Smoked Chicken Salad By Duke Diercks

This smoked chicken salad is my personal favorite. It is easy to assemble, and makes use of any smoked chicken leftovers that you might have. In fact, even if you don't have any smoked chicken or BBQ chicken leftovers, you can make this with store bought rotisserie birds, or poach a breast or two and use that.

While this salad would be great made in a large quantity for a ladies luncheon (we had quite a few orders for this at our restaurant for bridge clubs) it is hearty enough that one of our customers nicknamed it the "man salad."

so this pile of greens has it all. The recipe below is directly scalable. Feel free to substitute ingredients. However, the lettuce you use should be somewhat "sturdy" like the romaine used below, and NEVER, NEVER use wet lettuce!

Recipe: Smoked chicken salad

Ingredients for each meal sized salad portion:

5 oz. romaine lettuce cut

1/4 cup bacon bits

1/4 cup diced tomatoes

1/4 avocado, cut into chunks

1/4 cup black beans, black eyed peas, or other bean

4 oz. smoked chicken cut into cubes

BBQ sauce

2 oz. ranch dressing

Tortilla stings
(Make tortilla strings by cutting corn tortillas into as thin strips as you can. fry in a saute pan in oil until crisp. Can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container)

*note you can substitute crumbled tortilla chips for the strings, but the result will not be nearly as good.

Assembly:

Toss chicken with BBQ sauce until very moistened and loose. This sauce will serve to mix with the ranch dressing so yo need a bit extra.

Warm the chicken mixture.

Toss all of the ingredients except the chicken and strings. Put on a chilled plate. Top with chicken mixture. Make a "nest" of strings on top.

Enjoy.

Duke Diercks
http://www.bbq-recipes-for-foodies.com

Salads As a Center Stage Meal By Letty Velasco

When people talk about salads, they mostly think that it's just the little dish made up of lettuce and other fixings, toppings and dressing they eat before starting the main course of every meal. Some will think that it's just the optional food you get from the salad bar at the corner of the restaurant. But nowadays, as more people become health conscious, making salad as the main course of the meal is becoming a great idea.

Main course salads have become quite a hit during these times when people are already mindful of what they eat. And in order for them to enjoy each meal, they are trying find ways into making their salads a delightful treat. Besides, salads are very easy to prepare. They are simply fixings thrown together and then consumed to fill up any empty stomach, taking you at most 15 minutes to prepare.

In preparation for a main course salad, try using a salad plate or some decorative salad bowl to enhance the presentation of the meal. Taco salad bowls can also work perfectly for any salad. These salad bowls can be seen on most grocery stores and doesn't necessarily need to be used for tacos. And if you really want to be creative, try using pita bread or taco shells for the main course salad base.

As for the filler, hands down the best vegetable to fill any salad is still lettuce. They come well with any meat enhanced salad too. And even if you're trying to make some pasta salad with some seafood like shrimp or tuna, lettuce leaves are still great for filling and presentation by making them act as a bed for the whole salad.

After creating the bed and filling, you can then go ahead and put all of your prepared vegetables into the main course salad mix. Possible examples would be mushrooms, onions, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. These veggies act as enhancement ingredients for your main course salad. As a matter of fact, the more veggies you pack in, the better. Of course, this is as long as the vegetable you're putting in will taste good for you. You really don't want to make something you wouldn't want to eat right?

Salads can be a complete main course dish too and with that said, let's take an ease now on all the vegetables and make the salad more filling. Chopped, sliced or diced meat like chicken, beef or pork is an optional addition to a perfect salad. They certainly add a great deal of flavor to the mix besides making the salad more filling and satisfying. Other alternatives can be seafood, ham or turkey if you have the budget. Or if you want to add some more protein, get some eggs into the mix (but not too much of course).

Don't forget to top your salad off afterwards before serving them. For toppings, you can use croutons, bacon bits, seeds or nuts, or even a combination of these options. Adding some cheese for the salad climax can add more substance to the presentation. Afterwards, let's get on to the dressings and we're all done.

If you want a change to the ordinary main course salad you're used to eat, try exploring other flavors to make the dish more exciting. Try making the salad with Mexican or Asian fixings to provide some spice or sweetness whichever you prefer. For example, adding some chow mien noodles gives the main course salad some oriental flare. Be sure to match the salad with a flavorful dressing afterwards. After all is said and done, dressings are still the ones that mostly dictate the flavor of the salad.

Salads have come a long way from becoming just rabbit food. I hope you'll have fun in making your own main course salad and please do keep in mind that when preparing the dish, let your taste buds and health consciousness dictate each step of the way.

There are many ways for you to approach preparing some recipe for salad in your household. Please visit the Food Menu Blog to read more cooking ideas that you will certainly love to share with your family and friends.

Delicious Salads Dressings - Low Calories For Healthy Diet! By Sara Marshall

If you eat more calories than your body requires to meet the demands you make of it from day to day, then you become overweight. You are sure to love the following deliciously healthy approach in reduced calorie cooking for salads dressings.

Apple Vinaigrette Recipe

150ml white wine vinegar; Juice of 1 lemon; 1 tsp mad French mustard; 150ml unsweetened apple juice; ½ tsp celery salt; 1 clove of garlic, crushed; 1 small carrot, grated; Salt, pepper

Put the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, apple juice and celery salt through a sieve, or process in a blender. Pour into a screw-topped jar and add the garlic, carrot and seasoning.

