Warm Zucchini and Egg "Salad"

This one isn't a salad in the traditional sense, but given its ingredients are salad classics in other forms (grated zucchini, hard boiled eggs) and it was a tasty dinner, I figured I'd stretch the definition a bit.

I sliced a zucchini into very thin half-moons and sautéed them over medium-low heat until they got a bit translucent, put them on a plate, and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. Then I fried an egg in the same pan, put it on top of the eggs, cut it up, and mixed the whole thing together. Viola! A warm zucchini and egg "salad" with an extremely decadent runny egg yolk dressing. (I also added a bit of truffle salt at the end--yummm.)

Thai Cabbage Salad

On Mackinac Island we had a delicious Thai salad -- Brian loved it and I liked everything about it except the (I thought) overly vinegary dressing. So I googled to find a Thai peanut sauce that didn't rely on either coconut milk or lots of vinegar. I found a great one on Chow. (It's actually Vietnamese, but let's not quibble.) I used the sauce for dipping tofu, broccoli and cauliflower, and we drizzled some over the sweet potato, too. Yum! I made it just like the recipe stated, but used my regular peanut butter (and so omitted the sugar) and I used more water to make it creamier.

But even though I made only half the recipe, we still had a lot of sauce left over. I decided to thin it with water to salad dressing consistency and use it for the Thai cabbage salad -- the reason I had searched for the recipe in the first place! It was delicious! You could try the dressing on any slaw, but I'll put down what I used, just FYI.

Thai Cabbage Salad

A word on chile-garlic paste: I keep it in the fridge and it seems to last forever. Normally a tiny amount will do because it's so fiery, but I used what they said here and it was not too hot. I think the peanut butter attenuates the heat. (Sometimes I add 1/4-1/2 tsp to a big pot of bean soup and it's really nice.) I've been keeping hoisin sauce in the fridge for a variety of uses, too.

(Here's the slightly adapted half sauce recipe, and I diluted about half of this for the salad dressing. You can see the full recipe at Chow, link above.)

3/8 cup peanut butter

3 Tbs water (and more for thinning to desired consistency)

1-1/2 Tbs hoisin sauce

1 Tbs lime juice

2 tsp sodium reduced soy sauce

1 tsp chili paste with garlic

1 clove garlic, mashed or minced

1 tsp roasted sesame oil

Whisk all of the ingredients together. Before serving, thin to desired consistency for a dipping sauce or a dressing.

Salad

I sliced about half a small head of cabbage (I wanted to use Napa or Savoy cabbage, but they looked pretty bad in the store, so I used a regular head) and about a quarter small head of red cabbage. This is easy if you use the slicing blade of a food processor. I also sliced some snow peas, then grated a zucchini, half a cucumber, and a couple carrots. I added some slivered almonds and chopped cilantro, then tossed it with the dressing. Before serving, I put in some pan-fried tofu cubes.

All Week Pasta Salad

Younger daughter here with my first post! I haven't been carrying my weight in the salad-making department, but today I made an extremely weighty salad, hoping to make up for some lost time: this veggie-laden pasta salad, so big I had to stir it in my largest pot because it didn't fit in any mixing bowls. (The photo here shows the salad after a few portions were put in lunch containers.)

The weather here on the east coast is hot and muggy, making it perfect salad weather, so I figured I'd make an enormous salad for my roommate and me (and a few friends) to eat for dinner tonight--and to eat for lunch all week. It's just a pound of pasta and whatever veggies caught my eye, and I plan to add things throughout the week to change it up: soy chicken or tofu, more beans, other veggies. It can also work with any dressing, though I've made a big bottle of Rolf's Mother's Chinese Dressing to use, now that my mom's post reminded me how much I like it!

Here's a list of what's in this iteration of the salad, though it's good with whatever vegetables are fresh and on hand:

• a pound of whole wheat elbow macaroni
• a pound of fresh broccoli, cut into small florets and tossed in with the pasta when it was almost done cooking
• ten ounces of frozen peas, tossed in with the pasta and broccoli
• a bag of carrots, peeled and shredded
• two large zucchini, shredded
• two cans of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• a bunch of radishes, sliced thin
• eight ribs of celery, chopped