Healthy Inspirations Event-Salad Roundup Part 2

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Here is round two of the roundup of the healthy inspirations salad event.....


Umm Razeen makes Tofu and Sprouted Bean Salad , that is very simple to make and does not need a long list of exotic ingredients, and yet is packed with both taste and nutrition

Sowmya finds it difficult to ignore broccoli when she shops and decides to use it in this Broccoli with corn and peas salad, this salad is flavored with a very unique combination of tomato puree, ginger, garlic, soy, pepper and cumin.

My last contribution to this event is this Southwestern Style Pasta Salad . This simple and hearty salad has bell pepper, celery, corn kernels, red kidney beans and black beans in addition to pasta and is flavored with lime, paprika and a generous amount of cumin.






Akila Ganapathy says she is not much of a salad fan, but inspired by a salad on this site, she made a salad recently and decided to share it with us. Akila's salad combines crushed peanuts, lime and yogurt to form a versatile dressing which can be used with any combination of vegetables. Since she is a does not have a food blog, I am reproducing her recipe here entirely....


Ingredients:
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/4 cup roasted peanuts crushed
1/4 cup plain yogurt
lime juice - as needed
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in pan and put mustard seeds, asafoetida and fenugreek seeds. When mustard splutters, remove from heat and pour into salad bowl. Add yogurt, salt and pepper and mix well. Add peanuts and lime juice to this dressing. Pour this over salad mix (I used a store-bought mix of red cabbage, carrots, lettuce and added jalapenos, olives and tomatoes) and enjoy!

Salads are an eternal favorite with Ramya and she comes up with this Vegetable Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette, that  is inspired by a recipe on Food Network.

Kiwi makes a surprising appearance in this simple, yet exotic Kiwi and Sweet Melon salad created by Umm Razeen

Chickpeas appears in yet another salad,this one is called  Minty Mixed Veggies and Chickpea Salad . This salad created by Priya, uses a touch of chaat masala and sesame seeds to lend the salad some flavor.

Vidhya makes this simple and colorful Salad with lettuce, broccoli, red, green and yellow bell pepper, carrots and flavored with a touch of lemon often.

Vaishali comes up with a very unique and one of a kind, Strawberry Avocado and Black bean salad . With a combination of fruits and some protein, this hearty salad is pretty complete.

Indrani shares four delightful and healthy salads with this event. The first, a Greek inspired Barley and Veggie Salad that combines vegetables and barley and has a simple dressing made of greek yogurt and lemon. The second a low fat Red Cabbage and Red Kidney Beans Salad that combines wholesome vegetables with some protein to complete it.

Indrani's third contribution is this Mixed Fruit and Vegetable Salad with Thai Dressing , a very colorful salad that combines fruits like watermelon, apple and oranges with vegetables like carrot, cabbage and spinach and is flavored with a very unique dressing made with coconut milk and finally this very Indian Green Moong and Tomato Kachumber that combines various vegetables with soaked green mung beans.

After discovering that jicamas are juicy and tender, Kalyani and Gayatri decide to use it in this Jicama Salad along with cucumbers, onions, bell pepper and giving it an intriguing twist by adding in some oranges as well.

Jyoti salad with cucumbers, onions and tomatoes is perfect for summers. It is light, quick and healthy. Check out her Cucumber Bhurji Salad

Summer fruits come together to form a beautiful colorful medley in Harini's Tropical Summer Salad shared with us by Srivalli and the Beyond curries group

Priya from Mharo Rajasthan Recipes sends in a super healthy Sprouted Moong Salad with sprouted moong, onions and tomatoes and flavored with chaat masala and lemon juice

Kiran sends in two very versatile salads for this event. The first, Red radish and chickpeas salad which very uniquely combines red radish and chickpeas. Kiran mentions that it can quickly be converted into an entree just by adding rice to it. The second Quick Vegetable Pasta that can be served as a salad or even an entree.




Here is the link to part 1 of the roundup for the salad event.
I will announce the winner of the giveaway tomorrow, so do remember to peek in then :-)

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Healthy Inspirations salad event roundup part 1 and a giveaway

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My sincere thanks to all of you who participated in this salad event.The responses have been overwhelming, so many creative and interesting salads from all of you.  Sorry about the delay in posting the roundup.As I mentioned earlier, my computer has been giving me a lot of trouble and this roundup got delayed as a result of that.

