Three Summer Salads

There’s just something so refreshing about salads in the summer! In the winter I’m more drawn to warm and comforting food, and then once spring rolls around all I want to eat is fresh fruits and salads! Maybe that has to do with it also being swimsuit season haha!

As we move into the warm weather season, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite salad recipes with you! These are all really easy to put together, and can be served as a main course or as a side. We sometimes make them all and have a summer salad medley for dinner!

 Kale Caesar Salad

Ingredients: 

3/4 cups olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan
3 garlic cloves
1 egg
4 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp Worcestershire
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground mustard
1 bunch kale
5-6 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1/2 cup shaved parmesan cheese

Directions:

Combine the first nine ingredients, olive oil through ground mustard in a food processor to make the caesar dressing. Blend until fully emulsified.

Remove the spine from the kale leaves, and tear leaves into bite size pieces. Pour the caesar dressing over the kale. Top with bacon, pistachios and parmesan cheese. Serve!

Apple Ginger Tuna Salad

 I love the crunch of the celery in this recipe, and the fresh pops of flavor from the ginger and apple. I prefer to mince the celery, apple and ginger really finely, because I don’t like to get huge chunks of it in my salad. You can use this to make tuna salad sandwiches, or just eat it plain!

Ingredients: 

Two cans tuna (6 oz each), drained
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 celery stalk, finely minced
3/4 apple, cored, skinned and finely minced
2 inches fresh ginger root, skinned and finely minced
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and serve. Now that’s my kind of recipe!

Greek Salad Skewers 

 These are one of my favorite things to eat during the summer, and they’re a great summer appetizer for barbecues. You can top these with your favorite Greek style dressing, or serve them plain! They’re honestly good either way. My preference lately is to thinly drizzle a little olive oil over them, along with a dusting of salt and pepper. These are perfect served on cocktail picks.

Ingredients: 

1 block of full fat feta, cut into 1/2 – 3/4 inch cubes
Grape tomatoes, halved 
Kalamata olives
Cucumber, sliced to size

Directions:

Assemble the skewers in any order you like. Be careful when adding the feta, as it has a tendency to crumble if handled too roughly. This is one reason to use full-fat feta, because along with tasting better it also holds up better. Top with your dressing of choice if you like, and serve!

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