Do the greens at the grocery store this time of year NOT inspire you?
I mean between not knowing who’s hands have touched them and knowing that they just don’t taste fresh… it’s hard to really get excited about greens from 2000 miles away.
I get you!
You and I both know that veggies fresh from a real garden, any garden, yours or mine, taste so much better than what you find at the grocery store.
Especially this time of year.
But in the deepest part of winter, it is much too cold for greens from the garden.
Even our garden! With a couple of feet of snow on the ground and temps below zero at night, our farm’s greens in the hoop house are hibernating until March.
Soon when it is a little milder and there’s a little more sunlight, they’ll start to grow again and will be harvestable for our Winter CSA and Preorder Buying Club customers…
But, in the meantime are you forced to go to the grocery store to get salad fixings? No way, friend!
You can make a salad out of local veggies, even without the greens component!
Watch this!
Wait, what?
What is a salad, exactly?
It’s easy to think that a salad is lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. And most of us probably have thought that way at some point in our lives, or still do. I know I have!
So, I went to my trusty dictionary that my dad gave me when I was seven (yes, I still use it), and found the official definition:
salad (noun) a dish usually cold, of raw or sometimes cooked vegetables or fruits in various combinations, served with a dressing…
There you go! Salads can really be anything you want them to be and can be made out of what you have on hand at the moment!
Homemade Winter Salads: going beyond lettuce, cucumbers. and tomatoes
At our house we avoid buying greens (or other produce, besides) from the grocery store. Why would we when we’re blessed with such a large larder of stored veggies to choose from?
But, we are not starved from having salads, even in these frigid days of winter.
In fact, quite the opposite! We have a salad almost every day right through the winter, using what we have on hand from our own home grown veggies!
And they’re a hit with everyone! True story…
I was making a salad the other day at the kitchen counter, grating away, when a little blond head appeared at my elbow.
My little daughter had sided up to check out what was going on.
“Are you making kohlslaw, mama?” she sweetly asked.
Before I could even answer, she was found reaching up and grabbing some freshly grated kohlrabi out of the bowl and stuffing it into her mouth. And not just once, but Over and Over.
“Thank you for making this kohlslaw, mama.” amid muffled eating sounds, “it’s really good.” And she’s not usually so complimenting at meal time, so this surprised me!
Mmmm…. “Can we make more kohlslaw?” has been the question of the day since we finished that salad recently!
How To Make A Winter Salad That You’ll Actually Love
Use great tasting ingredients and get creative, leaving behind the narrow definition of salad as lettuce, cukes, and tomatoes!
Here are our family’s favorite salads for the deepest of winter, when greens from the garden are unattainable and greens from the store are… well, less than exciting.
First start with farm fresh winter veggies that have some taste! Options include:
- beets
- carrots
- cabbage
- kohlrabi
- salad turnips
- Daikon radish or other winter radish
- Delicata winter squash
- celeriac
- onions
- garlic
- potatoes
Then add other optional fun ingredients of choice like:
- Chopped nuts and/or seeds!
Pecans, walnuts, peanuts, sunflower seeds, cashews, etc. Get creative! - Fruit, either fresh or dried!
Apples, pears, oranges, grapefruits, grapes, or yummy dried fruit like dried cranberries or raisins or even dried tomatoes from the garden! The little kick of sweetness adds a lot to a winter salad! - Cheese!
My personal favorite cheese addition to salad is feta (homemade from my goat’s milk if possible!) Other good options include parmesan, chevre, even chunks of cheddar/Colby. - Olives!
I would be extremely remiss to not mention my children’s favorite addition to salads, olives! Green or black, stuffed or not, these things get our children demanding seconds of winter salads every time. And the adults, too!
Last top with your favorite homemade (or store bought) dressing!
Want to know our current family favorite dressing? It’s an easy one that is a total crowd pleaser for all ages:
Easy Balsamic Dressing (whisk together)
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1/2 balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp prepared mustard (like Dijon)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic, minced, or to taste
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
Other good dressing ideas I have on our website’s vegetable gallery, mostly filed under lettuce. But also please find two tutorials on making your own salad dressings at home here:
- How To Make Your Own Salad Dressing
- This Easy Salad Dressing Will Make Your Hearty Early Spring Salads
Now onto some full recipes for you to get started making your own tasty winter salads at home!
#1 Sweet Daikon Radish Apple Slaw (Children’s favorite)
Whisk together following dressing:
- 1 TBLS lemon juice
- 1 TBLS apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp honey
- 3 TBLS olive oil
- 1 TBLS onion, finely chopped
- 1 TBLS ginger root, grated
Slaw ingredients:
- ½ – 1 pound Daikon radish, shredded
- 1 large carrot, shredded
- 1-2 crisp apples, chopped
Toss slaw with dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Cover + chill 1 hour before serving.
#2 Basic Beet Salad (with endless combinations)
As indicated below there are unlimited variations to this recipe. Most recently we’ve been using beets, red onions, pecans, fresh cranberries, and feta cheese. Give it a try!
- Beets, whole
- onions (or scallions), minced
- nuts or seeds of choice, chopped
- grated or chopped cheese, optional (my favorite here is feta)
- fresh herb, chopped, optional
- oil and vinegar dressing
- salt and pepper to taste
There are two options for cooking your beets.
- Boil beets whole until knife pierces through easily. Drain, cool, slip skins off. Refrigerate until ready to make salad (optional).
- Cube and roast or roast whole and cube after cooking/cooling/removing skins.
(To learn more about cooking beets for salads, check out this blog post: Three Easy Recipes That Will Have You Loving Beets.)
Chop beets and combine with onions and optional ingredients. Pour over dressing of 2-4 TBLS oil and 1-2 TBLS vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve or refrigerate.
We’ve also got other great beet salad recipes on the Beet Page of our Vegetable Gallery of Recipes. If you’ve never been to the gallery before and you love veggies… you’re in for a treat! Go, check it out!
#3 Thanksgiving Slaw (seriously so addicting that I found Gene in the office chowing on it at 9pm the other day…)
We like to make a big version of this and keep it in the fridge for leftovers throughout the week. Easy and yummy!
- 6-8 cups green cabbage, shredded
- ½ cup parsley, chopped, optional
- 1 cup almonds, toasted, sliced
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- Salt and pepper to taste
Toss veggies with the following dressing whisked together:
- ½ cup red onion, minced
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 TBLS maple syrup
- 4 tsp Dijon mustard
- Salt, to taste
#4 Viv’s Beet Carrot Slaw with Greek Yogurt
Yes, you can eat beets raw, and try it! With this recipe, you’ll find they’re delicious in a salad!
- 1-2 cups Greek yogurt
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2+ cups carrots, peeled and grated
- 2+ cups beets, peeled and grated
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon coriander
- ¼-1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Stir garlic into yogurt and let stand. Whisk together olive oil, zest, lemon juice, vinegar, honey, salt, pepper, and coriander. Pour half of dressing over carrots and beets, mix, and let stand 5 min. Spread yogurt on serving platter. Top with carrot/beets, drizzle remaining dressing, and sprinkle with pecans.