Last night, as I was eating my 4th holiday cookie in a row dunked in Holly Nog, I started to think about salad.
and Green Monsters.
Funny how that works, eh?
and then my thoughts drifted back to more holiday cookies.
So I ate the last Chocolate Chip Cookie with toasted pecans (sorry Eric) and decided today I would revisit some of the most popular salad recipes of 2011 on Oh She Glows.
If a miracle happens, I might even find the motivation to get my butt to the grocery store and make one too.
Here are the 5 most popular salad recipes of 2011 according to you. Dig in!
5) Detox Salad
This vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, and soy-free salad is based off the Detox Salad at Whole Foods…while being easier on the wallet to boot. It makes me want to dance in my kitchen when I eat this! I love it drizzled with a touch of maple syrup and sprinkle of cinnamon just before serving.
4) Red Quinoa and Black Bean Salad
Extremely light, fresh, and packed with protein and healthy fats, this tangy salad will have you dreaming of Spring and Summer. Not that you weren’t already when you stepped your feet on the icy bathroom floor this morning.
3) Back on Track Salad
Who says you have to wait until January 1st to get your eating back on track? Wheatberries give this salad a great chewy texture and can be found in bulk food stores such as Bulk Barn. If you don’t want to use wheatberries you can probably substitute brown rice or quinoa too.
2) Weekend Glow Kale Salad
I used to hate kale.
The only way I could bring myself to eat kale was if I put it in a Green Monster, and even then it was always quite bitter. Or I would bake kale chips and cook them so long that you couldn’t even tell it was kale.
Well, lucky for the 20 kale plants I planted in my garden this summer, it grew on me.
This kale salad is easily one of my favourite salads of all time. I learned with the right preparation techniques (such as marinating), kale could be just as good, if not better, than my previous go-to romaine lettuce. Not to mention, kale’s nutritional profile blows romaine out of the water. I always tell kale skeptics to try this salad because it will often change your mind…
Last but not least, I present to you the most popular salad recipe of 2011…
1) Lightened Up Protein Power Goddess Bowl
All women are Goddesses, so it only makes sense that this recipe was #1 in 2011. If the holidays have left you feeling a bit less than Goddess-like, energize yourself with this high-protein vegetable bowl. It fills me up for hours and even takes my mind off cookies occasionally too.
Other honourable mention:
Over The Rainbow Cabbage Salad with Tahini-Lemon Dressing
Well, I’m going to mow down on a salad today. And then I’ll have a holiday cookie or two for dessert. If there are any left, that is.
Hahah I had the same sort of revelation the other day too!
After a weekend of eating cookies, cakes, and other rich, holiday food nonstop, I was CRAVING vegetables. Yesterday, I made a great wrap (on an Ezekiel tortilla, which you got me hooked on!) that was chock full of veggies, and I had so much energy throughout the day!
Amazing what good food will do :)
YOu read my mind! We have just finished a big salad for dinner tonight!
I love all the salads. Thank you Angela for showing different foods and different ways to eating! I now love wheatberries and quinoa.
I have tried each and every one of these salads and my all time favorite was the back on track. My gosh, it’s so deliciously good! Thanks for posting these, Angela :)
They all look so good!! I am going to be trying each one very soon!! But…. I cannot stand Kale!! : ( What could be substituted in your opinion??
I love making your detox salad, except I actually use the broccoli and cauliflower stems and save the florets for different recipes! It is a great way to use the stalks and it’s super crunchy. I chop them up small. Thanks for sharing, this is definitely one of my go to salads :-)
I love your salads, they are also my favorite !
Happy holidays !!
Your photo with all your chopped veggies is delish :-)
My friend made the Kale Salad for a dinner party last night. It tastes wonderful, and the tahini lemon dressing is fantastic. Had to have the recipe! Thanks!
I read the ingredients for your kale salad and it looks and sounds delish but…how did you manage 20 kale plants in your garden without them going to seed or to waste? Even with just the 2 of you at home, did you not find yourself buried in kale? I’d love to plant a lot of veggies this coming year, but I’m concerned that I’m going to have them all ripen at once, and have an overabundance that would go to waste.
The protein power goddess bowl is a definite winner in our house. My husband asks for it all the time!
So delicious! I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and the salads have compelled me to comment! :-) Thanks for this and all of your recipes. Happy New Year!
these=GREATNESS! Thanks Ang. :)
These are going to be great lunch ideas for work! One of my goals over the past month & for the new year is to continue bringing my lunch as much as possible. It’s so easy to spend too much money on lunches over a month.
Thanks for the recipe roundup!
where, oh where, can i find speltberries?? i’m in toronto, by the way.
i made the Goddess Bowl yesterday with brown rice instead of the speltberries, and it was so amazing, but i have a feeling it can be even better because speltberries are so tasty : )
I’m surprised my favorite didn’t make the list! I’ve been trying to search for it recentlty with little success. It was a huuuge salad you recreated from a vegan restaurant you visited this year, if I’m not mistaken. Involved avacados, bean sprouts, carrots, possibly cabbage, possibly with tahini dressing— was a very colorful salad and kept me so full. Can you help me find this salad in your archives, pretty please :)
This was a timely post! I was getting myself back into “healthy meal planning” mode and working on next week’s meal plan (after the past two weeks of ridiculous indulgence :-) ). Of course I had to hit up your blog for some great veggie dishes…and now I am dying to try the protein power goddess bowl AND the kale salad! I remember seeing them when you first posted but somehow never got around to making them. Now they are on my list!
Happy New Year, Angela. I hope that 2012 is a great year for you and your family!
I just tried your weekend glow salad. I never would have thought I would enjoy raw kale. who knew? I’m glad I tried the lemon-tahini dressing before I added it the salad, I wasn’t a fan. Instead, I tossed the salad with olive oil, lemon juice and a little salt. It was very good. Thanks for inspiring me to try kale.
The kale and goddess salads are two of my favorite lunch staples. That lemon-tahini dressing? The stuff of dreams!
BBQ chilli looks great. Yummy!