Notes:
This is a delicious salad you can have as a side dish or entire meal plus the ingredients are always easy to find.

Servings: 4=6

Ingredients:
1 jar of Nopales (this is just sliced cactus in spanish find the jar with the least amount of ingredients)
1 bunch cilantro
lemon juice
salt
1 small white onion

Directions:
Empty jar of nopales in a strainer and rinse in cold water. Clean until the cactus has no more sludge and brine is washed away. Chop half of the cilantro and white onion into small pieces. In a bowl add nopales, cilantro, onion and toss. Add lemon juice and salt to taste. To make this recipe stretch give the nopales a few rough chops. Chill before serving at least an hour.

Submitted by:
Stefanie

Notes:
Tart crunchy salad- very refreshing

Servings: 4 +

Ingredients:
2 cucumbers
2 roma tomatoes
1/4 cup olives- any kind that you like will do (kind of optional- you decide how many if any to add)
apple cider or balsamic vinegar - however much is enough to cover the salad when its chilling in a bowl (probably 1 to 2 cups depending on your bowl)
1 tblsp honey
1/2 cup pickled mushrooms (optional)
Dill weed
Salt (Kosher salt works best)
Pepper
a pinch of oregano (optional)
1/4 tsp minced garlic

Directions:
Slice the cucumbers thin and cube the tomatos, place both ingredients in a bowl. Add the spices- honey, garlic - olives and mushrooms. Pour vinegar over the whole thing until the vinegar is just slightly over the top of all the ingredients. Chill at least 4 hours- its best after 24 hours. Because of the vinegar this salad will stay quite a while in your refrigerator. (it even stays crispy)

Submitted by:
Jessica

Notes:
This is my favourite salad of all time! Very simple, easy to prepare, bursting with colour and flavour - if you like butternut squash, I hope you’ll love this

-NB: When the weather takes a turn for the worst and you don’t fancy a salad, you can serve glazed butternut squash as an accompaniment to a main meal, or even use them as an alternative to pasta sheets for a mouthwatering vegetarian lasagne!

Servings: 1

Ingredients:
Mixed salad leaves (whichever kind you prefer. I always choose one with spinach)
Vine tomato, sliced
Green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 egg, hard boiled
1 small butternut squash

For the glaze:
Olive oil
Clear honey
Paprika
Cinnamon
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
Peel the butternut squash, cut across the rounded end to expose the seeds and scoop them out. Starting from the longer, narrow end, slice the squash into rounds, about 1cm thick. When you reach the rounded end, cut into thick 1cm fingers.

At this point, you should prepare the griddle pan/George Foreman/barbeque. Do not oil the griddle: allow it to get hot, almost to smoking point. Switch on the Foreman about 5 minutes in advance of preparing the glaze.

In a bowl, mix together about 5 or 6 tablespoons of olive oil with 1 heaped teaspoon of paprika, 1 level teaspoon of cinnamon, about 2 tablespoons of clear honey, two pinches of salt (or about 3 twists of the mill if using rock salt), and a pinch of pepper. Mix quite vigorously with a fork so everything combines.

Transfer 2 tablespoons of the glaze to a side plate and coat the squash slices on both sides. Place them on the griddle, turning once after 3 or 4 minutes. You won't need to do this with the Foreman obviously, so leave them for about 8 minutes.

Boil an egg for about 5 minutes. Once cool, peel and slice.

Meanwhile, toss together the mixed salad leaves, sliced tomato and green pepper with a little of the glaze. Just make an extra batch if you don't have enough. Arrange the salad on a plate, add the sliced egg. The squash is cooked when well defined griddle marks appear on the flesh, but they shouldn't feel floppy. Once done, add to the salad with an extra sprinkling of paprika and a tiny drizzle of honey, then serve. Enjoy!

Submitted by:
Louise

Notes:
This salad is ridiculously tasty, surprisingly filling and quite probably foolproof (unless you really do struggle to boil an egg…). Plus, it’s very simple and suits a multitude of additional vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc. I didn’t have any staple salad ingredients at the time, hence the egg, but it was by no means boring! Colourful, nutritious and delicious!

Servings: 1

Ingredients:
Bag of mixed baby salad leaves (I used Asda's own brand, £1)
1 tin of Mackerel in tomato sauce (I used Sainsbury's own, 79p)
2 medium chicken eggs

Directions:
Boil two eggs for about 5 minutes, or longer depending on how hard you like the yolk. Once they're done, drain off the hot water and cover them in cold water. Leave to stand.
Grab a generous handful of salad leaves and arrange on a plate. Open the tin of mackerel and use a spoon to lift the fillets out of the sauce (please don't throw it away!) and add to the leaves.
Peel the eggs, slice them and add to the plate.
Drizzle the reserved tomato sauce from the mackerel tin over the leaves and eggs, and enjoy!

This is an incredibly basic recipe but makes a fantastic lunch if you're short of ingredients, and the sauce tastes amazing with the eggs. For a fishier salad, use two tins of mackerel (but only 1 tin's worth of sauce) and one egg. For a heartier evening meal, add tomato, cucumber, sweetcorn, kidney beans (they taste amazing with the sauce), pinenuts and/or sesame seeds. If you would prefer it without egg, try mixing the reserved sauce with a portion of cooked pasta. Yum!

