To think my salads are shit?

[Acunningruse]

Or at the very least, trapped in the 80s?!

We go on holiday in 30 days and I want to lose a ton bit of weight before we go so am planning on salad for lunch every day. Today I have ham, egg, lettuce, tomato cucumber and a bit of mayo. I think it'll be nice, but also like being transported back to my 80s childhood?!

The shops are full of exotic and tempting looking salads but I seem incapable of recreating anything similar at home. I tried one with chickpeas the other day and it was just chickpeas floating round my plate with a bit of onion and tomato.

What are your top homemade salads? Disclaimer I live in a very non exotic small town and do not have access to fancy delis etc.

Thanks!

it's all about the dressing tbh. and use some fresh herbs to tart it up a bit.

For simplicity I chop up beetroot and spring onions, and crumble feta over my salads. Even jalapeños go in there when I'm in the mood. And house or blue cheese dressings.

Some people roast pine nuts.

You can add different bits, no rules

Try:

Watermelon, mint and halloumi
Greek salad - feta, red onion, cucumber, tomatoes, herbs
Rocket, puy lentils and goats cheese with a honey dressing
Tuna or salmon nicoise

Home made coleslaw, with hole made mayo is a game changer. Though not really diet friendly 😬.

• home made mayo!

The tastiest salads are tasty cos they have a load of oil / fat and salt

thats why a cob salad and a restaurant Caesar salad are so delicious

Heat up some red wine vinegar in a pan, chuck in some chopped rhubarb, simmer for two minutes then let it cool. Put it in a glass jar for 24 hours, then strain off the vinegar back into its bottle. Use that in your salad dressing.

I mix up my greens - not just basic iceberg lettuce, add in romaine / kale / micro greens / spring onions, that really helps. Also I have my egg warm and slightly runny in the yolk, makes everything taste richer.

And a good dressing, lots of salt / pepper, bit of oil and vinegar or mustard and it's a win.

A green goddess dressing - with everything in the salad chopped up small so it can be eaten with a spoon!

A bit of toasted chickpea is fab for texture, slightly friendlier than fried croutons.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/healthy-salad-recipes

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/salad-recipes?page=2

You don't need a fancy deli you need imagination to help you stop thinking about a limited range of ingredients as salad ingredients and mayo as the only possible dressing.

Salads can include meat, fish, cheese, eggs, vegan alternatives, nuts, beans, grains, vegetables and fruits.

One of my favourites is baby leaves (rocket and spinach are good), halved cherry tomatoes, blanched green beans, a little bit of crumbled blue cheese and a few chopped walnuts. I make a creamy dressing from either low fat cream cheese or Greek yogurt mixed with Dijon and grain mustard, a teaspoon of honey and a squeeze of lemon or lime juice.

Sorry, I don't think my links are working.
I search salad recipes on BBC good food
I have tried and tested many recipes and they're all amazing.

I find tasty salads really hard to make.

You just need to mix up your ingredients a bit

Choose a base
Mixed leaves
Rocket
Spinach
Pea shoots
Lettuce

If you are including carbs add that
Pasta
Rice
Cous cous
Bulgar
Sweet potato
Regular new potatoes

Add you veg
Carrots
Cucumber
Tomato
Celery
Beetroot
Cabbage
Spring onion
Peppers
Radishes
Red onion
Sweetcorn
Avacado

If you like it you can roast your veg.

Then add a protein
Chicken (flavoured if you wish - so many options honey and mustard, lemon and garlic, sweet chilli, paprika, tandoori etc etc)
Boiled egg
Salmon
Tuna
Ham
Cheese - again lots of options Stilton, mozzarella feta, haloumi all work well in salad
Ham, bacon or prosciutto
Lentils
Chickpeas
Mixed beans

Then any extras
I like fruit in salad- apples, grapes, pear, watermelon
Or dried fruit sultanas, cranberries
Pickled veg - red onions, gherkins, beetroot etc

A dressing - flavoured or balsamic vinegar
Vinegarette
Lemon or lime juice
Yoghurt based dressings

Then add something crunchy, toasted seeds, nuts, pita croutons, tortilla shards etc

Base - bad of mixed greens

Protein - chicken breast, salmon fillet, prawns, roasted chickpeas (roast in olive oil salt pepper paprika), sirloin steak, ham and boiled egg

Veg - personally hate raw cucumber onion tomato. I prefer roasted veg eg red onion, butternut squash, peppers, courgette, broccoli, asparagus, tomatoes

Dressing - olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, honey, salt, pepper, dried Italian herbs

Toppings - grated cheese, crumbled feta, pumpkin seeds, olives, sliced avocado

I've never met a Nigella salad I didn't like. My favourite one is little gem lettuce, spring onions, mango, chicken and red chilli with a sesame oil dressing. So fresh and zingy.

