Take inspiration from your local salad bar to turn your take-along (or at-home) lunches into a cafeteria-style feast—hold the hefty price tag.
Field trip: Salad bar recon
Head to your nearest salad bar and glean inspiration. Many salad bars list the ingredients, giving you a bit of insider knowledge to mimic the dishes at home.
Make-Ahead Salad Bar Bowls
Ingredients
- 6 medium beets, quartered
- 1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tbsp coconut sugar
- 8 cups kale (about 1 large bunch, de-stemmed and torn)
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp tamari
- 1/2 garlic clove, grated
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- 1 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, oil reserved
- 1 cup toasted or raw walnuts
- 1/4 cup reserved oil from tomatoes or extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbsp packed fresh oregano or basil leaves
- 2 cups cooked short-grain brown rice or quinoa, cold
- 19 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 avocados
- 1 lemon, quartered
- 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
Nutrition
Per serving:
- calories533
- protein12g
- fat34g
- carbs51g
- sugars12g
- fiber13g
- sodium342mg
Directions
01
Kale and Roasted Beet Salad with Pickled Onion Vinaigrette
Preheat oven to 350 F. To ovenproof ceramic or glass pot with lid, add beets and a splash of water. Cover and bake until tender, about 1 hour. When cool enough to handle, remove skin from beets and cut into manageable (bite-sized) pieces. Reserve.
To medium bowl, add onion, or pack into large Mason jar. In small saucepan, bring vinegar, water and sugar to a boil. When liquid boils and sugar is dissolved, immediately pour over onions. Cover and set aside for at least 10 minutes, or up to 1 month if stored in refrigerator.
Add pickled onions to large bowl, reserving pickling liquid. Add kale to onions and massage with your hands until kale darkens in color and begins to tenderize, about 15 seconds.
Take 1/4 cup reserved onion pickling liquid (refrigerate remaining liquid for another use) and add to small bowl or lidded Mason jar, followed by oil, mustard, tamari and garlic. Shake or whisk to combine. Add dressing and roasted beets to kale. Toss everything together until well incorporated. Store covered in refrigerator for up to 5 days, until ready to serve.
Sun-Dried Tomato, Brown Rice and Chickpea Salad
In food processor, pulse garlic until finely minced; add tomatoes, walnuts, oil, vinegar and oregano or basil. Blend until a thick paste forms.
To large bowl, add tomato mixture along with rice or quinoa and chickpeas. Toss everything together until well incorporated. Store covered in refrigerator for up to 3 days, until ready to serve.
To serve Salad Bar Bowls
To bowls or to-go containers, add portions of Kale and Roasted Beet Salad with Pickled Onion Vinaigrette and Sun-Dried Tomato, Brown Rice and Chickpea Salad.
Halve, pit, slice and peel avocados, then add on top of bowls or to containers along with a hefty squeeze of lemon to retain color. Sprinkle with chili flakes.
Allison Day, RHN, is a nutritionist, blogger, and cookbook author. Check out her cookbooks, Whole Bowls and Purely Pumpkin (Skyhorse Publishing, 2016).
