Salads

Celery, Apple, and Almond salad is quick and easy-to-assemble. It will delight your taste buds. Crunchy celery and apple form a tasty union with roasted almonds and zesty lemony yogurt dressing.

Have you ever wondered how a blogger comes up with a recipe blog post? For me the inspiration comes in various forms:

• A dinner at a new restaurant
• Traveling to a new country
• Experiencing a new food/culture
• Watching cooking shows (Netflix has so many amazing shows!)
• Reading cookbooks
• Stellar ingredient finds/discoveries

Even though I often think about the nutritional breakdown of food (heck, I am a nutritional therapy practitioner so it’s sort of my default mode), it is rarely my primary focus. My goal with this blog was to remove the heavy focus on macro and micronutrients; rather, focus on the emotions and community surrounding the food and/or meal.

With that said, I find my inspiration for recipes in many ways. If I know a certain ingredient is exceptionally nutritious, it gives me one more reason to use it more often and make it taste really good.

When my family sits down to eat, I don’t weigh their minds down with nutritional data. I let them taste and, hopefully, savor the food for the flavors and textures. I want them to like the food for what it is and how it makes them feel. If it happens to also be an exceptionally “healthy food”, then that’s extra credit. The icing on the cake! In fact, maybe I should give them some cake as well! It is all about balance, right?

After listening to recent podcast about celery juicing, I was inspired to use it in more recipes. Celery is most often used as part of a mis en place such as in soups and stews. Rarely, though, does it get the spotlight as star ingredient. Apart from flashbacks of eating “ants on a log” as a child, I never intentionally ate celery. Well, 2019 Ashley is changing things up and learning to love celery as a main ingredient.

Celery Nutrition 101

Although I may not give much credit to the celery juicing fad of the past months, celery is nutrient dense. Most of us probably know celery is full of fiber, which our friendly gut bugs love. Think back to taking a bite of you “ants on a log” and the almost tug of war like battle ensued as you broke through the celery fibers. Although your jaw may get a bit tired of chewing, our gut bugs don’t. They love this stuff.

Besides fiber, celery is a powerhouse of phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are made by pants and used for various functions such as plant growth, reproduction, and defense. One of the more well-known classes of phytochemicals are polyphenols, which are powerful antioxidants. (Source.)

Here is a list from Dr. Sarah Ballantyne’s recent post (click here for blog post) on celery juicing. She lists potential health benefits of celery against:

• cardiovascular disease
• Liver diseases
• UT obstruction
• Gastric ulcers
• Gout
• Rheumatic disorders
• Cancer
• Increases spermatogenesis and improves male fertility
• Diabetes
• Neurodegenerative diseases

Did you know our friendly gut bugs also help us in absorbing some of the polyphenols found in celery? Fascinating, isn’t it?! This is one of the reasons I prefer to eat my celery whole in recipes such as this salad. Juicing has its benefits, but eating the whole food provides your gut with the fiber and other benefits.

Make ahead Celery, Apple, and Almond Salad

Even though I love spending time in my kitchen, I am always looking for recipes I can prepare ahead of time to help ease my schedule. Weeknights can get very busy especially when you are trying to get your little rascals fed, bathed, and in bed at a decent hour.

Conveniently, this salad can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to serve. It also makes for a fantastic lunch. Pack it up in the morning and take to work with you. You can add some shredded chicken or turkey for a more sustaining meal. You could even add bacon because…um…bacon makes everything better.

If you are making this salad ahead of time, don’t add the arugula. Toss the apples, shallots, celery, and almonds with the lemony yogurt dressing and store in fridge. Before serving, toss the apple mixture with the arugula and top with lemon zest and some additional crunchy almonds. The salad will taste fresh and no one will know you made it hour ago or the day before.

Putting the Celery, Apple, and Almond Salad together

Salads are more about assembly rather than cooking. They can also very be forgiving so don’t worry much about messing up this recipe.

In order to avoid dragon breath, I prefer to slice the shallots very thin and then soak them in some lemon juice. The lemon helps cut the strong flavor, while also adding a layer of flavor to the salad.

If you are using raw almonds as I did, you will want to toast them in a dry pan on stove. You can also roast them in the oven at low temp. Watch carefully, so they don’t burn. Burnt nuts are so sad. Let the almonds cool, then coarsely chop.

As I mentioned previously in this post, this recipe can be prepared ahead of time. If you do so, don’t add in the arugula until you are ready to serve. The arugula can get very limp if mixed into the dressing too early.

Although this salad is vegetarian, you can easily add some meat to make it a more substantial meal. Add some leftover rotisserie chicken or shredded turkey. Crispy bacon or pancetta would also add a nice salty addition.

