It’s summer time and that means that the heat is on. This is the season that most of us don’t want to cook in the house so we either grill or eat lots of salads. Thankfully I happen to love a good salad. Here are some of the salad’s that you may want to try out on your family. How about a cucumber salad? It’s colorful, delicious and it’s gluten-free.
Cucumber Salad
Here is what you will need:
2 large English cucumbers
1/2 onion
2-3 tomatoes
{For the dressing}
3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. oregano
1/8 tsp. salt
Make the dressing: add all ingredients to a small bowl and whisk to combine.
Slice the cucumbers and onion. Dice tomatoes, remove excess juice. Place in a bowl.
Add the dressing and toss to coat. Salt/pepper to taste if needed.
It tastes best when refrigerated for at least an hour to let the flavors combine.
Another one of my favorites is the Avocado and Grilled Chicken Chopped Salad with Skinny Chipotle-Lime Ranch.
Avocado and Grilled Chicken Chopped Salad
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, grilled and diced
- 10 oz grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 medium avocados (semi-firm but ripe), peeled, cored and diced
- 1 1/2 cups fresh corn
- 1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1/2 cup crumbled Cotija cheese
- 1 cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt (I recommend Fage)
- 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup buttermilk, then more as needed
- 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 chipotle chile peppers in adobo
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp dried dill
- 1/2 tsp dried chives
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
To make this dressing, place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until chipotle peppers are well minced. Add in a few more tablespoons of buttermilk to thin as needed. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.
Add all the salad ingredients to a large bowl and toss. Plate and serve with Chipotle-Lime Ranch.
There is also an easy to make super delicious Summer Quinoa Salad.
Summer Quinoa Salad
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa (I used Trader Joe’s organic tricolor quinoa)
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 Persian cucumber (or 1/2 English hothouse), diced
- 2-3 ears fresh raw corn, kernels cut off
- 1 (15 oz.) can black beans
- 3 large nectarines, pitted and diced
- 1 small shallot, chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- juice of 1/2 lime
Instructions:
1. In a large serving bowl, toss together all ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste if desired.
Enjoy and keep cool. I’ll post some more easy to make summer recipes soon.