Salad Ingredients?
 

Has anyone come across hearty, satisfying salads or recipes, or especially good or nutritious ingredients for adding to salads while on tour?

Does anyone know of especially good, lightweight bowls or containers for large salads?

Or dressings that have something extra?

Did you mean to post this in Training and Nutrition?

http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=148

No, it was meant for here -- it's about salads while on tour.

I like to put raw Ramen noodles in my salad, light,cheap and some carbs in there.

I like a foil pack o' tuna in a salad.

That's a head of romaine from the supermarket and pick up an extra packet of salad dressing at McFood right?

I probably ate a salad a day while I was touring in France. I always ate a baguette along with the salad for added carbs.

The salad always had red bell peppers, celery (can buy by the stock in France), carrots, cucumber, feta (or some local) cheese, tomatoes, red onions and olives.

Depending on what I could find in the local market, I would add avocado, snow peas, various kinds of nuts (usually walnuts) or seeds (raw sunflower seeds are my favorite), a crunchy apple, or anything else that looked good.

I never found any baked tofu in France but in places where that was available, I would definitely add that, too.

For dressing, I carried olive oil and Balsamic vinegar.

The things I didn't consume at one sitting, I would carry and then buy everything else, find a bench and start chopping. I popped everything into my big cooking pot and started eating.

Salads are one of my all-time favorite foods but it didn't seem to me that they supply lots of energy. But, I am always hungry on a bike tour anyway so it is hard to judge by me.

Ray

I suggest dried apricots, if you look at the NF stats.
WOW!
So add dried Apricots to every meal. Serving Size 1 cup (249g) Amount Per Serving
Calories 314
Calories from Fat 5 % Daily Value* Total Fat 0.6g 1% Saturated Fat 0g 0% Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1g Monounsaturated Fat 0.3g
Sodium 12.5mg 1%
Potassium 1812.7mg 52%
Total Carbohydrate 81.2g 27%
Protein 4.8g 9%
Vitamin A 219%
Vitamin C 29%
Calcium 6%
Iron 34%
http://www.thecaloriecounter.com/Foo...9031/Food.aspx

I also use a raw diet plan on my tours.

I make salad in my regular cooking pot.

Nice things to add:
packet of tuna or salmon or chicken
salami
avocado
nuts - walnut, almond, pine nuts, cashews, pecans
artichoke hearts (little jar) = ready made salad dressing, sometimes add pesto
tomato
cucumber
broccoli
cheese
apple
pear

bag of premixed herb salad, vinaigrette, walnuts, dried cranberries, some sort of crumbly stinky cheese

tossed

Containers:
- Consider a flat-packing large bowl. Tupperware makes a good one. Also generic silicone ones available in supermarkets.

Salad nicoise:
- Tuna, potato, olives, green beans, boiled egg, tomato, lettuce, oil

Gado gado:
- Cucumber, carrot, potato, capsicum, beans (whatever you like) with satay sauce (or crunchy peanut sauce and a bit of chilli or curry). Add prawn crackers if you like.

Bean salads:
- I like adding chopped coriander, onion, capsicum, tomato and a balsamic dressing to beans (eg. canned 3-bean mix)

Crab Louie -- throw in some crab meat. Even the imitation kind, it's usually found in the frozen foods so it's naturally "refrigerated" until dinner time.

Yummm.

-- Mark

Dandelion greens can be gathered along the way, no containers needed.

(Though I confess I have only had the courage to eat dandelion greens from my own yard).

My favorite (haven't tried it on tour yet):

tomatoes*
red or green bell pepper
chili pepper or chili powder
onion*
cucumber
olives
can of kidney beans*
olive oil*
balsamic vinegar or sherry vinegar*
yeast flakes
little bit of sugar

(essential ingredients marked with *)

eat with bagel/bread/buns

Dandelions need boiling in a lot of water, not sure that would be easy on tour.

Pear, walnuts, rocket, blue cheese, balsamic dressing

Tomato, basil, balsamic, mozarella or other mild cheese

Supermarket coleslaw

Years ago my wife gave me a book about wild foods one can pick and eat, and I tried a lot of the stuff in it. As I recall, everything I tried was nasty. With dandelion leaves, you are supposed to pick the littlest, tenderest leaves... and eat them as salad. They're not too too bad. Also recommended were plantain leaves; again you pick just the youngest, tenderest ones and you have to cut them across the leaf to sever the long fibers... I did not like them.

Mushrooms can be good, but you really have to know what you're doing.

Violets --the flowers, that is-- are very good on a salad. The deep purple (violet) colored ones taste like green peas. The white ones with a purple-pink blush in the center taste more like bubblegum. We tried the yellow ones too, but couldn't get enough of them to really taste anything at all!

Nasturtiums are good to eat as well; you can eat both the flowers and the leaves. They have a sharp kick, like radishes. But I've never seen them growing wild.

Raspberries, blackberries, mullberries, juneberries, blueberries, mmmmmmmmmmm....

I tend to not eat salads on tour, preferring to eat the fresh veggies either cooked, raw and as is, or in wraps or sandwiches. What ever can be found fresh is nice, with local preferred. Unfortunately often when shopping in small town general stores there isn't much to pick from.

I don't recall ever even buying lettuce on tour, but eat carrots (raw or cooked), cabbage (raw or cooked), corn on the cob (cooked), peppers, celery, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, tomatoes, and whatever else is available. I also buy fresh fruit when available, especially if there are stands with local stuff.

If all else fails canned, frozen, or freeze dried veggies are OK.

I love dandelion greens in salad form. They're at their best before they flower, IME.

Came across this, and thought someone else might like to see it:

So you wish you could duplicate that wonderful, crunchy, sweet coleslaw recipe you can only get at your local KFC. With this recipe you can. It uses buttermilk, sugar and a hint of Tabasco to give it that distinct flavor.

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand there is an easy substitution; add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 cup of milk. Let stand for 5 minutes to let the acid mix with the milk before adding to recipe.


Ingredients:

1 head cabbage, shredded
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup carrots, shredded
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup milk
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
2 drops Tabasco sauce
3 Tablespoons dry minced onions


Directions:

1. Slice cabbage paper thin, and toss lightly with sugar and shredded carrots.

2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour milk over all. Cover and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, combine mayonnaise (not salad dressing), buttermilk, celery seed, Tabasco and minced onion.

4. Mix well with cabbage mixture.

5. Refrigerate again at least an hour before serving.



Other good salad ideas also at http://www.momswhothink.com/salad-re...aw-recipe.html

Do a search for "backpackers coleslaw" to find a plethora of recipes for a dehydrated salad that, once rehydrated, is tasty and crisp! I've used this many times on trips. Yumm!