Are you looking for other similar salads? You can check out my Simple Chicken Salad recipe here.

Whether you make this salad for dinner, lunch, or your next spring time picnic, I would love to hear about it. Please share in the comment section below or tag me on Instagram (link). What did you add to your salad to make this your own recipe?

Print Recipe

Celery, Apple, and Almond salad with lemony yogurt dressing

This Celery, Apple, and Almond salad is quick and easy-to-assemble and will delight your taste buds. Crunchy celery and apple form a tasty union with roasted almonds and zesty lemony yogurt dressing.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Total Time10 minutes mins

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Servings: 6

Calories: 222kcal

Author: Ashley

Ingredients

Salad

• 170 g Celery about 2 stalks, cut in thick slices
• 230 g Apples 2 medium apples
• 70 g Almonds about ½ c, rough chop
• 25 g Shallots 1 small shallot, thinly sliced
• 70 g Arugula 2.5 oz
• ½-1 tsp lemon zest
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice

Dressing (makes about 2/3 cup dressing)

• 85 g Greek yogurt whole milk 1/4c + 1 tbsp
• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp 14g honey
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp ground coriander
• Pepper to taste
• 1 tsp lemon zest

Instructions

Salad

• In large salad bowl or mixing bowl, put apples, celery, and almonds.
• In small bowl put in sliced shallots and cover with lemon juice. Let shallots sit while you make dressing. This will help cut the sharper flavor of the shallot.

Dressing

• In dry pan over low heat on stove, put in ¼ tsp ground coriander. Warm until fragrant. About 30-60 seconds. Be careful to not burn. Remove from heat and set aside. Toasting the coriander helps open up flavor as well as take of edge of dry spice.
• In small mixing bowl combine yogurt, olive oil, 2 tbsp lemon juice, and honey. Taste and add additional lemon juice, if needed. Stir in lemon zest and salt. Add in half of coriander (about ¼ tsp) and stir to combine. Taste. If desired, add more coriander.

Combine Salad and Dressing

• Pour shallot and lemon juice mixture in with apple, celery, and almonds. Pour in about half of dressing and toss. Taste and add more of dressing, if desired. Everyone likes their salad with different level of dressing, so I leave it up to you. I usually use about 2/2 of dressing.

How the heck is it August already? The summer months are quickly winding down, but that doesn’t mean we are ready to say goodbye to all the glory of summer. Once you take a bite of Ale’s Tomato, Feta, and Olive Salad, you will feel a big summery hug surround you.  Ahhh!

All cheesiness aside, the salad is both completely satisfying and refreshing. Ale’s Tomato, Feta, and Olive Salad is a quick-to-prepare salad perfect for a light summer meal or as an eye-catching side dish for your next potluck.

How could a mixture of these ingredients not combine to make an unbelievable flavorful summery salad?

• Sweet, firm San Marzano Tomatoes
• Briny Greek olives
• Tangy & Salty Feta cheese
• Crisp red onion

And, to bring it all together,

• Lemony, thyme vinaigrette

It is a giant bruschetta-like salad begging to make your evening better. Go ahead, let it!

Uncomplicated details of the Tomato, Feta, and Olive Salad

Even though food tastes good and looks gorgeous, doesn’t mean it needs to be complicated. For me, summer is the epitome of uncomplicated. Do you have the recipe for an uncomplicated summer? It is not rocket science; rather, the exact opposite.

Simple moments + simple foods + the people you love = Uncomplicated Summer Bliss

Thankfully, Ale’s Tomato, Feta, and Olive Salad fits the recipe above and will come together in less than twenty minutes.

With the salad being relatively straight forward, there is one big tip to make it more enjoyable. After you slice your onions, let them sit in a bowl of red wine vinegar or white vinegar for 10-15 minutes. Water also works if that is all you have.

Red onion soaking in bowl of vinegar. Helps decrease strong after taste.

Are you one of those that need to know the “why” behind this added step? I get it. I love the nerdy details behind things as well. Have you ever eaten a juicy In-n-Out burger with crisp onions only to realize shortly after that you had dragon breath? How could something so amazing result in something so awful?

Well, my friends, those sweet little onions are to blame. Soaking those very same onions in vinegar, lemon/lime juice, or water will help reduce the strong flavor and resulting aftertaste. As the onions soak in the liquid, the sulfur compounds dissipate into the water, mellowing out the flavor.

Apart from the soaking of the onions, everything else is super easy. Do the onions first. While they soak, cut the tomatoes and feta then mix up your dressing.

Only a few steps. It is really simple!

So, why the “Ale” in the Ale’s Tomato, Feta, and Olive Salad?

