Warm Winter Salads!
Cold weather makes most of us long for comfort food. Warm, usually carb-loaded comfort food. But too much of a good thing can leave you listless and 10 pounds heavier than last fall. So, we rounded up a few warm winter salads – a different kind of comfort that’ll help you turn the corner into healthier eating as we look forward to spring!
Don’t Forget the Dressing!
Bessie at Bessie Bakes says her crisp apple salad, with sautéed shallots and a light apple cider vinaigrette combine with greens you can eat all year long. She warms up the apples and adds golden raisins and toasted almonds (or your favorite nuts) and pecorino cheese. This salad is like a nice warm hug after a stressful day – except, Bessie says, you’ll be able to button up your pants after eating it!
From Fine Cooking, the recipe for Endive and Apple salad calls for sautéing the apples, and browning the endive in butter, then adding warmed rounds of hazelnut-coated goat cheese. The sweet-tart dressing flavors the dish, tossed into a bowl with fresh spinach.
When You Miss Your Grill
When you really long for warm weather and grilled chicken, grab your grill pan and sear-cook a few chicken breasts, slathered with buffalo wing sauce, says Cassie at Wholefully. Then fill the salad bowls with lettuce, celery, tomatoes, green onions and crumbled blue cheese. The creamy dressing for Cassie’s salad is a blend of blue cheese and Greek yogurt with honey, lemon and fresh herbs.
Second only to grilling, is searing and baking a tasty cut of meat in the oven. This recipe from Southern Living calls for popping a seasoned pork loin into a 400º oven for 15 minutes then slicing it atop cooked farro and Brussel sprouts, with shaved fennel and an apple cider vinegar/tarragon/Dijon mustard dressing. Makes one’s mouth water just reading the ingredients!
Love a Lotta Lentils
There’s no question that a weekend meal of roast beef and mashed potatoes is a go-to Sunday menu this time of year which leads the way to a week-day salad with a whole lotta lentils and roast beef leftovers. This easy recipe from The Cook’s Pyjamas is a good marriage of complementary ingredients – earthy green lentils, savory roast beef (and while blogger Tania likes her beef cold from the fridge, we like the idea of warming it up for a cozier complement on chillier days.
You’ll find lotsa warm lentil salads on the net, but this Roasted Root Vegetable Salad recipe from the New York Times will remind you of warmer climes with a blend of tangerine juice and sherry vinegar over colorful caramelized roasted root vegetables. If you like squash, carrots, celery root, and beets you’re all set, but if there are others you like (parsnips, turnips?) go for it. Food and Wine has a version without the grains and with arugula. We like arugula with pretty much anything.
Spud HQ comes right out with it – cold salads just aren’t as appealing in cold weather. That’s why it curated Wholehearted Eats blogger Sophie McKenzie’s Beet and French Lentil Winter Salad with mustard dressing for a seasonally appropriate alternative. The salad is a tasty combination of beets and French lentils, with red onion, dill, parsley and toasted walnuts plus a signature mustard dressing.
For more warm salad options on a chilly winter day, check out Brit.co’s curated list of veggie, grain and greens combos.
Comfort Food Weather in Colliers Hill
The residents of the master-planned community of Colliers Hill love where they live and are sold on the nearby quirkiness of historic downtown Erie. Treat yourself to the Warm Kale Parmesan Dip with sweet potato chips and roasted veggies at 24 Carrot Bistro! If you don’t live here yet – tour the amenities and the model homes built by Colorado’s top builders: Meritage Homes, Richmond American Homes, and Century Communities. The floor plans include ranch-style or two-story designs — priced from the high $300s.
