What is in your "massive salad" ?

[LovingLivingLife]

I'm looking for inspiration for my lunch salads as I've gotten into a bit of a rut.

I'll go first, today I had: chicken breast, salad leaves, grated carrot, tomato, radish, spring onion, beetroot and grated cheese

@RJnomore1

I can heartily recommend a Glasgow salad if you need filled up. You most likely won’t even need a massive one.

Yes I googled it, haha no that wasn't quite what I had in mind 😂

@Username916

Highly recommend the salad lab on tiktok. Unfortunately I don't think she has a website with the recipes so I find myself having to pause the videos to try and follow along making them myself.

Interesting, thank you I will look into it

@Nosnogginginthekitchen

Grilled halloumi, walnuts, sultanas, pumpkin and sesame seeds, green leaves, cucumber, tomato, balsamic. Nom.

Or your basic salad veg with tuna mayo and grated cheese

Grilled halloumi is the best!

@pickledsausage

I’m just roasting sweet potato (on its own) and chickpeas in harissa paste for a salad tomorrow. Will add leaves, toms etc, then feta and pickled red onion. It’s delicious! And def the fanciest salad I make - am usually leaves/Tom/cucumber kind of girl!

That does sound fancy! Do you pickle the onions yourself?

I do like some mozzarella cheese and black olives in a salad. Nice bit of hard-boiled egg. I also like the Quorn chicken or ham substitute slices chopped in the mix. Last year we were lucky enough to have decent beetroot and radishes from the garden as well.

The dog likes smoked ham and chicken in her salad. As long as I pick the salad off it first.

Leaves, red peppers, cherry tomatoes, soft boiled egg, anchovies, sweetcorn, black olives, jalapenos.

@Hyperion100

2 favs are:

chicken, mixed beans, salsa, red onion, rocket, spinach, jalapenos and some crushed tortillas for texture and loads of tobasco

sliced cabbage, carrot, red onion, grated ginger, protein of choice, vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce and some cold vermicelli noodles.

I love the sound of the first one. Do you make the salsa fresh? Or just a supermarket one good enough? Do you need to cook the beans?

I used to roast a butternut squash and eat the flesh with walnuts, goats cheese, sweet chilli sauce and rocket. Sometimes, I'd add other stuff like sundried tomatoes and olives. However, I realized that it was not all that healthy and took a long time to prepare so I have given up on massive salads. I now do a couple of small plates which may be warm

I love watermelon and halloumi in mine, and the leaves need to be really peppery.

chips

Glasgow salad 🤣

I’m more specific than ppl on here I think. Before I became vegetarian I liked Cobb salad: bacon, avocado, chicken breast, tomato, hard boiled egg, chives, romaine, frisée lettuce, watercress

Or Greek salad: tomatoes, red onion, black olives, oregano, feta

Waldorf salad: celery, apple, walnuts, Mayo

All in massive mixing bowls. Now I tend to put together anything green(ish): spinach, lettuce, avocado, cucumber, spring onions, celery, raw broccoli, fresh herbs in bunches; coriander, basil, parsley, then top with pumpkin seeds & walnuts & tons of balsamic & olive oil dressing.

@Gonnagetgoing

when I used to have massive salads it used to be the main salad bits (lettuce, tomatoes etc) but with a big dollop of cottage cheese, plus either a handful of cooked pasta or rice. add interest with stuffed olives and or sundried tomatoes in oil.

I'd also sometimes have a slim a soup.

Hadn't thought about sun-dried tomatoes for flavour, great suggestion!

@RockingMyFiftiesNot

My thought process goes something like this:

One of: potato, pasta, rice, couscous, barley, lentils, other grains

One of: meat/poultry (chicken, ham, beef, pork, turkey - often left over from previous night's dinner)); fish (tuna/mackerel/sardines) Alternatively cheese/cottage cheese or egg (boiled/frittata)
A mix of veg, usually 3-4 of the following: greens(lettuce, spinach or rocket); tomato; cucumber; radish; peppers; spring onions; celery; sweetcorn; cooked asparagus; cooked green beans; grated raw carrot or chopped cooked; beetroot; olives

Something 'wet' - mayo or dressing packed separately; humus; coleslaw; potato or Russian salad

I usually think along the same lines but was curious what combinations people are trying. There was a local lady who used to deliver salads in lockdown that were exceptional mixes of different protein, fruit,nuts, herbs & dressing. unfortunately now that's stopped so I was hoping for some new ideas to try myself.

@devildeepbluesea

I’ve just got back from the USA. I found the food there pretty boring, but to be fair the salads were great. I’ve been trying to recreate them. Base of:

Shredded iceberg or romaine
Beansprouts
Shredded red cabbage
Grated carrots
Red or spring onion thinly sliced
Cucumber
Radish
Thinly sliced mangetout

I just cut up whatever I have of that lot. Then I add some of the following:
Breaded chicken breast
Poached chicken breast
Nuts / seeds
Cheese
Avocado
Prawns
Steak strips
Deep fried rice noodles
Halloumi

Then a banging dressing. Latest favourite is an Asian style one made of:
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Hoisin sauce
Rice wine vinegar

V nice.

Fab ingredient ideas. What's your favourite combination?

I made this as part of a brunch the other day: cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019419-breakfast-salad

It was delicious, and you could scale it for lunch for one. I didn't marinate the cheddar - no time for that nonsense. Eat with a big hunk of bread.

@TerrierOrTerror

My current favourite is quinao, tenderstem brocoli, salad leaves, avocado, tuna, soft boiled egg and some seeds scattered over. Lemon-mustard dressing. It's one I have when I know I have an intense afternoon.

I also like quite a few of the Roasting Tin more salady recipes, there's one which is some kind of grain, halloumi, avocado and mango. I find you can make a batch and eat over a few days.

Where can I find the roasting tin recipes? That sounds really good

I'm just here for inspiration.

My favourite salad is goats cheese, apple and walnut in a ginger and maple syrup dressing. The salad itself is salad leaves, cabbage, carrot, spring onion, baby tomatoes and cucumber.

There's an American salad called a Cobb salad which is chopped salad greens, tomato, crisp bacon, fried chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, blue cheese, and red-wine vinaigrette. I'd probably skip the chicken

Mixed leaves
Seared broccoli / asparagus / green beans (cooled)
Roasted sweet potato or butternut squash (cooled)
Harissa chicken (cooled)
Puy Lentils
Quinoa
Pomegranate seeds
Served with Ceaser Dressing

(Total rip off of Starbucks Feta Compli salad!!)

Salad leaves, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, spring onions, avocado, celery, protein and cubed roasted sweet potato normally.

Oh I really want a salad now..

My favourite would be: lettuce, carrot, cheese, tuna, boiled egg, beetroot, celery, cucumber, more cheese, apple, grapes, and either some couscous or pasta.

I really want a salad now

I take a McDonald's double cheeseburger, throw away the bun and tear up the burger. Then I sprinkle the burger on top.

Variations of these ingredients: Lettuce, cucumber, grated carrots, beetroot, cold new pots, hard boiled egg, pineapple, raisins, seeds, porkpie, pickles, more beetroot, sweetcorn, cheese, ham, peppers, rice salad, potato salad, ready salted crisps and salad cream.

typical leafy salad base with shredded red cabbage soaked in lemon and olive oil (like a Turkish cabbage salad) and shredded carrot, loads of avocado, seed mix (pumpkin, sunflower, etc), sliced black olives, mozzarella balls, sometimes sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes, and croutons, mostly not the latter... lashings of balsamic, lemon, olive oil, voila!

My favourite is baby leaf salad, chicken, goats cheese, sun dried tomatoes and olives