Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with salad

Looking for cold grain salad tips.

kmennie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:04:44 -0800

How can I improve my cold grain/bean/wild rice/etc salads? They are either too vinegary or too bland, and generally not as good as it seems they should be. They also don't seem to last as long in the fridge as deli-made ones, and are generally just a bit more tired and blah than the stuff I get out of good delis and catering shops and so on.

I dump in too much vinegar and get predictable results (pool of liquid, overwhelming vinegariness), but skimping on the vinegar always leaves me thinking "This needs more vinegar." Apparently not, but what does it need? Salt? More oil?

Thoroughly reliable recipes and general hints appreciated.

Shouldn't eating a salad make me feel better?

Mavri — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:28:06 -0800

Why would eating a salad make me shaky and lightheaded? I've noticed from time to time that salads can make me feel weird. I had one about 1-2 hours ago, and right now my hands are shaking, I feel a little lightheaded, and my thinking is fuzzy. I would attribute it to hunger, but I just ate. Sounds like low blood sugar, but I just ate a healthy salad. It had leafy greens, some grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, and oil & vinegar.

I usually eat very few vegetables. I don't know if that would make my body freak when it gets healthy greens. I've not noticed this reaction after eating other foods, only when I'm really hungry.

bean me!

Koko — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:55:10 -0800

I love beans! I want a few simple recipes for bean salads that will keep a few days in the fridge, and that I can take to work for lunch during the week. The simpler the better - short prep time, few ingredients. Things I hate which should not be in the bean salad:

canned green beans (frozen or fresh is ok; any other canned bean except lima is ok)
lima beans
onions (garlic is A-OK)
peppers of any kind (bell, jalapeno, etc.)
cumin
mushrooms

Recipes that have any of the above ingredients are ok if the ingredient can be left out without compromising the salad too much.

A black-or-red bean and couscous-or-rice salad would be ideal, but I'm having a hard time finding simple recipes for those.

I prefer using canned beans to dry beans (quicker prep, less chance of undercooked beans).

Suggestions for good cookbooks are also welcome.

Thanks!

A salad that enu would die for

Dasein — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:23:08 -0800

I have to make a salad for a Passover seder with a lot of people. Can anyone think of a good recipe for a salad that is kosher, filling (I'm thinking maybe nuts or beans), easy to make in large quantities, and delicious? Thanks for your help!

Salad? Shoot me.

cdadog — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:34:51 -0800

This salad so incredible that I considered becoming a vegetarian. Unfortunately, I can barely remember what was in it. A few years ago I attended a cookout where a vegetarian guest brought a chilled salad with a ton of ingredients, served from a trifle dish. I remember it included:

- glassine thread noodles
- strips of tofu
- there may have been broccoli tips
- black chewy thready stuff I suspect was seaweed
- baby carrot slivers
- dressing I can only describe as sour/savory (not hot, spicy or especially sweet)

You know how sometimes a bunch of stuff in a bowl is just that, how it’s not bad but the tastes or textures don’t really compliment each other? Not this. The flavors…ohhh…the way they melded was amazing. I ate an embarrassing amount of it, intending to pin down whoever brought it. Naturally, they got away, and the hostess couldn’t remember who brought what.

This has haunted me for years. I want this salad again. I neeeeed it. But I’m not that foodie intuitive, and the results of my forays into recipe experimentation are always disappointing. If anyone out there suspects he/she has made this kickass salad with the above items, would you please share?

the perfect spinach salad

Espoo2 — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:02:32 -0800

How do you make the perfect spinach salad? I'm becoming a big fan, and I'd love to hear how you build yours.

Help me start eating more salad!

Becko — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:50:13 -0800

Give me some salad dressing recipes! I am moving into my own apartment after living with my parents for the summer. I want to get back in the habit of cooking, and cook more than ever before!

I want to start eating a lot of salads, but I don't want to use store bought dressings. Can anyone give me good salad dressing recipes?

Two salads I absolutely love are Famous Dave's BBQ chicken salad, I believe it's a honey barbecue dressing of some sort, but it's a lot thinner than barbecue sauce.
The other dressing I'd love to make is the kind that is used at Panera on their Asian Sesame Chicken salad. It's a vinegarette of some kind, it's on the sweeter side.

