by rubster at 11:51 AM on December 28, 2015

If you like endive, Trader Joe's has a 3 pack.

You can mix up other salad fixings as you like, and use the endive leaves like a delicious food delivery system by just cutting off the stem and rinsing the leaves thoroughly in the AM or right before lunch.

By keeping the endive intact until you are ready to eat, it stays crunchy and keeps well.

Scoop or spoon your mixed salad toppings onto the leaves and enjoy.
posted by prettymightyflighty at 9:23 AM on December 29, 2015

Best answer: Roasted cauliflower (cut to florets, toss with veg oil, salt, pepper, roast until almost black) is hugely flavourful and still delicious cold.

Also, look for Boston lettuce, butter lettuce. It's a lovely tender green, and it's in small heads--two meals. Keeps a couple days so you can alternate.

Tabbouleh seems like it would be right up your alley. You can change it around and use more Italian flavours one day, Persian the next--keeps things interesting but simple.

Quick pickling is really easy. Bring to a boil four parts water, four parts white wine vinegar, one part sugar. Add spices and herbs as you like--some coriander seeds, black peppercorns, sprig or two of thyme, bay leaf is really nice. Once boiling, pour over your prepped vegetables in a heatproof bowl. chill rapidly, keeps for quite a while. Suggestions: thinly sliced radish of any sort, sunchokes (Jerusalem artichoke), beets--try candycane beets, they look beautiful when pickled, carrots, green beans. The denser the product, the more heat it'll need--for something like green beans or swiss chard stems, you'll want to actually cook them briefly in the boiling liquid.

Roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds are excellent for crunch. Salt, pepper, oil, toss in a pan over medium heat until light golden--carry over cooking will finish them. Roasted chickpeas, also. Or wasabi peas.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:37 PM on December 29, 2015