Cabbage, Grapes, Olives Salad in a Red Wine & Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

I had a bit of salad left over from yesterday - the lettuce was wilted, but the rest was fresh. So, I reused the kalamata olives, gherkins, and peppers; and added cabbage and black grapes to the mix. The vinaigrette is made of 1 part red wine vinegar, 2 parts extra virgin olive oil, sprigs of oregano, and a heaping of poppy seeds. I'd bought the poppy seeds ages ago and hadn't even opened the pack till today -  Had seen a salad dressing somewhere with poppy seeds added, so why not?!

Kalamata Olives, Lettuce, and Green Pepper Salad

An old flame of mine used to say "If you have't eaten kalamata olives, you've wasted your life." If that is so, then today was the first day of putting my life to good use. Since the salad below has that tang from the olives and the gherkins, I just dressed it with rosemary-infused olive oil.

Papaya and Lettuce Salad

A simple salad with red/lolo lettuce, papaya and olives - dressed with red wine vinegar and chives. I think the olives ruined it for me...the next time I make this, I'd leave out my salty olives. Can't wait for mango season in April - This would taste so much better with mango!

Check out the little tentacles on my organic papaya - Scary looking. Never seen anything like this on another papaya.

Papaya and Lettuce Salad

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a papaya
• 5-6 cups of red/lolo lettuce
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• Handful of olives
• 1 teaspoon chives

To make:

• Peel, deseed, and dice your papaya.
• Dress your lettuce in red wine vinegar.
• Add the papaya and olives.
• Sprinkle with finely chopped chive.

Basil Walnut Pesto Pasta with Peppers and Olives

When you make a fresh batch of pesto, its always best to use it as soon as possible. I made a quick sauce out of mine to go with my whole wheat fusili pasta. I'm a bit iffy about boiled flour-based dishes (noodles, pasta etc), and almost never have them. But since I got a pack of pasta at a discount, why not?!

Basil Walnut Pesto Pasta with Peppers and Olives

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fusili pasta (or any other of your choice)
• 3 tablespoons of basil and walnut pesto
• 1 green pepper
• Handful of black olives
• 1/2 cup water
• Teaspoon of olive oil
• Salt, to taste

To make:

• Heat a pot of water along with the salt.
• When the water comes to a boil, add the pasta.
• Cook for 7 minutes, or as per instructions on the pack.
• Drain the pasta, retaining about 1/2 cup of water to make your sauce.
• In a pan, add the pesto and 1/2 cup pasta water, to make a sauce.
• Add the pasta back in the sauce, along with the peppers and olives.
• Cook for an additional minute and turn off the gas.
• Drizzle the olive oil on top when you serve.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Fennel, Peppers, Lettuce Salad

I had this salad for brunch yesterday sitting in our office canteen, in a rather conspicuous location next to the water cooler. Two girls at work (one a total stranger) asked for the recipe, saying it smells so good (Thank you, rosemary), and two guys commented on the fact that seeing a Parsi girl eat vegan raw is as rare as well, seeing a hippo in Alaska. Just not the normal run of things. And that eating tofu (not in the below recipe) and raw veggies is just needlessly putting yourself through torture.

Fennel, Peppers, Lettuce Salad

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups of baby/lolo lettuce
• 2-3 cups of roquette lettuce (arugula)
• 1 cup of fennel bulb and leaves
• 1 green pepper
• 1/2 red pepper
• 3-5 pickled cucumber
• 5-10 black olives
• 2-3 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

To make:

• Wash and chop up your veggies.
• Make a sald dressing of chopped up rosemary and olive oil.
• Pour over the salad.

Lettuce, Apple, and Cucumber Salad

Inspired by my salad yesterday, today, too, I made a salad with hitherto unused ingredients - apples and cucumbers. You can prevent apples from going brown after you cut them by rubbing some lemon/lime juice on them.

Lettuce, Apple, and Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cups iceberg lettuce, chopped finely
• 1/2 a large apple, chopped
• 1 cucumber, sliced (skin on)
• 2 tablespoons black olives, chopped
• Handful of mint
• Tablespoon of olive oil
• Juice of two limes
• Handful of fennel leaves
• Handful of walnuts

To make:

• Chop and mix all the veggies.
• Juice the two limes - The juice of one of them will be poured over the chopped apples to prevent them from going brown.
• The juice of the other lime will be combined with the olive oil to make a dressing.
• Pour over the salad.
• Garnish with walnuts, mint and fennel leaves.

Peas, Lettuce, and Fennel Salad

If you have been on my blog long enough, you’ll notice I rarely make a green salad – by habit, I must add some color by way of fruits or red peppers at the very least. Today, I decided to give my daily dose of peppers a rest. And used green peas, instead!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup green peas (frozen is fine)
• 2-3 cups of chopped iceberg lettuce
• 1 cup chopped pak choi leaves
• ½ cup of shaven fennel bulb (with leaves)
• 10 green olives
• 5-10 walnuts
• Dash of olive oil
• Juice of one lime

To make: 

• Combine the peas, lettuce, pak choi, and fennel.
• Make a dressing of olive oil and the lime juice.
• Pour over the salad. Let it rest for 2-4 hours.
• Add the walnuts on top for crunch.
  
  
  

Strawberry Lettuce Salad

For lunch today, a delightful sweet salad consisting of strawberries and lettuce, with maple adding to the sweetness.

Lettuce isn’t just a sweet and crunchy vegetable that makes salads appetizing, or the mandatory greens you add atop your burger! It’s one of the most nutrient-dense foods around, according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Nutrient density can also be understood as the ratio of the nutrient composition of a given food to the nutrient requirements of the human body. This, according to the eBook 'Profoundly Raw'. OK, as you see from the chart below, it’s nowhere close to the heavy weights kale and spinach, but would you rather eat a kilo of kale or lettuce?

Strawberry Lettuce Salad

Ingredients:

• 10-12 strawberries
• 2-3 cups of lettuce
• 10-12 green olives
• 1 cup of green pepper
• ½ cup of red pepper
• Tablespoon of maple syrup

To make:

• Tear up the lettuce - I used iceberg – into bite sized chunks.
• Chop up the peppers into little squares, and the strawberries you can leave whole or slice in half, depending on the size.
• Mix all the ingredients.
• Pour the maple syrup on top right before you want to eat the salad or the lettuce will start to wilt away.