Summer Salads {Friday Favorites}

 

Happy Friday friends and welcome to another Friday Favorites!

The Texas heat is in full force and has been this way for the last month.  I can’t remember it ever being this hot, this early.  When it gets like this, the only thing that I can really enjoy eating is a crisp, cool salad with yummy flavors.  I just crave fresh fruit and cold vegetables in the summer and I have found some of the yummiest salads to make this summer and I thought I would share some of my favorites today.

Several of these salads I have already made (over and over), and others featured today are at the top of my list to make this summer.  Just click on the pictures below to go directly to any of the recipes.

I thought I would start with one of my all-time favorite salads, the Chinese chicken salad:

 

 

This recipe above from Foodie Crush and is a yummy {and healthy} twist on the original Chinese chicken salad (aka, oriental chicken salad).  I love salads that have a mix of lettuce and cold pasta and the sesame dressing is out of this world!

For the original and out of this world recipe for Chinese Chicken Salad that is made with crushed Ramen Noodles, you can find it here at Southern Plate:

 

 

Christy’s recipe is identical to the one I make except that I add mandarin oranges at the end.  The fresh orange taste really adds to the already delicious recipe.  If you’ve never had this salad before, you will love it!

Another one of my favorite salads is this delicious Broccoli- Grape Pasta Salad from Southern Living:

 

 

This pasta salad is really wonderful and the ingredients when mixed together really are so good. I have made it several times now with shredded rotisserie chicken  as a main dish for dinner.  The dressing and of course the bacon, really takes this salad to a whole new level.

I haven’t tried this next salad yet but I know it will be out of this world because it comes from one of my favorite foodies, Sweet Paul:

 

 

 

This recipe is Pear and Goat Cheese Salad topped with a light mustard vinaigrette, Mmmmm….  Doesn’t that sound so yummy!  Can’t wait to try this.

By the way, if you haven’t checked out Paul’s summer issue of Sweet Paul Magazine, you definately should put that high on your reading list.  It really is unbelievable and full of so many wonderful recipes and ideas. The magazine is such a special treat and Paul and his team really outdid themselves again and this summer issue is breathtaking!

 

 

 

Next up is the amazing looking Santa Fe Chicken Salad Wrap created by Katie at Good Life Eats:

 

 

Doesn’t that look amazing!  Katie added a little corn, black bean, red peppers and avocado to her chicken salad and wrapped it up in a flour tortilla.  What a great idea.  We do the same thing in the summer by doctoring up a traditional salad and wrap it up in a flour or corn tortilla and make it a meal.  This is right up our alley and we will be trying Katie’s version of this spiced up chicken salad wrap very soon!

Speaking of chicken salad, check out this delicious looking mango chicken pasta salad from A Bountiful Kitchen:

 

 

I love mango and this recipe sounds so different and delicious with the tarragon lime dressing, mango, bow tie pasta and other yummy stuff.    I have a strong feeling this salad is going to become a staple for us.

I have a recipe for the yummiest creamy Italian chicken pasta salad and I have made for years and I shared it last year:

 

 

The picture is not that great but it is really delicious and so easy.  Years ago, I figured out that if you add a little dressing (like Italian or Greek dressing) to cold pasta, the pasta really absorbs the flavor.  Once you add the rest of your ingredients, the salad is packed full of flavor.  This is great basic recipe that you can easily adjust depending on what you want to throw in it.  I promise, you’ll love it and you can find the recipe here with some suggestions for changing up the recipe.

This next salad is so delicious!  It’s a spinach, blueberry salad with a yogurt dressing created by Kitty’s Kitchen:

 

 

 

You will need to hit the translate button because Kitty’s Kitchen is in Italian.  This recipe is so refreshing and a wonderful combination of flavors.  The best part is that it’s healthy and packed full of antioxidants! Ever better, it comes straight from Italy!  What more can we ask for, right?

I love fruit mixed in salads and strawberries mixed with a spinach salad is one of my favorite salads!  This strawberry/ spinach recipe from Our Best Bits sounds so delicious:

 

 

I cannot wait to try Our Best Bites recipe for the Lemon Poppy Seed Vinaigrette that they recommend for the strawberry salad!  It sounds like a really great dressing.

I could keep adding more and more salads to this list but I think I’ll stop right here and do “Part 2” on another Friday.  I would love for you guys to share what your favorite summer salad is in the comment section below and we’ll make this list even longer of salads to try!  If you have a link to the recipe, please feel free to share that as well.

Thank you so much stopping by this week and if you happened to miss last week’s Friday Favorites, Decorating Tips & Tricks, you can find it by clicking the photo below:

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Cheers!
Cyndy