Easy salads

Beet and Prune Salad with Walnuts
RecipeBeet and Prune Salad with Walnuts

This beet and prune salad is simple, amazingly tasty and incredibly healthy. It works great as a side dish and as a healthy snack, if you are watching your kilograms and wanting to improve your overall digestion. It is very important to use sweet and rich red color beets for this salad. So when buying beets check carefully that they don’t look pink or white, and that they are fresh and firm. You can use different methods to cook beets - boil, roast or cook in the microwave . If you value your time and don’t want to wait for hours for the beets to cook, check out our suggestions on how to cook beet in the microwave. There are two ways to tell if the beets are ready: they start to smell yummy, or if you poke them with a fork it’ll go in easily. The beets that are well-cooked will have the skin almost slide off when you touch it. Using a paring knife to remove the skin works way better than a vegetable peeler, alternatively you can also use a paper towel to slide off the skins. Prunes are an important ingredient in this salad. Their sweetness, chewy texture and mild taste compliments the flavors of beet. Prunes are full of nutrients and is a great source of fiber, adding prunes to your salads can significantly improve your overall digestion. You can learn more about health benefits of prunes by reading the summary of some studies. Walnuts is another important ingredient in beet and prune salad. They have higher antioxidant activity and more healthy omega-3 fats than any other common nut, they help reduce inflammation and improve heart disease risk factors. It is important to use good quality walnuts - old walnuts can be bitter and will make your beet and prune salad taste bitter as well.

Salad Olivieh
RecipeSalad Olivieh

Salad Olivieh is another name of a famous Russian potato salad that is the most traditional dish for the celebration of the New Year for Eastern European people. It can often be served during other family holidays, gatherings and even during normal weekdays. The salad requires a bit of preparation and some good amount of chopping, but it is definitely worth every effort put into it! The beauty of salad Olivieh is that is stores pretty well in the fridge (up to 5 days). The only recommendation regarding storing would be to store mixed dry ingredients, and add mayonnaise right before serving. Different cooks may use slightly different ingredients in this salad, but we recommend you to try this version, and if wanted you can customize it to your taste, adding or substituting the ingredients. Dill can be easily replaced by parsley, bologna by ham or cooked chicken, you can also leave out the mayo, and replace it with sour cream or plain yogurt (the salad will not have the traditional taste, but it will still taste quite yummy!) Try using homemade mayonnaise following our simple recipe, instead of the store-bought one. It is easy to make and much healthier than the ones you will find on the shelves of the supermarket. It will make your salad Olivie taste much much better! Salad Olivieh is very forgiving, and uses the ingredients that are very easy to find in the supermarket, in fact, we are mostly sure that you will be able to find most of them in your kitchen already. Give it a try and let us know if you liked it as much as we do!

Pumpkin and Feta Salad with Bacon and Grapefruit
RecipePumpkin and Feta Salad with Bacon and Grapefruit

Looking for something filling and nutritious, but also light and delicious? Pumpkin and feta salad with bacon and grapefruit ticks all of those boxes! It can serve as an interesting side to pasta dishes, as well as become a king of the lunchtime on its own. Because the salad had feta and bacon in it, we advice not to season it with salt, unless you you prefer a strong salty taste in your meals. We also used olive oil in the recipe, but you are welcome to use the oil of your choice for this pumpkin and feta salad. The proportions of the ingredients are well suited for 2 full servings as a main dish, and it can serve 4 if pumpkin and feta salad is used as a side.

Pumpkin and Kidney Bean Salad with an Exotic Twist
RecipePumpkin and Kidney Bean Salad with an Exotic Twist

This pumpkin and kidney bean salad celebrates all four seasons! Summery, flavorful, and at the same time satisfying and filling - this pumpkin and kidney bean salad makes mealtime a little more tasty while being light on the waistline. It is warm enough to still eat salads as a main meal but cool enough to enjoy beans and pumpkin. There are many ways to make pumpkin and kidney bean salad, and this slightly unusual combination of classic winter ingredients and fruity summer vibes is one of the most nontraditional ways to make it. Feel free to use your imagination and make your own combination, using your favorite ingredients. This salad is good as a side dish and as a filling lunch salad for any day of the week.

