We are pleased to introduce Food Comics from The Chopping Block where our resident Cartoonist Tom O'Brien illustrates his cooking adventures. Here, he shows us how to make a salad that is designed for you to change it up regularly.
/OBrien_rainbow_salad_page1_updated.jpg?width=600&name=OBrien_rainbow_salad_page1_updated.jpg "Hey there Food Fans. When I'm looking for a light tasty meal in the summer that won't heat up my apartment too much, one of my favorite go-to dishes is Rainbow Salad This is a great, quick salad with lots of options for variation. You can choose to do a fruit focus or a veggie focus, with or without grilled chicken. However you choose to go, it's one tasty salad. There are four parts to this salad as I see it: the base, the mix-ins, the chicken, and the dressing. This recipe is enough for a meal for four, or as a starter for eight, but it also halves or scales up easily. For the base of the salad you need: 3 cups baby spinach, chopped ½ cup feta cheese ½ cup almonds, chopped or crushed If you want your salad to be fruity, you'll need your choice of two or three from the following: 1 cups grapes, halved 1 cup fresh blueberries 1 cup fresh blackberries 1 cup strawberries, diced 2 peaches, pit removed and diced 6 plums, pit removed and diced 1 apples, diced If you're wanting to head in a more vegetable based direction, choose two or three of these as mix-ins: 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered 1 small red onion, diced 1 cup sweet corn 1 cup sweet peas 1 large carrot, diced 2 heads broccoli, diced and roasted 3 beets, diced and roasted If you want to add the grilled chicken to your salad, you'll need: 8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon chili powder One of the things that I like best about this recipe is the dressing. For that, you'll need: 3 tablespoons peanut butter 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 tablespoons orange juice, freshly squeezed if available 3 tablespoons water 1 tablespoon stoneground mustard ½ tablespoon honey ¼ teaspoon salt, more to taste ½ teaspoon garlic If you're making the chicken, heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add a thin coat of oil to the bottom of the pan. Pat the chicken dry, then sprinkle with salt, pepper and chili powder on both sides. When the skillet is hot, add the chicken. Cook the chicken for around 5-6 minutes on each side. Remove from the skillet and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing. While the chicken cooks, combine your choice of mix-ins along with the almonds and feta in a large bowl. Next, either mix in the spinach or lay the mix-ins over a bed of spinach. This can be done in a large serving bowl or in each person's individual bowl. Place grilled chicken on top. Place the ingredients for the dressing into a food processor and blend until smooth. Drizzle over the top of the salad and enjoy! This light summer salad will have you coming back for more with all kinds of combinations. Happy Eating!")
This salad could easily be altered to be vegetarian or vegan. Want more delicious vegan recipes that definitely aren't lacking in flavor or substance? Download our new Vegan from Scratch guide. You won't miss the meat or dairy in these dishes!
Love our food comics but want a text-only version for easy reference in the kitchen? Download a PDF of the recipe here.
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