This Ultimate Chopped Salad became a staple in my diet when I moved part-time to Italy. I was trying to figure out a way to mix in a salad with my daily mealplan.

Don’t get me wrong, I love pasta and treats but too much of a good thing can be unhealthy. Most Italians don’t serve salad as a meal. It’s typically a side dish and served after the meal. In the U.S. we have plenty of salad-centric restaurants and a soup and salad or a sandwich and salad is considered a healthy and delicious meal. I don’t expect to find any salad bars around here! A U.S. supermarket will typically carry lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, and cucumbers but that’s not enough to sustain most of us as a primary meal. I decided to come up with something on my own.

For anyone who enjoys variety, I know that eating the exact same thing every day for lunch sounds awful. But women in the cast of the sitcom Friends did exactly this for a decade with one very special dish, which they nicknamed the “Jennifer Salad”.  We ate the same food: a “Jennifer Salad,” Courtney Cox explained as their daily lunch ritual for 10 years. Jennifer Aniston may not be eating salads with her castmates anymore, but the American actress changed her beloved salad recipe just a little bit. She calls it “My perfect salad – Bulgur, cucumbers, parsley, red onion, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, & pistachios,” she wrote in the accompanying caption.

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The Ultimate Chopped Salad

Course Entree

Cuisine Mediterranean

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author My Global Cuisine

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry quinoa
• 2 diced cucumbers.
• 1 15oz. can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained.
• half red onion thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley.
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh mint.
• 1/2 cup cubed feta cheese.
• 1/2 cup quartered strawberries
• DRESSING
• 1/4 cup apricot balsamic vinegar or white balsamic
• 2 tbsp juice lemon or half juiced lemon
• 1/2 tbsp honey mustard
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

• Bring 1 ¾ cup of water to a boil. Add 1 cup of quinoa. Bring to a rolling boil, stir, turn the heat down to low and cover. Cook for 15 minutes covered. Turn off heat and let sit for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, open lid and fluff with a fork. Your quinoa should have absorbed all the water, if not, return to heat for a few more minutes. Uncover the pot. Stir the quinoa. Let the quinoa cool for at least 20 minutes until it’s room temperature. Separate what you need. Refrigerate the rest.
• Make the salad dressing. In a small glass container, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, the lemon juice, mustard, sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the extra virgin olive oil and whisk until the olive oil is emulsified into the dressing. Set aside.
• Peel and slice the cucumbers, peel and thin slice the red onions, chop the parsley and the mint.
• Cut the feta cheese into cubes and cut the strawberries into quarters.
• Mix all the salad ingredients together in a large bowl.
• Separate the amount of salad you are going to serve and pour some salad dressing over it until incorporated. Taste it. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you like more dressing, add more. Otherwise reserve leftover dressing for the next salad.

The post The Ultimate Chopped Salad appeared first on My Global Cuisine.

I love salads. They are perfect when I’m in the mood for something a little lighter, or when I’m not in the mood to prepare an elaborate meal. I love the fact that you can just start adding ingredients and turn it into something unique. Add the right ingredients and you can transform your salad from a side dish into a complete meal.

The recipe for this Mixed Green Salad with Pear, Walnuts, and Feta came about in precisely this way. One night, I just didn’t feel like cooking so I started to rummage through the fridge to see if I could put together a healthy meal. I started taking everything out that looked interesting, and the next thing I knew, I was eating this beautiful salad.

After making the salad, it was just a matter of creating an accompanying salad dressing which also came together by mixing some ingredients in my pantry. The rest, as they say, is history.

I make this Mixed Green Salad with Pear, Walnuts, and Feta quite often. Sometimes I add grilled chicken or steak left over from the night before. It always delivers dinner in a flash.

If you are not a fan of feta cheese you could substitute with Blue or Gorgonzola cheese. If you don’t like pomegranate seeds or cannot find some at your local grocery store, you could substitute them with dried cranberries or raisins.

I hope this Mixed Green Salad with Pear, Walnuts, and Feta satisfies your palate and your hunger as much as it does mine. Enjoy!

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Pear Salad with Walnuts and Feta

Course Side Dish

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 2 -4 servings

Author My Global Cuisine

Ingredients

• Dressing:
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Salad:
• 6 cups loosely packed mixed greens
• 2 pears washed, cored and sliced into eighths
• 1/2 cup candied walnuts halves
• 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup cubed feta cheese

Instructions

• SALAD DRESSING:
• In a small bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, orange juice, honey, and sugar.
• While whisking, slowly add the olive oil until the dressing is emulsified.
• TO ASSEMBLE THE SALAD:
• Add the greens to a salad bowl and toss to coat with the dressing. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
• Divide the salad among 2 or 4 plates. Top with pear slices. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries and top with feta and walnut halves. Enjoy!

The post Mixed Green Salad with Pear, Walnuts, and Feta appeared first on My Global Cuisine.