Calories:
Mixed salad leaves - negligible
Mackerel in tomato sauce - 170 approx (see Sainsbury's website)
Boiled egg - 76 approx

Submitted by:
Louise

Notes:
Prep time: 30 minutes ; Cook time: 9 minutes ; Marinate time: 1 hour

Serving size: 3 cups spinach and 4 oz steak - 439 calories per serving

Servings: 4

Ingredients:
Steak:
1 lb flank or strip steak
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp adobo seasoning
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt
cooking spray
Salad:
2 ears of corn, cooked and stripped off the cob
1 cup jicama, chopped
juice of 1/2 a lime
12 oz baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1 oz queso fresco, crumbled
cilantro for garnishing

Directions:
Place steak in freezer bag. Whisk together next 5 ingredients. Marinate meat for 1 hour. Season both sides of meat with salt. Grill 3 minutes per side. Transfer to cutting board, let rest 5 minutes. Toss jicama with lime juice. Put spinach in a large bowl, add roasted red peppers, corn, jicama, avocado, and queso fresco. Toss with bottled southwestern-style dressing (I omitted this to cut calories). Thinly slice steak. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Submitted by:
Chelley Bones

Notes:
The color of this salad is WONDERFUL!

This is a bit of a tease, but I want to share a bit of this recipe.  This I came up with when I bought the most beautiful beets, with greens still attached.  I had to use the root and greens when they looked this good.  BUT, the dressing is a bit of a tease.  I want to put it in my cookbook someday so I will just give a general guideline for the recipe.  This is the best dressing ever!  But I think it has everything to do with the healthy silky avocado.  Never again will I be worried about the fat content of the avocado.  I just enjoy!  Be smart with the rest of the day and enjoy

Servings: 1

Ingredients:
1 c. chopped and ever so slightly steamed beet greens (a flash steam really - less then a minute)
1 med. thinly sliced raw beets (new and sweet are the best!)
avocado
something sweet
something sour
some kind of herb
salt and pepper if you desire
something spicy if you like

Directions:
Steam beet greens lightly
Slice beet and place on top of the greens

In blender mix a scooped out avocado with a about 3/4 c of water (start with 1/2 if you have a small avocado) and add the rest of your fave ingredients from the above suggestions.

Be generous with the dressing on the salad, but there will be left overs and if you use lemon as the sour, it is pretty good for a couple days. My dressing lasted one day. Might be best to share it with someone else. Or it could be the treat of the day.

Submitted by:
Jennifer

Notes:
Spinach Salad with fresh chopped veggies

Servings: 8 - 12

Ingredients:
1 Bag Fresh Spinach
10 Chopped fresh Asparagus Spears
1 small Chopped Summer Squash
1 Chopped Orange or Red Bell Pepper
2 C Chopped Broccoli Florets
2 TBLS Chopped Walnuts
Your Favorite Dressing. Mine is Paul Newman's Light Raspberry Walnut Dressing

Directions:
Chop Veggies into small pieces and keep in tightly sealed container. Put 1 C of mixed veggies on top of 1 C fresh Spinach. Sprinkle Walnuts and Feta cheese and Dressing to taste.
I take a variation of this salad to work with me everyday.
Substitute Mandarine oranges for Bell pepper or Shredded carrot for Summer Squash, etc

Submitted by:
Traci

Notes:
This is a “secret family recipe” that I love! I know summer is here when I can make it again (using fresh garden tomatoes is best, tomatoes in the winter time just lack that good flavor). Super simple and easy to prepare. Great at cookouts or anytime. Needs a few minutes to sit and blend, say 20 or so or overnight.

This is also good as a relish, especially on brats!

Servings: varies

Ingredients:
Ratio is ONE tomato to ONE cucumber
onion to taste (we like a lot so I use half a small onion for this ratio)
Miracle Whip (can use light or fat free and improve fat/cal content)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Peel, seed and coarsly chop cucumber. Chop onion and tomato and place all veggies in a bowl. Add enough Miracle Whip to lightly coat the veggies (it will blend with the juices from the veggies in a few minutes), for one large tomato and one large cucumber, I'd use a tablespoon maybe. Add salt and pepper and stir to coat well. Cover and refrigerate at least 20 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.

Submitted by:
NOFAT40

Notes:
For a great light meal, or snack, this avacado salad has less than 5 ingredients and takes only minutes to put together. With a few chops you can have a healthy meal at your plate.

Servings: 1

Ingredients:
1 avacado, palm full of chopped red onion, 2 palm full of cherry tomatos cut in half, sharp cheddar cheese cumbles(to taste) salt, pepper

Directions:
Get the avacado out of the skin and chop, chop the red onion, cut the cherry tomatos in half, sprinkle with the cheddar, salt, and pepper.

Submitted by:
shay

Notes:
“An easy and delicious salad recipe.”

Servings: 6

Ingredients:
2 large red or yellow tomatoes, sliced
1/2 pound Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, drained, sliced
1 bunch fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine or balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1.) Arrange tomato, cheese slices and basil alternately overlapping on platter.
2.) Whisk oil and vinegar together. Pour over tomatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Submitted by:
CaramelQueen