Tag: salads (Page 2 of 3)

Mineral-Rich Salad

March 24, 2016 / Jenny / 4 Comments

Treat your body to an infusion of nutrients. This quick salad is rich in vitamins and minerals, with dark leafy greens, dried apricots, walnuts, and roasted pumpkin seeds, topped off with a homemade orange zest vinaigrette. The recipe for this salad is so simple, it’s not as much of a recipe as it is a remembrance of how easy it can be to make a really good salad that’s really good for us. Sometimes all we need is a nudge in a certain direction, or a simple reminder, and we have a really delicious salad in front of us that came mostly from foods we have in our own pantry.

If you live in a northern climate like I do, spring takes her sweet time to truly settle in, and winter does not give up without a few fights. We are in such a situation right now, where it is cold, gray, and wet. The only indication that it really is springtime is that the birds are singing loudly and beautifully, and the crocuses are proudly carrying on, despite the cold rain. And I am really grateful for that! However, during this time of year, I often feel depleted of energy and nutrients. The longing for spring and all that it brings is strong, yet we are not quite there yet.

So to remedy the situation, I have been eating this salad for lunch for the past few days, and it is really helping my energy level and my overall feeling of health. Even if greens are not growing in my own garden yet, they are growing somewhere nearby, and fresh greens are appearing at the grocery store more and more as this month progresses. And mandarin oranges have been on sale at the grocery store lately, so the orange zest salad dressing seemed like a good idea. There are so many nutrients in leafy greens and they are so well known, that I don’t feel the need to list them all. The rest of the salad is from staples I like to keep on hand, and though I sometimes take them for granted, these ingredients are full of really good stuff. Dried apricots are known for their potassium and iron content, walnuts for their omega 3s and vitamin E, and roasted pumpkin seeds for their zinc, manganese, and magnesium. And that’s just mentioning a few of the minerals found in these foods.

For me, it can be easy to get sidetracked and just graze on some pretzels and cheese for lunch, so eating this salad has been a boost to my nutrient intake, which helps my energy level and outlook on life. The recipe below is for two servings–feel free to double it or whatever, depending on how many you are making. And just a note–in my photos, the dried apricots look like bacon! (Not that bacon would be bad in this salad–it would probably taste really good!) They are actually organic dried apricots, so they aren’t the bright orange that some of the dried apricots are when they have preservatives to retain their color.

With the events going on in the world the past few days, we need all the energy and nutrients we can get to keep a hopeful attitude. I usually don’t like to talk about politics or world affairs much in this blog, and I don’t want to say much, except that I am saddened by the events and words that are tearing people apart lately, and I hope that we can each do our small part to help try to put love and healing toward the hatred. There is no easy answer, and I don’t pretend that there is, nor do I pretend to know the answer. I do know that I want to take care of the people I love, and if we all try to take care of one another, it will help. Food is a way for me to do that.

On a much lighter note, even if the weather doesn’t feel like spring today, I did see 6 mallard ducks waddling down our road this morning. I’m not sure where they were going, but I hope they got there safely. And if you celebrate Easter, I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend! If you don’t, I hope you have a wonderful weekend! I managed to get some photos of the crocuses when it was sunny a few days ago, and they look to me like rays of hope.

Mineral-Rich Salad

Servings: 2
Time: 10 minutes
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Ingredients:

For the salad:

a large handful of leafy greens, such as spinach, kale, or lettuces
a handful of dried apricots, chopped
a handful of walnuts, chopped
a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds
feta cheese, crumbled (optional)

For the dressing:

1/2 teaspoon of orange zest
1/4 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of honey
6 teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

For the dressing, first grate an orange peel for the orange zest (and eat the orange!). In a glass jar, combine the orange zest, mustard, wine vinegar, and honey. Add the olive oil, and shake or whisk till combined. Add the salt and pepper to taste.

For the salad, arrange the greens on two plates. Sprinkle on the desired amount of chopped apricots, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds. Sprinkle on some feta cheese, if desired. Pour the dressing over the salads. If you like a lot of dressing on your salad, you may want to double the dressing recipe. Enjoy!