In the interest of keeping this post to a reasonable size I am breaking up this roundup in two parts and will publish part two tomorrow. One last thing before I go on to the roundup, so many of you have taken the time to send in your entries for this event, as a token of my appreciation I would like to give at least one randomly selected participant this handcrafted rice pearls bracelet and matching earrings.I will announce the winner of this giveaway in a post after the roundup is complete.



Alright now moving right on to the roundup, all recipes are mentioned in the order that I received them.......

Usha of My spicy kitchen kicks off the salad event with a very interesting Chick pea Salad  with chickpeas, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots and Usha's own vinaigrette

Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen makes this wonderful and refreshing  Fruit salad  with a touch of honey and lemon juice for flavor.

My first contribution to this event is this Indianized coleslaw that combines regular cabbage with red/purple cabbage, some crushed pineapple and carrots and is flavored with Indian spices mustard, green chilies and asafoetida.

Srimathi's combines some incredible flavors of cumin,pepper, lime and garlic in this flavorful Couscous Salad. She also gives this salad a very interesting twist by adding raisins, cranberries, mint and cilantro to it.

Priya Narsimhan makes a nutrient and fiber rich Chickpea (Chana) Chaat Salad  using sprouted chickpeas and then enhances the taste by using sweet date chutney, cilantro and chaat masala.

On a vacation to Greece, Nayna and her family found themselves liking couscous salad a lot, so Nayna wasted no time in recreating a similar and flavorful Couscous Salad at home with red and green bell pepper, some grapes, jalapeno and cilantro

Sumathi creates an exotic Apple Pear Walnut salad flavored with orange juice,orange zest, raisins and pepper, a perfect spring salad :-)

My second contribution to this event is this  Thai Salad with Peanut dressing, this salad combines lettuce, cucumbers and carrots with a simple dressing made with peanut butter.

Aruna shares her simple, wholesome and protein rich Sprouted Moong Salad made healthier and crunchier with the addition of peanuts to it.

Priya sends in half a dozen delightful salads for this event. She starts with a simple and unique Beets, Corn and Celery Salad,  that combines vibrant beets with sweet corn and crunchy celery simply flavored with apple cider vinegar and pepper. Her second creation, a Greek salad with an exotic sounding name of Pantzaria Salata is a simple combination of beets with garlic.

Her next Creamy Potato and Dill Salad combines potatoes, tomatoes, dill and mayonnaise resulting in a flavorful and creamy salad, and her next Simple Salad with Sesame Dressing, combines everyday vegetables flavored with a very unique dressing made out of sesame seeds, soy sauce and chili sauce

Her final two salads for this event are this Bell Pepper and Melon salad which she creates to beat the heat when summer presents them with an intense hot day and this Rajma with mixed veggies salad  that she created when she found herself with some leftover cooked red kidney beans and decided to combine it with other vegetables to come up with this hearty salad.

Sweatha from Tasty Curry Leaf sends in an intriguing sounding Chilled chickpea and Everything salad  that combines chickpeas with other vegetables, she says that any vegetables can be used in this salad, making this salad as versatile as it is delicious :-)

My third contribution to this event is this Pasta with carrots and asparagus , a simple salad made with pasta,carrots and asparagus and flavored with jalapeno mustard, olive oil and crushed red pepper.

Meena sends in two salads for the event, both that she says can be made in under ten minutes. The first a Vibrant Mixed Fruit and Veggie salad, the name says it all for this salad and the second an Easy Tangy Green Beans Salad with a crunch, this salad combines green beans with almonds which lend the crunch to the salad

Taste Tinkerer decides to recreate a vegetarian version of a Burmese salad she once tasted in a restaurant and makes this exotic Mango Salad which is bursting with flavor from raw mangoes, onions, tamarind and  soy sauce.



Remember we are not done yet, so do peek in tomorrow to have a look at more creative and healthy salads...

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Healthy Inspirations Event Soups Roundup Part 2

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Here is the second part of the Healthy Inspirations soup event. The first part of this event has been posted here.

