Summer Salads

We're in the midst of enjoying salads at the moment. I know all of you in the northern hemisphere are thinking I'm a little bonkers...but for those in Australia, I know you're all looking for ways to enjoy your meals without heating up the house. For us, that means a lot of salad eating. By the end of summer I'll be wishing never to see another salad as long as I live, but for right now we're enjoying the sunshiney taste of yummy things not eaten since.....last summer!

Tinned Salad
One of my favourite I-can't-be-bothered meals comes from tins. Lots of salad things can come in a tin! We have beetroot (well ~ for those who like it....blech!), corn kernels, pineapple chunks, tinned potatoes can be rinsed, chopped and mixed with a dressing & fresh chives. Add some cold meat, sliced tomatoes and lettuce and you have dinner. Five minutes tops. You can pop all those tins in the fridge and then you cold salad ;)

Potato Salad
My favourite potato salad is just chunks of unpeeled desiree potatoes cooked until just tender. Then I make a dressing out of whole egg mayo (I use Praise brand) and a bit of dijon mustard and some fresh chives. Season with some ground rock salt and there you have it. I don't like my potato salad swimming in dressing. I like just enough for the spuds to be barely coated.

Sunshine Salad
I'm sure I got this from Steph's Country Kitchen Goodness. Her site has disappeared, much to my great sadness. Wherever the idea came from it's a goody!

Chopped lettuce or cabbage, crushed pineapple which has been drained (reserve the juice), grated cheese. To make the dressing just mix some mayonnaise with some of the reserved pineapple juice until the consistency is like a thinner dressing, rather than gloopy like mayo. Toss the dressing through.

Tossed Garden Salad
Really, a garden salad should be filled with things you love. For me, this means a red oakleaf lettuce, finely sliced spring onions, halved grape tomatoes, cucumber, mushrooms, shaved parmesan cheese and sliced kalamata olives. In reality, I put some olives on my plate and no one else's because no one but me enjoys them. I might also be inclined to add finely julienned carrots (I have a slicer thing that does this with no effort) or red capsicum. To dress, I mix 2 parts olive oil to 1 part white wine vinegar, a little dijon mustard and a little honey and then season with salt to taste. I don't buy salad dressings anymore, as I really do prefer this. You can leave out the dijon and the honey to keep it really really simple.

I'll post some salad main meals soon.