Hi all.
I need inspiration on Salad days. Nothing fancy, but tasty.
I’m not a keen person on Lettuce but I have decided to eat a bit more healthy.
To me Salads are a bit boring.
So any ideas please.
Have you thought about pasta salad?
There’s a huge variety of recipes online, we made a Spanish pasta salad recently with Manchego cheese, it was delicious!
Pasta salad can be kept in the fridge for a few days too!
I can’t stand ordinary salad… bunny food.
Chop/finely dice:-
peppers ~ yellow red green,
cucumber,
celery,
little gem lettuce,
fine green beans,
red/green grapes,
tomatoes,
crunchy apple,
satsumas,
grated carrot,
couple of spoons coleslaw (from s/market)
olives
crumbled feta cheese
…mix everything together in a bowl.
You’ll be surprised how much this makes!
Fill a serving dish for yourself, and possibly add a chopped hard boiled egg.
Mayo or dressing if you want,
Maybe eat it with a couple of pieces of buttered toast, or I prefer buttered rice cakes.
Really yummy!
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I like a regular salad, with added olives and squares of feta cheese. Plus a nice dressing always goes down well.
Have you ever seen an unhealthy slow bunny? No… 
They’re probably a bit self conscious and shy poor things.
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No I think they are tired of people criticising their food choices and are fed up of hopping and skiiping about to show how good it is…be at one with the bunny! Eat the salad 
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Not a chance…Lindt chocolate bunnies rule!
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Oh you are good, Chillboot, you are very good. 
For a thread derailment I couldn’t have done better myself.
Now, back to topic! 
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Hi Chilliboot, your salad is ok, but I don’t really like pasta shells in my Salad, every time you go to the supermarket to buy a prepared salad bowl, its always got pasta at the bottom of it.
Now Ruthio’s I ike.
My salad normally consists of|:
Little Gems, spring onions, beetroot, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, coleslaw, or postato salad, red peppers and either chicken or egg and crumbled Cranberry cheese thrown in.
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I know you said nothing fancy, so I hope this isn’t too much but I’ve been using the first blackberries in salad!
So you need salad leaves, any you like, I like spinach and watercress and a bag of mixed leaves
And a few fresh mint leaves from the garden, chop some and keep some whole
And a handful of blackberries, a few pumpkins seeds, zest from a lime and some feta, crumbled
Put it all in your bowl and make a dressing with olive oil, lime juice, honey and pepper
It’s light and zesty and full of vits. Also very nice as a side dish to a small salmon fillet for dinner 
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Your list of salad ingredients sounds quite varied.
I try to add some darker green salad leaves to my chopped salad veg, such as spinach, watercress, rocket leaves.
To add a bit of sweetness to it all, I often halve a few grapes and toss them in or a few sliced strawberries.
As I’m a veggie, I like to add a bit of veggie protein which also adds some different textures and flavours - For example, cashew nuts, edamame beans, mixed bean salad, pumpkin seeds - anything I’ve got in the fridge or cupboard to liven up the salad bowl.
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I don’t like lettuce but I love spinach leaves
I chop cucumber, tomatoes, onion, peppers, all the usual salad stuff, love to add grated carrot, baby new potatoes, pumpkin seeds, almonds or pine nuts, I then season it with salt and pepper and I love to spice mine up with garlic, turmeric, mixed herbs.
I put olive oil in and some mint sauce, mix it all up and it’s delicious. My Dad and hubby love my salads.
Grated or Feta cheese is nice in it as well
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My brother makes a nice none lettuce based salad this is very similar
4 ears corn, husks removed
2 tbsp olive oil
150g diced red peppers
120g diced red onion
60ml cider vinegar
1 (425g) tin black beans, rinsed and drained
5g minced garlic
50g mangetout, julienned
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
-
Preheat the griddle to medium. Griddle the corn until lightly charred, about 2 minutes, turning frequently. Transfer the corn to a cutting board and use a serrated knife to remove the kernels. Set aside.
-
In a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil, then the red pepper and the red onion. Sauté for 3 minutes, then add the vinegar, beans and corn and sauté for 2 minutes.
-
Stir in the garlic and the mangetout and sauté for 1 minute more. Remove from the heat to a serving bowl and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve warm or cold.
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Also I like this when having chicken got it from my cousin in Philadelphia
750g broccoli florets
250g French beans
30ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1/2 tsp crushed red chilli pepper flakes, plus more if desired
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a large pot, bring 6 litres of salted water to a boil. Have a large bowl of ice water ready. Place broccoli into pot and cook for two minutes. You just want to parboil the broccoli at this point since you will sauté it later on.
Using a spider strainer, remove broccoli from pot and shock it in a bowl of ice water. When broccoli is completely cool, place it in a colander and allow to drain. Refresh the bowl of iced water.
Bring the water back to a boil. Add beans and cook for four minutes. Like the broccoli, you just want to parboil the beans.
Remove from pot with spider strainer and add to iced water. When beans are completely cool, add them to the colander and allow to drain.
In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil. When almost smoking, add the garlic and saute for about 45 seconds. When the garlic starts to brown, remove immediately and discard. Overcooking the garlic will impart a very bitter taste to the dish. Add the chilli flakes, broccoli and beans to the pan and cook for five minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
My daughter makes a quite nice salad using spinach leaves though spinach here is usually silver beet, personally I prefer nasturtium leaves.
My own salad recipe is to mix stuff together, chuck it straight in the compost and have chips.
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Summer Butter Bean Salad with Hot Sauce Vinaigrette
Hot Sauce Vinaigrette:
60ml hot sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoons yellow mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
120ml canola or vegetable oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Salad:
450g package frozen butter beans or baby lima beans, cooked until just tender and cooled
160g fresh or frozen corn kernels, cooked until just tender and cooled
2 mini cucumbers, diced
30g finely chopped red onion
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons sliced fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the hot sauce vinaigrette: Put the hot sauce, vinegar, honey, mustard, garlic, oil and salt and pepper to taste in a lidded jar. Seal the jar and shake to combine. Set aside.
- For the salad: In a large bowl, combine the butter beans, corn kernels, cucumber, red onion, tomatoes and basil. Toss to combine. Start by adding 120ml vinaigrette and gently stir to combine. Add more vinaigrette as desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
I use the same salad ingredients as you Susie, but instead of lettuce I use watercress & if it’s a ham salad I like to put pineapple rings with it - plus a jacket potato & crusty bread.
Not forgetting the Hellimans…
This is a lovely salad you can put anything you want into it
Chargrilled and chopped red and green pepper
Any type of nuts and seeds for crunch
Shredded red cabbage and or white cabbage
Chopped peach
Chopped Spring and a red onion
Any fresh herbs you like basil mint parsley coriander….whatever you like
Any dressing I like miso but any dressing …mayo
Add any protein you fancy.
Mix together
I add boiled eggs or veggie feta
They all sound very good, thank you.