Her puy lentil and goats cheese one with red peppers is great too. And her classic Greek salad.

I make very good salads. As others have said, the dressing is key. what's also important is how it comes together and texture. So, for example, even DS has realised that when he goes to friends' houses and they have a green salad, it's awful. Usually because they have large lettuce leaves, a few slices of tomato and cucumber and that's it.

So, a "good" green/side salad needs the lettuce to be chopped into more bit sized pieces. two types of lettuce are particularly appealing and add to the visual experience. It needs a variety of additional items, ideally with a combination of textures eg cucumber, peppers, grated carrot, avocado or some combination. I like to add nuts/seeds and feta cheese (abandon the feta if you're worried about calories).

I quite often do a true "green" salad - lettuce and cucumber. Than chargrilled asparagus or tender stem broccoli. I do add some pine nuts usually or some feta cheese so that's slightly less "green".

A very basic dressing is oil and vinegar with a little bit of salt and herbs. I often do lemon, yoghurt, oil, mustard. Maybe a hint of honey with some garlic and salt.

Personally, I don't like chickpeas in a salad that's based on lettuce. It works well in rice/couscous type salads though.

Grilled Chicken, red cabbage, grated carrot, and chopped coriander and for the dressing: lime, soy sauce, a little olive oil or sesame oil, penaut butter and chilli flakes.

Grilled chicken seasoned or marinated, green salad leaves, then make a Pico de Gallo with pineapple, tomato, red onion, coriander, lime and salt. For the dressing you can add some chipotle mayo, or nandos mayo if you can't find chipotle.

Rocket salad with green baby leaf, goats cheese crumbled, grapes halved and walnuts or cashew nuts, make a simple vinaigrette with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and your favourite seasoning.

Romain lettuce chopped finely, grilled chicken cubed, red cabbage finely chopped, crispy bacon, feta crumbled, tomatoes, strong onions, this goes well with blue cheese dressing ❤️

Vinaigrette instead of mayo for a start. Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, bit of seeded mustard, lemon, salt, pepper, Italian herbs.

Mixed leaves, not just iceberg.

Scoop of tuna, boiled egg, couple of steamed green beans, red onion shavings, capers or olives - lovely nicoise salad

Add pomegranate or sliced grapes. Beetroot, corriander, nuts, cous cous. I love making salads, Chuck anything in them 😂

My salads (which I find delicious) are:

mixed salad leaves
avocado
chicken
walnuts
sunflower seeds
and olive oil

Mixed leaves, chicken, pear, black grapes, walnut and whatever dressing you like. Sounds wrong but it's lovely.

Mixed leaves, chicken, pesto, sundried tomoato and pine nuts.

Tomatoes, cucumber etc all taste bland. I put nuts in every salad to add texture.

You need a LOT of odds and sods to make my salads. Normally I open the fridge and I chop lettuce or use a bag of green and put it in a bowl. I finely dice, thinly slide or grate some of the following into the bowl (depending on what is in the fridge).
Apple, cucumber, raw onion, cabbage, carrot, mange touts, avocado, celery, fresh peas, pickled onion, olives, peppers, raw mushrooms etc...

I sometimes roast sweet potato, butternut squash or grill thin courgette strips to have something warm in the salad.

Sometimes I add puy lentils, seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy), nuts (walnut), dried fruit (apricot, raisin, sultana), fresh fruit (watermelon, pomegranate seeds).

Then I add a protein; ham, boiled egg, tuna, salmon, mackerel, feta, etc..

Finally I have a few preferences for dressing; Greek yoghurt/Mayo 50:50, Mayo/Yoghurt with lime juice, Vinaigrette, Vinaigrette and Mayo mix.

Mixed leaves, cucumber, cherry toms, red pepper, grapes, pomegranate seeds, balsamic vinegar and some chicken (ideally cooked in the air fryer with nandos seasoning).

Chef's kiss!

I'm 45 but still only enjoy a salad like you've described. I think it could be an 80s childhood thing too, as my Yorkshire Grandma made salad for tea which was lettuce, radish, spring onion, cucumber, tomatoes and salad cream. Served with cold meats and/or cheese.

That's my kind of salad! I've tried to enjoy other salads and I just don't. And definitely not as a main meal 😊

My favourite one is salmon (which I just poach in salted water and lime juice and then leave to go cold) and prawns with mixed leaves and some pumpkin seeds or shop-bought croutons on top. With a little bit of dressing that's just olive oil and apple cider vinegar shaken together. I also like salad nicoise - lettuce, canned tuna, hard-boiled eggs, cold boiled new potatoes, cold cooked green beans, tomatoes and anchovies. Drizzle of whatever vinaigrette they have in the shop. Obviously you can leave out any of the elements you don't like or think would be too much faff.