Ale (short for Alessandra) is the brilliance behind this salad. Her daughter, Maria, stayed with us for a few weeks in July. We had a dinner event and Maria suggested we make this salad her mom makes. With her guidance, we put together the salad and I was in love at first bite.

I added my own twist with a lemony thyme and oregano dressing, but everything else was inspired by Ale and Maria.

As Maria’s time with us in sunny, Southern California came to an end, I was surprised by how bittersweet her departure was to our family. She, of course, was greatly missed by her family (my aching mom heart totally got this) and friends and missed her home as well. There is only so much one can take from us Americans. Wink-Wink!

My two sons adored her and her Italian phrases that she taught them. Even more so, they adored her delicious Italian biscuits, which she had every morning with her espresso, and she always shared. By the way, these Italians are on to something. If we call these less sweet version of a cookie a “biscuit”, then it makes it completely appropriate to have the “biscuit” for breakfast. Brilliance!

As a side note, the Italians have soooooo many types of biscuits and they are far better than what we have available here in the states. We either need to start importing said biscuits or making our own.

Please let me know if you make this salad by leaving a comment below as well as rating the recipe. Also, please feel free to share any changes you made to the salad or how you shared it with family and/or friends. For me a recipe is a framework, making adjustments that suit our own tastes and creativity.

Enjoy and Ciao!

Print Recipe

Ale’s Tomato, Feta, & Olive Salad

Tomatoes, feta, olives, and red onion tossed with a herby lemon vinaigrette makes this quick-to-prepare salad perfect for a light summer meal or as an eye-catching side dish for your next potluck.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: gluten free, Salad, Vegetarian

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 147kcal

Author: Ashley

Ingredients

Salad

• 2 lbs. San Marzano tomato or other firm tomato
• ½ c pitted Greek olives
• 4 oz feta cheese
• ½ large red onion thinly sliced
• Red wine vinegar or other vinegar

Vinaigrette

• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice 2 small lemons
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 2 tsp fresh oregano lightly chopped
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

• Placed thinly sliced red onion in bowl with vinegar and let sit for 10-15 minutes. If you do not have vinegar, you can use water.
• While onions sit, prepare remainder of ingredients. Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise and then again so the is in fourths. Cut vertically into about 1-inch pieces. Use a knife or fingers to crumble feta cheese into small chunks about size of a marble. Place chopped tomato, feta cheese, and olives into large mixing bowl.
• In a small mixing bowl, whisk together ingredients for the herby lemon vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper to taste keeping in mind the feta and olives are already salty.
• Remove onions from vinegar and add to bowl with other salad ingredients. Gently stir to combine ingredients. Slowly add the vinaigrette stopping about halfway to mix. Taste and decide if the salad needs more vinaigrette.

I have the perfect side kick for all those juicy meats you are grilling up as summer gets under way. This Nectarine, Radicchio, and Arugula salad is rich with color and flavors as well. The salad is a snap to throw together and I even snuck in bacon as well. Doesn’t bacon belong in every salad?

The best salad tongs ever!!

With Father’s Day around the corner and the days heating up, crunchy and refreshing salads are working their way into our daily menu and this salad was a recent hit. The crunchy radicchio and the sweet nectarines are a stellar duo and add so much color to the salad. Since we eat with our eyes first, your eyes will not be hungry. The colors are just amazing!

The Salad Base for the Nectarine, Radicchio, and Arugula Salad

It is arugula. Obviously, I am a fan of stating the obvious. I tend to opt for arugula in many salads. The peppery leaves offer a good contrast to other salad additions without being too bulky. Plus, it is one of my favorites to buy in the bag. Yes, I know arugula grows in the ground, but a little grocery store convenience is allowed. We almost always have a bag or two chilling in our fridge.

Salad Ingredients. Look at those colors!

The Other Guys

While arugula is a nutritious leaf on its own and has tons of flavor, the vibrancy of the other items tells you that they also have a lot to offer. Although food is important for several reasons, not only nutrition, we must not look past the nourishing aspect of food that does come from the many nutrients it provides.

Radicchio

Although I often use radicchio to cook with, it makes a fantastic salad addition. It can stand on its own as the salad base with some sweet balsamic vinegar or added to a salad as it is in this Nectarine, Radicchio, and Arugula Salad. Radicchio leaves are not as crunchy as Romaine lettuce, but the leaves have a nice bite coupled with a slight bitterness. In addition to great flavor, radicchio is packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber (yay!), phytonutrients, and antioxidants.

