We very often make a big salad over the weekend, leaving out the greens and using grains like barley, farro, or brown rice as the base. This becomes our lunch all week long, something we look forward to eating and that keeps us away from the leftover pizza in the office fridge! Here are our favorites - what are yours?
Almost any of these salads can be eaten as they are or warmed for a minute in the microwave. We sometimes mix them with salad greens for some fresh flavor and extra crunch. Some leftover shredded chicken or fish can round out the proteins.
TOP ROW
• Meyer Lemon Grain Salad with Asparagus, Almonds, and Goat Cheese
• Quinoa Tabbouleh - Also try reverse tabbouleh in a Warm Wheat Salad!
• Wheat Berry Salad with Blood Oranges, Feta, and Red Onion Vinaigrette
• Rice and Mixed Green Salad with Dates, Cashews, and Chickpeas
• Wild Rice Salad with Roasted Green Beans and Dried Cranberries
BOTTOM ROW
• Warm Farro Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Fontina
• Cous Cous with Raisins, Pine Nuts, and Capers
• Roasted Beet Salad with Barley, Feta, and Red Onion - This version with swiss chard is also delicious!
• Quinoa (or Farro!) and Avocado Salad
Do you have a favorite grain salad?
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I am so into these sorts of salads around this time of year. I make a couple of salads similar to these. One is super easy: it's just a combo of half a bag of the TJ's harvest grain combo and a can of TJs marinated bean salad (not drained). That's for when I am super rushed and need something healthy. It makes a ton of food, but I add random stuff to it whenever I eat another round of leftovers: fresh broccoli, frozen peas, whatever. Another is quinoa and carrots. Make some quinoa as you normally would, except add a bunch of curry power to the water before you cook it. It turns the quinoa bright yellow! Combine with shredded carrots, dried cranberries, and some diced green onions. Salt to taste. Very colorful and yummy.
All of the suggestions above sound great. Definitely going to try them.
Just yesterday I made a huge bowl of pearl couscous salad with tuna, preserved lemons, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, fennel, and lots of chopped herbs, dressed with lemon juice and tiny bit of olive oil. I guess it's more of a pasta base than grain, but the combination of ingredients would go equally well with grains.
I made a really good lentil, farro, and caramelized onion salad the other week. I feel like kind of fraud pimping my own recipe here, though haha. If you really want to see it, it's on my blog under "Beans & Legumes," posted March 23, 2009.
OH! Thank you this post! Looks delicious!
My go-to grain salad is a quinoa salad with cilantro-lime dressing from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for everyone. It has raisins, fennel, nuts, and an awesome lime-cumin-cilantro dressing. I have been asked so many times for the recipe!
My mom used to make something that I had forgotten about until this post reminded me... she called it "Santa Fe Salad" and it was very simple, just rice, black beans, corn, diced red onion, flavored with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chili powder.
I think using brown rice instead of my Mom's standard white would help this recipe a lot... glad you reminded me about grain salad so I can revisit it now that I know how to cook!
I love the topic of this post. I'm not a big sandwich person, so these are the kinds of lunches I always crave!
YUMMY!
this kale and quinoa pilaf is my favorite leftover lunch salad -- it's one-pot easy to make on a weeknight, and delicious at any temperature. And bonus: healthy!
I love to make a big bowl of couscous salad and keep it in the fridge to snack on. My base recipe is from the 15-Minute Vegetarian Gourmet (posted at http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Couscous%20currant%20salad%20with%20lemon%20dressing); I've made it for so many years that I riff on the ingredients regularly. Great with dried cranberries instead of currants.
Basmati Rice or brown rice with chopped up tomatoes, red onions, broccoli, and cucumbers, tossed with feta cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Sometimes I also add minced garlic, or a squeeze of dijon mustard just to mix things up. Served cold, it's a wonderful summer salad!!!
Right now I'm loving this Lemon Cumin Quinoa with Avocado, Raisins, and Apricots
Can grain salads be made and then frozen? I'm trying to stock up my freezer with quick to heat up meals before next semester starts and I've got all the stuff to make a couple of these salads. I'm thinking that grains will freeze ok right?