Jewel-Toned Winter Salad

January 6, 2016 / Jenny / 16 Comments

Deep, rich greens are balanced by bright and lively oranges, dried cranberries, and sliced almonds, topped with a subtly sweet-and-sour homemade vinaigrette. This salad is simple, yet so very flavorful.

Perhaps you are like me right now, craving clean and healthy foods after over-indulging during the holidays. I don’t regret any of the holiday over-indulgences, because they were part of spending time with family and friends, but January is a time for fresh starts and new beginnings. A refreshing salad is a great way to recharge and energize.

I keep reading about winter greens at this time of year. Hardy greens can survive the winter in milder regions, or in more extreme regions like mine, can grow during the winter in a greenhouse or another similar gardening apparatus. Apparently, cold weather brings out the flavor of these hardy greens, such as kale, collards, chards, spinach, and others, and locally-grown varieties are available at markets or even in some grocery stores all winter long. I’m really glad about this, because I have been craving greens for the last couple of weeks. Recently, my daughter and I have been enjoying a gently fried egg on top of a bed of sautéed greens, and I have been making lots of salads.

This salad is a lunch favorite for me. Not only does it use the deeply nutritious winter greens, but also vitamin-C-packed oranges. We often get oranges as Christmas presents, and they are also wonderful this time of year. The sweetness of the oranges balances the earthy, slight bitterness of the greens, making a really flavorful combination. The vinaigrette goes great with this salad too, and since we have a lot of oranges right now, I used fresh-squeezed orange juice in the dressing. Delicious! And I love the jewel tones in this salad–the emerald, topaz, ruby and pearl colors.

The days are now getting a little bit lighter and brighter, and I can sense a subtle shift in the light outside. Everything looks a little brighter, and I am inspired to exercise more and de-clutter the house. (A really big, never-ending job!) After a relatively mild December, we are now having some very cold days and nights–just in time to put the kids’ new flannel sheets on their beds. We went up north after Christmas, and were able to go sledding and skiing, and the kids made s’mores with their cousins around an outdoor fire. Ever since my sister-in-law introduced me to the word “hygge”, a Danish word and concept embodying a special type of coziness and togetherness in the cold and darkness, we have been trying to embrace winter and cultivate an appreciation for the aspects that make wintertime unique. Food is often at the center of this coziness, so I am looking forward to getting back to my blogging space and also checking out what fellow bloggers have been doing.

I hope you all have a very happy new year!

Jewel-Toned Winter Salad

Servings: 2
Time: 10-15 minutes
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Ingredients:

For the salad:

a mixed bunch of hardy greens, such as spinach, kale, or chard
2 small oranges, one for juicing and one for slicing
a handful of slivered almonds
a handful of dried cranberries (or dried cherries)
optional: Feta cheese, crumbled

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons of orange juice (fresh-squeezed is best, but prepared is fine too)
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon of honey
1/3 cup of good quality extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Select a handful of greens–enough for 2 people. Wash the greens and tear them into bite-sized pieces. Peel the oranges. Set one aside for the salad dressing. Separate the other orange into sections, and cut each section into bite-sized pieces. Place on top of the greens. Sprinkle on the desired amount of slivered almonds and dried cranberries.

For the dressing, juice the remaining orange. In a glass jar with a screw top, add the orange juice, white wine vinegar, mustard, honey, and olive oil. Shake well. Add salt and pepper to taste and shake again. Pour the desired amount over the salad, and refrigerate the rest. Sprinkle with Feta cheese, if desired. Serve as a side dish or with bread or crackers for a light, refreshing lunch. Enjoy!