Caraway Dressing Recipe

150ml wine vinegar; 1 clove of garlic, crushed; ½ tsp caraway seeds; 1 tsp chives, chopped; 1 tsp made French mustard; Salt, pepper

Mix all ingredients together well and leave to stand for at least 6 hours before serving.

Carrot Cream Dressing Recipe

2 large carrots, sliced; 150g natural yoghurt; 1 tsp curry powder; juice of 1 lemon; salt, freshly ground black pepper; liquid sweetener

Steam the carrots until tender and pass through a sieve or process in a blender. Mix the puree well with the remaining ingredients. Chill in a refrigerator, and serve as a party dip, or serve with cottage cheese and green salad.

Cauliflower Dressing Recipe

½ small cauliflower, trimmed; 1 tbsp wine vinegar; 150g natural yoghurt; 1 tsp made English mustard

Steam the cauliflower until tender, and pass through a sieve or process in a blender. Mix the puree well with the remaining ingredients and heat gently. Serve hot over vegetables.

Chopped Egg Dressing Recipe

3 tbsp wine vinegar; 1 clove of garlic, crushed; 1 tsp made English mustard; salt and pepper; 3 egg, hard-boiled and separated

Mix together the vinegar, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper and add this to the egg yolk. Chop the egg white very finely and mix all the ingredients together well. Serve with salads.

Check out the collection of delicious yet healthy salads recipes for salads lover! Eat healthy, stay healthy!

Simple Homemade Salad Dressings By Jason Anderson

While there are countless salad dressings available in supermarkets, there are many benefits to creating your own homemade salad dressings. One advantage in making your own salad dressing is that you know exactly what has gone in it. A second advantage is that you can tweak the recipe to your own tastes - if you like your dressings more or less acidic than the standard dressing, you can easily make those changes with a homemade dressing.

While there are literally hundreds of salad dressings you can make, there are two basics dressings that you can use as a base for your own flavours and experiments.

Vinaigrette

A basic vinaigrette is made up with just two ingredients - oil and an acid - combined in the ratio of three parts of oil to one part of acid (plus salt and pepper to taste). The different flavours this dressing can have all come from what you use for your oil and acid.

The oil you use can range from a basic canola or sunflower oil to olive oil, palm oil or nut oils. Each oil has it's own distinct flavour, and with some taste testing you're sure to find one or more that you really enjoy the flavour of.

Like the oil, you have many options for your acid - you can use citrus juice (lemons, limes, etc) or vinegar (red wine, white, balsamic, flavoured vinegars, etc).

From just this simple combination of two ingredients you already have a huge range of flavours you can create. And once you start adding additional ingredients to the dressing, the possibilities are limitless. Adding a little mustard or sour cream will make the dressing nice and creamy, while including extra spices like chilli can totally change how the dressing enhances the salad it is with.

Emulsified Dressings

An emulsified dressing is the creamy style of dressing that we're all familiar with. The common dressings just use mayonnaise as a base (simply adding additional items to the mayonnaise to get the various distinctive flavours), but people who are trying to reduce their fat intake sometimes replace the mayonnaise with nonfat yogurt, reduced-fat sour cream or buttermilk.

Like a vinaigrette, the different flavours for the dressing come from what you add to the base. The popular thousand island dressing is a combination of mayonnaise, ketchup, tobasco and finely chopped vegetables (most often pickles, onions, bell peppers, and green olives), while ranch dressing is made by combining mayonnaise, buttermilk or sour cream, minced green onion, garlic powder, and other seasonings (to taste).

When it comes to homemade salad dressings, the key ingredient is experimenting. By adding different combinations of ingredients to the base of your dressing, you're sure to find the perfect dressing that you and your family or friends will enjoy. You'll find many exciting salad ideas to try your new dressings on at The Kitchen Recipe. And who knows, your new dressing recipe might become a huge hit!

3 Top Tips For Losing Weight By Eating Salads By Jamie Lloyd

Men and Women seeking rapid fat loss should strongly reconsider the salads they are eating for quick weight loss. Local fitness expert Jamie Lloyd believes this so strongly he is releasing three "salad" based weight loss tips so people can be much better educated on the subject.

According to Jamie Lloyd, "Those looking to shed fat fast often don't relize that the salads served in restaurants and fast food chains have more fat and calories than the burgers. He went on to say, " Here's a quick weight loss tip for you: if your salad is loaded with cheese, bacon and ranch dressing, well, you're not making fat burning any easier."

Both men and women should think about the following fat loss tips the next time they are considering ordering a salad for a quicker weight loss meal.

Fat Loss Tip #1.
Ask for the dressing on the side and dip tongs in the dressing and then pick up some salad. It gives just enough of the flavor and keep calories under control.

Fat Loss Tip #2.
Choose a salad that has grilled protein in it such as chicken or fish. The lean protein will help increase the 'thermic effect' of the meal and thus burning more calories and accelerating rapid fat loss.

Fat Loss Tip #3.
Ask to hold the cheese and bacon bits. In place of these ask for more fibrous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower. The increase in fiber will help burn calories and control any rise in blood sugar levels which will help tremendously with quick weight loss.

Jamie Lloyd is the owner of Russian Kettlebells UK and has been a fitness professional for 7 years. He is available for interviews or to discuss other story ideas related to weight loss and fitness. He can be reached at:

jamie@jlpersonaltraining.com
http://www.russiankettlebellsuk.com