 

                                       
Kamala makes wonderful use of the abundant supply of fresh green peas that are available in winter in creating this creamy Fresh Green peas soup

My third contribution to this event, Hot and Sour Soup , my version is lighter on the corn starch and heavier on the vegetables as compared to the restaurant style Indo- chinese soup of the same name. 

Nivedita sends in a Tomato and Carrot Soup that  is uniquely flavored with dry ginger, fresh ginger,cumin , pepper and bay leaf . Nivedita makes this when someone in her family has a cold or a cough and the spices she has used help soothe the throat.






Ruchika sends in two soups, the first one, Mulligatawny Soup with lentils, onions, tomatoes and garam masala and the second one, Clear Tomato Soup flavored with cinnamon, garlic and pepper.

 

Shama sends in four soups for this event, Cabbage Soup that has just five ingredients other than salt, a vibrant Beetroot soup  that is packed with healthy iron and folate, Tomato Soup a classic made healthier by using milk instead of cream and  finally a kid friendly  Mixed Vegetable Soup

Raje makes this vibrant Carrot Soup to warm up on a snowy day. Just the sight of it is enough to make us forget that it is so cold outside :-)

Pratibha combines spinach and oranges in this unique, beautiful and very exotic Spinach Orange Soup

Sowmya wants to include far more soups in her diet and begins with this wonderfully healthy Spinach Mung Bean Soup,  this is the kind of soup I think everyone would love to have in their diet.

If you feel your microwave does not get the workout it deserves, then maybe this Tomato Soup by Indrani will inspire you to make use of your microwave more often. Indrani also accompanies the soup with some interesting and important health benefits of tomatoes, so be sure to check out her soup post.

My last contribution to this event, Spinach Lentil Soup made with a minimum of spices so that the taste of spinach and mung lentils is not overwhelmed.

Rajee has decided to challenge herself  to create recipes with ingredients that her friend suggests. Her first challenge required her to use fennel, which she masterfully uses in this Fennel & Carrot Soup

Cham celebrates a three day spring like weather spell in her area and the first bloom in her garden with this unique and intriguing  Edamame Cauliflower Soup

Gita sends in a dozen beautiful healthy soups for this event. She starts with this Split peas soup that was inspired by an Ina Garten Show, then she follows it up with Tomato and fava bean soup which reminded her of tomato basil soup only with a thicker texture, Tomato soup with barley and pasta that she made in under fifteen minutes and Spinach and barley soup  which combines spinach, barley and some Italian seasonings.

Gita's next contribution is this  Tomato and basil soup made to warm up on a cold wintry day, followed by this  Egg drop and egg noodle soup and this Middle Eastern lentil soup that was inspired by a recipe from an old cookbook that she found in the library and finally a  Black bean soup inspired by Panera bread's soup of the same name

Her last four soups start with  16 beans and pasta soup and roasted red bellpepper soup, the name says everything for this one, followed by Kale and white bean soup which is a very unique combination of kale, white bean and alfalfa sprouts, then this winter warmer Lima bean soup  and finally a Red bean soup  inspired by the "Everyday Italian" show

Angee gets inspired to include more soups in her diet with this easy to make Spinach Soup

Tazaika gives cracked wheat a whole new avatar in this flavorful  Haleemy Soup
spiced with ginger, garlic, pepper, clove, cinnamon and lemon. 

Asha makes creative use of her microwave to create this wonderful sounding and delicious Masoor dhal & Tomato Rasam Soup
This is a really quick soup with masoor dhal and tomato sauce, flavored with rasam powder, red chilies, curry leaves and dry coconut.

Divya sends in four more wonderful soups starting with this Wheat berry Kidney Bean Soup followed by the Creamy Zucchini Soup and Pumpkin Zucchini Spaghetti Soup and finally Creamy Broccoli Soup with Mint and Thyme

Usha from My Spicy Kitchen makes this Lentil Vegetable Soup , a powerhouse of nutrition with masoor dhal, spinach, mushrooms, carrots and beans. A hearty,  healthy bowl of soup perfect for cold wintry days !

Latha regularly makes this version of Mulligatawny Soup after she resourcefully managed to get a restaurant chef to share the recipe with her.






Thanks again for all your participation. In case I have missed out any one please let me know and I will update my post.

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