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches and Colorful Slaw

February 20, 2015 / Dragonfly Home Recipes / 21 Comments

There is great value in meals that can be made ahead of time. Sometimes the hour before dinner can be the most busy and full time of the day. In our house, there are often multiple things going on at that time, including kids doing homework, unpacking lunchboxes, frantically searching for clean soccer and/or basketball clothes, shin guards and the appropriate shoes for the practice immediately following dinner, and lots of other things not even worth mentioning! Some evenings, it is a huge relief to know that the main part of the dinner is already simmering away in the crockpot while we tend to all the other issues at hand. And some meals taste better the longer they simmer, allowing the flavors to blend and strengthen. That is the case with these pulled chicken sandwiches. With just a few simple ingredients and a crockpot, the chicken becomes tender and mouth-wateringly flavorful. The recipe below is formed from a conglomeration of a few different recipes for pulled chicken and sloppy joes, based on the combination I feel tastes best while maintaining simplicity. Because there is a fair amount of ketchup in this recipe, I like to get the highest-quality of ketchup I can find, and as always, that goes for the chicken as well. This recipe is really easy to throw together a few hours ahead of time, and is perfect for when you have a little pocket of time in the afternoon and know it will be a busy evening. I like to make a delicious, colorful coleslaw to serve with these sandwiches. This coleslaw can be made with either red or green cabbage, but I chose red cabbage yesterday. Cabbage is really good for us–it has lots of fiber and vitamins K, C, and A. Plus, red cabbage (which can actually also be purple, but is still called red cabbage) contains an extra concentration of anthocyanin polyphenols, giving it extra antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is easy to like the health benefits of cabbage! Red (also colored purple) cabbage is so beautiful. I really enjoyed taking photos of this salad. The dressing is mildly tangy, bringing out the flavors of the vegetables without overpowering. I often think of coleslaw as a summer salad, but it works well in the winter too. Cabbage, carrots, and apples keep well over the winter, and goodness knows we all need a burst of color and crunch in the midst of winter. This evening, my husband and I had leftover slaw on a bed of dark, leafy greens, topped with shelled, roasted pumpkin seeds. That was so tasty! I could feel the vitamins and minerals flowing into my body. I cannot write this post without mentioning how utterly cold it is here in Michigan! Today (and probably tomorrow too) my kids are home because their schools are closed due to dangerously cold wind chill temperatures. While we normally enjoy skiing or just being out in the snow, it is even too cold for that. I feel like we need healthy food now more than ever! Whether we are cozied up at home or facing a busy evening driving to and from obligations, a good, nourishing dinner helps us meet whatever life has in store for us. I will be taking this dinner over to Angie’s at The Novice Gardener, for Fiesta Friday. This week’s fiesta is hosted by Tina at Mademoiselle Gourmande and Juju at Cooking with Aunt Juju. With the cabin fever going on here, I especially look forward to checking out what everyone else has posted and look forward to communicating with all of you! Stay warm and have a great weekend!

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Servings: about 4
Time: about 15 minutes preparation, about 4-5 hours in the crockpot
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Ingredients:

1 cup of onion (red or yellow), finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 and 1/2 to 2 pounds of skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon paprika
8 hamburger buns

Directions:

Place the onion in your crockpot. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil to the pan and swirl to coat the pan. Add the garlic and chicken to the pan and cook, about 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until golden brown. (Chicken does not need to be completely cooked–it will finish cooking in the crockpot). Transfer the chicken and little pieces of garlic to the crockpot and place on top of onions. In a small bowl, combine the next 5 ingredients and pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on low heat for about 4-5 hours, or until the chicken is tender and sauce thickens a bit. Remove the chicken from the crockpot and shred it with two forks. Then put it back in the crockpot. Ladle the chicken and sauce mixture onto each bun and cover with bun tops. Enjoy!

Colorful Slaw

Servings: about 4
Time: about 15-20 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 medium-sized carrot, peeled and sliced into thin strips
1 apple, cored and finely chopped
2 cups of finely chopped red, green, or napa cabbage
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of apricot preserves
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
a pinch (1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon) of salt

Directions:

Wash and prepare the carrot and apple, and put the chopped pieces in a large bowl. Wash the cabbage and peel off the outer layers of skin. Cut the cabbage in half, and then finely chop. Add the cabbage to the bowl with the carrot and apple. In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise, apricot preserves, lemon juice, and salt. Adjust the amount of salt and lemon juice to your taste. Pour this mixture over the salad and stir well to coat evenly. Enjoy!