Beet Salad with Feta and Pear
RecipeBeet Salad with Feta and Pear

This healthy and colorful salad can be a perfect addition to meat dishes, and also serve as a nice meal on its own if you prefer to pursue a vegetarian lifestyle. Beet is well-known for its indispensable health benefits. Betacyanin, a colorful pigment in beet, is an antioxidant that can significantly help your liver get rid of toxins, and thus improve its main function to keep your body clean by absorbing all the harmful chemicals from your blood. Beet also contains betaine, a substance can be used to help with some forms of depression due to its ability to relax your mind and improve general sense of well being. For healthy reasons we prefer using homemade sauces and condiments to those bought in a supermarket. There is value in making something from scratch, and you can always control what comes in a recipe and what quality product comes out of it. We used homemade pickled red onions for this beet salad. We recommend marinating some onions at the same time as you start cooking beet, or even some time in advance, it can be perfectly stored in the fridge and used for other dishes. We know that a lot of people out there like beet but don’t like to bother with cooking it because the process seems time and energy consuming. If you are one of those people, we invite you to check out our *How to cook beet* (or Easy ways to cook beet). We hope you like this beet salad as much as we do, and will learn to love beet not only for its health benefits but also for its taste and color!

Quick Pickled Red Onions
RecipeQuick Pickled Red Onions

This quick, easy and crunchy condiments can be a nice addition to plenty of dishes! It takes very little time to prepare and can last for weeks in the refrigerator. There are endless uses for pickled onions. Their crunchy texture, zesty tang and bright color will add vibes to almost any dish. They're excellent for serving with sandwich and salad buffets at parties. The pickled onions will preserve best in a glass or ceramic container with a tight lid. Most metals will react with the vinegar, and plastic may absorb the flavors. This pickled onions recipe can also be used for marinating yellow or white onions. You won't get that lovely bright-pink color, but if that's not important to you, then go for it. Just make sure to select the onions that are firm and free from soft spots.

Traditional Chicken Salad
RecipeTraditional Chicken Salad

Traditional chicken salad recipe just never grows old, doesn’t it? Nowadays there are many variations of traditional chicken salad, and every second family prefers to add a bit of a personal twist to the classic recipe. Today we would like to suggest to you trying this simple recipe that adds green peppers, fennel seeds and lemon juice to the basic recipe you are probably so familiar with. You can serve it on a bed of mixed greens for additional esthetic look, you can eat it straight out of the bowl if desperately hungry, or spread it on whole wheat bread if you want to have a low-carb lunch. It is also ideal for picnics and potlucks, too! Just be sure to keep the salad chilled, when transporting it to a picnic or party, as it tasted best when chilled. In this recipe the chicken is chopped in small cubes, which makes it more present in the salad when you bite it. However, you can shred the chicken for a more subtle effect. For the dressing, instead of a store-bought mayonnaise, we decided to make our own! It takes only a few minutes to make and tastes soooo good! Try our Homemade Mayonnaise recipe and discover a new way of eating even healthier. Traditional chicken salad can be served immediately or stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for 2 to 3 days.

Easy Apple and Grape Salad with Chicken
RecipeEasy Apple and Grape Salad with Chicken

We hope you will love this easy Apple and Grape Salad with Chicken! If you are looking for an easy lunch recipe that both you and your children will love, Apple and Grape Salad with Chicken is the one! It can also be a perfect picnic meal or a snack for those who can’t keep away from the kitchen for too long but don’t want to deal with extra pounds. Chicken adds the necessary protein to your body, and celery, grapes and apples give it just the right amount of vitamin crunch that even children will love. Make a double portion of this easy Apple and Grape Salad with Chicken to save some time preparing lunch for the next day, as it can be perfectly stored in the fridge up to 3 days.

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Feta, Greens and Cranberries
RecipeRoasted Butternut Squash Salad with Feta, Greens and Cranberries

If you try to eat healthily and if you are thinking what else to include into your daily healthy menu, then this recipe is right for you! Roasted butternut squash salad is made with creamy roasted butternut squash, mixed salad greens, sweet dried cranberries, tangy and flavorful dressing and salty feta. It is full of tasty fall and summer flavors, and is very quick to make. Roasted Butternut Squash Salad not only a perfect fit into the festive family gathering, but it can also bring additional color to your monotonous weekdays! Just toss the ingredients together - and here you have a healthy and filling take-along lunch for any family member. It is so easy and so delicious that you will want to make it over and over again.

In this category you will find dozens of easy salad recipes, suitable for different occasions and seasons.

Salads can bring a great variety to your meal plan, they combine great tastes, are healthy and easy to make, boost number of fruit and vegetable servings in your daily consumption, providing your body with the necessary minerals and vitamins.

If you don’t have a lot of free time to spend in the kitchen, but would still like to improve your fruit and vegetable intake, easy salads category is the place to look for suitable recipes. You will discover that some salad recipes can accompany a main course, while others can be served as a light meal by themselves. It is up to you to decide how and when to eat your salads, and what main meals to combine them with. There is nothing wrong with experimenting and discovering new ways to enjoy your fruit and veg!