I think I'd generally like to make dressings with an oil and vinegar base, but I'm open to other delicious options as well.
Also, if you can let me know if it goes well with another type of food, such as Italian or something.

2 hours now, 5 minute salads later?

anonymoose — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:54:16 -0800

SaladFilter: Help me find stuff I can prepare ahead of time, preferably won't spoil (/will survive freezing), and I can simply dump on top of mixed greens and create a delicious salad! I need to eat more salad, for vitamin, rather than low-calorie needs (so cheeses and things are cool). However, my salads all seem to require too much preparation time for too little taste payoff.

Given a significant time investment now, what can I make that would allow the following on a daily (or even twice a day) basis:

12:00pm: Get home.
12:01pm: Take mixed greens out of bag, stick in bowl
????
12:05pm: Yum! Tasty salad!

Meats and things are all fair game.

Help me re-create my ex's über secret family salad dressing recipe.

luminous phenomena — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 20:44:20 -0800

Contacting the ex is completely out of the question, but holy mother of croutons her salad dressing was fantastic. She is of Russian-German descent and grew up in the greater Chicago area. Her German grandmother gave her the recipe, supposedly. I have researched German salad dressing to no avail. While telling the truth was not her strength, I cannot find the recipe anywhere, which lends credence to the family recipe story. I have tried and failed to re-create it on my own, many times. The ingredients that I know are in the salad dressing are: aromat (which knowing now that it is MSG, means I will probably leave it out, but might hint at when the recipe was originally created) green onions, tarragon vinegar, one raw egg, fresh cracked black pepper, salt, sugar. I would guess there is garlic in it too, but I am not certain. After reading this post, I'm pretty sure it's not this. I don't remember dill being a strong flavor in the dressing. I've experimented with adding various spices and using olive oil/vegetable oil and cannot get it right. It looks a bit like Caesar salad dressing, but darker in color and less viscous. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Thanks in advance.

Help me show new coworkers that I can make some great food!

lil' ears — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:53:07 -0800

Saladfilter: I'm at a new job this year and the Christmas party is coming up next week... While they're catering the main course, everyone else was asked to bring a salad or dessert. So the pressure is on to bring a salad that is different than all the rest of salads!

Does anyone have a great salad recipe? Can be green salad, pasta, bean...anything delicious! (though I would like to keep it vegetarian if possible...or fish/shrimp)

What else should I put on my salad?

Aghast. — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 18:12:57 -0800

What else should I put on my salad? These days, I've often been making a salad that consists of mesclun greens, ripped up red plums, and chunks of fresh mozzarella. It's very delicious but I'd like to add some ingredients. What would go good on top of this/amongst this? My imagination is failing me.

Making salads palatable, and recommendations for strong-flavored healthy food?

WCityMike — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 14:24:38 -0800

How can I make salads more palatable? And any recommendations for healthy food with strong flavors? My diet is very often fast food, very often centering more heavily on meat than on vegetables. I'd like to change that, but I've usually looked at vegetables with all the enthusiasm of a neoconservative at a Village People concert.

As I think over the problem, I suppose a few questions come to mind.

Could anyone describe the taste of their favorite vegetables? I'm a fan of strong flavor, but there are certain flavors I don't like, and I'm not a fan of vegetables that are tasteless (i.e. celery), although I can deal with them. I'd also be interested in similar descriptions for dressings, particularly low-calorie dressings. (Adding heavy creamy dressings, which I find yucky anyway, would vastly increase the calorie count anyway.)

Does your local fast food chain produce a good salad? If so, what chain, and what do they sell?

What do you like to add to a salad to make it good for you?

And, to open it up to the non-salad people, do you like any particular widely available foods that are low-fat or healthy? (Example of what I'm looking for: "Yes, popsicles are great because they have a strong flavor but are usually very low-calorie when compared to ice cream." Multiple brand names available, locatable in almost any store. Example of what I'm not looking for: "Yes, Farfenugen Chocolate-Flavored Soy-Curdled Yak Milk, if frozen for a long enough time, makes a great replacement for chocolate topping." Specialty product nearly impossible to find.)

best egg salad recipes?

dobbs — Tue, 30 Mar 2004 10:48:26 -0800

Qs about hard boiled eggs and egg salad: a. What's your fave recipe for egg salad? b. how long do shelled hard-boiled eggs keep? c. is there a good formula for hard-boiling multiple eggs?