Salad with croutons

300g ciabatta
1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic
1 cucumber
1 red onion
1 red chilli
10 pitted black olives
2 tomatoes
150g mozzarella
10 basil leaves

Dressing:
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon orange juice
sugar

Cut ciabatta into 1cm cubes and fry in butter with the garlic clove until golden and crunchy. Discard garlic and set croutons aside.

Slice cucumber lengthwise, remove seeds, and slice crosswise into 1cm strips. Slice onion into half rings. Remove seeds from chilli and slice finely. Cut olives into rings. Mix all together with croutons. Add dressing.

Slice tomatoes and mozzarella. Stack salad, a mozzarella slice, salad, a tomato slice, basil leaf and salad into a tower (6-8 cm tall). Decorate with a basil leaf and serve.

Quinoa corn capsicum salad

One box quinoa
Yogurt
Corriander
Fresh red capsicum
Roasted capsicum
Fresh corn on the cob

Cook quinoa (in 2x volume water, about 15 min then close pot and let the quinoa absorb the rest of the water. Don't add too much water otherwise quinoa will be mushy).

Chop corriander, raw capsicum, roasted capsicum, and knife the corn off the cob.

Pour the raw corn corn into a serving bowl, followed by the chopped roasted peppers.

Pour the freshly cooked quinoa into the bowl and onto the raw corn and roasted peppers. The quinoa MUST be hot off the stove so its heat can partially cook the raw corn.

Add yogurt to the mix, enough that the quinoa looks coated but not drenched.

Add chopped corriander and raw capsicum. Stir, refrigerate and serve cold.

Source

Strawberry and feta salad

Mixed greens (arugula, mizuna, and spinach)
sliced strawberries
feta
toasted sunflower seeds

Balsamic vinaigrette:
2 T vinegar or lemon juice or a combination of the two
Salt and pepper
6 T oil
Optional: 1-2 cloves crushed garlic (or 1 teaspoon crushed shallots)

Source

Roast beet salad

Wrap beets in aluminum foil (leave a few inches of stems so they don't bleed), then bake at 400 degrees F for 45-75 minutes or until tender (depending on size of beets). Pierce the beets with a skewer to make sure they are tender. When cool, peel skin off beets, slice.

Add to:
Mixed greens of your choice
fresh herbs
thinly sliced red onion
goat's cheese or gorgonzola or feta
walnuts

Balsamic vinaigrette:

2 T vinegar or lemon juice or a combination of the two
Salt and pepper
6 T oil
Optional: 1-2 cloves crushed garlic (or 1 teaspoon crushed shallots)

Source

Roasted Butternut Salad

Potatoes:
4 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½ inch cubes
2 t Dijon mustard
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 t fresh dill weed, chopped fine
½ t fresh tarragon, minced
½ t sea salt
½ t garlic, minced

Pumpkin:
4 cups butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
½ t ground cinnamon
½ t minced fresh roseary
½ t tamari
½ t balsamic vinegar
2 t extra virgin olive oil
½ t sea salt

Dressing
½ t garlic, minced extra fine
½ cup roasted red bell pepper
¼ cup olive oil
2 ½ t Dijon mustard
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 t balsamic vinegar
1 T cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 375. Mix potato ingredients together and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Mix pumpkin ingredients together and transfer to another parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 F for 25 minutes or until the potatoes and squash are soft inside. Let cool and combine potatoes and squash in a bowl. Set aside.

Puree all dressing ingredients until smooth in a blender. Mix with potatoes and squash. Dice a carrot, a stick of celery and some fresh chives and combine together.

Source

Couscous salad

Couscous
Quinoa (optional)
Spring onions or Spanish onions
Kalamata olives
Red capsicum
Feta cheese
Chick peas
Red chili (optional)
Mint
Olive oil
Cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar

For the quantities... well, as you like really. As a guide, I use about 1 can chickpeas, one large capsicum, one block feta, a couple of spring onions, and a handful of mint per 2 cups couscous.

Method
Prepare the couscous and quinoa according to instructions, chop up the onions, capsicum, olives, cheese, chili and mint, mix everything, add oil and vinegar to taste. Don't be shy with the vinegar - I'm always surprised at how much I need to add to get the taste right.

I've also made it without any oil - this is good too. We find it salty enough with the olives and feta, but you might like a bit more.

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What do the food critics say? YUM!
What does the cook say? My standard salad for BBQs, I even sometimes serve it as a complete meal. OK, I quite often serve it as a complete meal.

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Source: copied from something we had in Canada years ago, at the cafe in which the wife of T's fairy-godfather-to-be worked.