That taco salad sounds amazing!
I feel so deprived of fresh veggies all winter here on the east coast that all i seem to do is want raw veggies all summer while it’s hot and they’re fresh and delicious.
I’m anxiously awaiting local corn right now, i love to cut it raw off the cob into salads and it helps make the salad more hefty as a meal. Right now i keep adding a lot of hemp seeds- i love the flavor and that they add enough protein and fat to help make the salad a meal.
I need to get better about making batches of good salad dressings, I keep defaulting to a quick basic vinegrette but i love to have something like a green goddess or carrot miso on hand which takes a bit of forethought…
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I completely forgot: I added some fresh corn kernels to the last batch of the taco salad topping I made - sweet, wonderful bursts of flavor!
Salad dressings are one of my weak areas: green salads usually end up with extra virgin and balsamic, with salt and fresh pepper. I think the only other “dressing” I make is one that goes with a coleslaw/ramen noodle salad (the one where you crunch up the uncooked noodles and toast them with sesame seeds and use that as an added “crunch” for the shredded cabbage) - I think that dressing is a neutral oil, cider vinegar, sugar, and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil.
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When tomatoes are in season I love Israeli couscous with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, red onion, sometimes peppers and a balsamic vinaigrette.
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Yes! The raw corn really does something magical within the veggie mix.
If you have miso and tahini on hand i make something similar to this creamy dressing when i have my act together, it keeps at least a week in the fridge- I use soy sauce instead of tamari and have even used a darker miso paste but less of it. I have also swapped in that darker roasted chinese sesame paste but used less and just fussed tasting and adding til i like it. Definitely needs a blender or immersion blender to get it all mixed up well
And i’m vaguely embarrassed to admit i do love to mix hummus with a gob of mild salsa and some lemon juice and call that dressing (!), sometimes a splash of water if it’s still too thick.
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Your simple and elegant salad dressings are greatest hits at our house as well, @ElsieDee.
For the balsamic + extra virgin olive oil one, the quality of the vinegar and the oil make all the difference. I have yet to find any balsamic in the US that we savor as much as Peck’s from Milan, a bottle of which we can stretch to about a year when a dear friend brings us some.
I use something like your ramen noodle dressing for slaw and have been crushing on Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar as my vinegar of choice.
Also I think a last-minute sprinkle of a large flake finishing salt like Falksalt is a satisfying flourish on top of green or vegetable salads. We like a little salt dish on the table for that.
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Yes, we always salted our salads when I was growing up, even at diners. My American friends thought it was funny.
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We now use California Extra Virgin olive oil and 18 year old Balsamic from Modena. I’m lucky to work in a shop that is part of a regional chain that sells both in bulk. Before working there we used whatever we’d find at the supermarket or at Costco and the difference has been a revelation.
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Revelation is such a fitting word. Now I need to get my hands on lovely balsamic that won’t break the bank. I have shelled out $$ and been disappointed more times that I wish to admit.
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Oh my what a great topic!
We buy the spiralized carrots from WFs and toss them in a combo of tahini and lemon juice, marinate a few hrs topped with fresh parsley.
Balls of honeydew in a mint dressing.
Watermelon boats, spiked for parties.
Avocado chicken salad with purple onion and cilantro.
pea coleslaw
steamed lima beans with sesame oil and rice vinegar.
broccoli stems marinated in ginger soy dressing.
cherries in port served on mixed greens
beets and goat cheese served on baby greens with a bit on radish and red onion.
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Dried cherries or fresh?
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I eat salads all summer. I must eat a salad every three days. If I ever have time, I’ll start documenting the salads I eat on a weekly basis, I’m not exaggerating, I eat A LOT of salad.
My favorite has to be a Nicoise, but not the Americanized version, I make it with halibut instead of tuna.
Another summertime staple is the Thai Papaya salad. I buy a bag of shredded papaya at the Thai market then make it into a salad every way possible and eat it all week.
The Costco spinach bag and box of mixed spring greens is a staple at the Smokey household, so are the large carton of tomatoes. I buy them and eat variations all week.
Then there are chicken salads, bean salads, pasta salads, egg salads, etc…
It’s too hot here to eat anything else!
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Fresh.
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Will have to give fresh cherries a whirl now, thanks! Dried cherries soaked in port + arugula + slivered almonds + goat cheese is one of our favorite combos.
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Your version sounds delicious and out of cherry season I will def give it a go!
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If you’re near a trader joe’ s their basalmic in the smaller bottle is great, aged ten years i think, not overly sweet or acidic or expensive so I don’t think twice about using it for a tuesday night salad dressing
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Adding, stuffed pineapple with rice salad, crab or shrimp salad.
Cobb salad
BTL salad
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Are you a mind reader? 
I almost added that TJ’s balsamic in that smaller bottle is what I’m using on salads right now!
Ha!! Maybe i am… 
In my somewhat limited experience that’s as good as it gets until you jump to serious $$ and thicker older basalmic. I use that one with the california estate olive oil from TJs which is really mild - i’m not one for the grassy olive oils that make you cough!
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I often buy mine at Winner’s or Homesense, which are kind of like TJ Max, but Canadian. You can pick up good quality oils as well as varieties of aged balsamic. It sort of varies when you go though.
The balsamic and quality of oil do make a huge difference. I also like walnut oil on salads.
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Do you have any particular favorite salad combinations that involve walnut oil? I’m looking to branch out.
We have a bottle and I usually find myself using it to dress roasted beets with arugula, walnuts, and goat cheese (cheese optional). For some reason I rarely reach for the walnut oil, unless the salad contains roasted beets, so I’m sure I could be making better use of it.