Nectarines

When you pick out your nectarine, opt for firm ones versus soft. The firm fruit will hold up better to slicing and work better in the salad. The sweet flesh of the nectarine works well with the slight bitterness of the radicchio and the citrus vinaigrette.

Just as the color of radicchio screams nutrition bonus, the nectarine also has a lot to offer. The bright orange skin is a sign of a common antioxidant called beta-carotene, which can be converted to vitamin A. This juicy and sweet fruit also has the ever-so-loved vitamin C, fiber, and various minerals.

Bacon (in the Bacon, Nectarine, Radicchio, and Arugula Salad)

I thought about using my blogging powers to hide that in the title subliminally, but then I realized I would just surprise you with this AMAZING salad ingredient.

Do I really need to explain this one anymore? For all you bacon doubters out there, I will go ahead and give a little rationale to this addition. The saltiness and fattiness of the bacon brings a contrast to the sweet and bitter flavors of the other items. You know all the talk of Umami that goes around? This umami adds a satiating factor to the salad that may even please the meat lovers out there.

In our house we tend to slow roast our bacon in the oven at low temperature. Besides an agonizingly delicious aroma, the bacon comes out perfect. Additionally, this method works beautifully for our favorite bacon which we get from a rancher (not an affiliate link) at our farmer’s market. If you have enough time, try this method out. At a temperature of 300F, the bacon will take about an hour depending on thickness. If you want to rush it, set temp to 325F and it should take about 40 minutes. Even though it takes longer, you won’t be disappointed.

After the tray of bacon heaven is done, you can eat some for breakfast and then save a few pieces for the Nectarine, Radicchio, and Arugula Salad.  Using the slow roasted bacon, I cut up three to four pieces and crisp it up in a small, dry pan over medium heat. This makes it crisper and it will hold up to the vinaigrette better.

Citrus Vinaigrette

I love making super simple salad dressings at home. For years I relied on store bought vinaigrettes even though I was never too pleased with the ingredients. When I learned how simple they could be, that was the end of the store-bought salad dressing era.

While at our local farmer’s market recently, I discovered a delicious blood orange olive oil made by Nuvó (not an affiliate link). The fragrant notes of blood orange did not overwhelm the olive oil flavor. I knew it would be beautiful as a salad dressing. The olive oil blended well with the acidity of the lemon juice and sweetness of the honey. I like adding shallots to many of my vinaigrettes, but you could easily leave them out.

If you don’t have a citrus olive oil, don’t worry. Any good olive oil will work. You could supplement with a splash of orange juice or simply stick with the lemon. The flavor will still be great!

One last nutrition bonus. The acid from the lemon juice in the vinaigrette helps to make the iron from the radicchio and arugula more absorbable for our bodies. Outside of heme iron (aka iron from animal meats), iron can be a difficult mineral for our bodies to absorb so lemon gives it a little help.

Ok, that is enough nutrition 101 for you all today! Sometimes I gotta show off all that food has to offer besides nourishing our souls at the dinner table. Please

Now, please enjoy this salad and everything it brings to your dinner/picnic/BBQ table this summer. Drop me a comment below or tag me on Instagram if you make this Nectarine, Radicchio, and Arugula Salad.

Enjoy!

The product links included in this post are not affiliate links. I only includes foods and products that I personally love. When an affiliate link is included, I will label it as such. 

Print Recipe

Nectarine, Radicchio, and Arugula Salad

This Nectarine, Radicchio, and Arugula salad is vibrant and refreshing and, most importantly, is a snap to put together. Summer and salads are a natural pair especially with afternoon barbequing and picnics.

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Servings: 6 people

Calories: 174kcal

Author: Ashley

Ingredients

Salad

• 2-4 cups Baby Arugula
• ½ head of Radicchio chopped into small pieces
• 2 Nectarines cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 3 strips of cooked bacon chopped (see note)

Citrus Vinaigrette

• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 4 tbsp Blood Orange Extra Virgin Olive Oil or plain olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp shallot minced
• ½ tsp salt

Instructions

Citrus Vinaigrette

• In small mixing bowl let shallots sit in lemon juice for a few minutes. Then add in olive oil and honey. Whisk together and taste before adding the salt. Season to taste with the salt.

Salad

• Combine all ingredients in large salad bowl.
• Gently drizzle in part of th vinaigrette and toss to coat. Slowly add in more of the vinaigrette until salad is dressed to your preference. Season with any additional salt and pepper you like.
• Enjoy!

Notes

Note 1: Our favorite way to cook bacon is to slow roast on a baking sheet in the oven at a lower temperature. If you have time, this is the way to go. Oven times may vary but the bacon takes about 40 min at 325F or 60 minutes at 300F.

[nutrifox id=”39309″]