Variations on Nutritious Salad on a Budget for a Novice Cook

Salads in European countries are of a very different style from American salads. The definition of a green "salad" in America and England is that it is a mixture of raw vegetables, usually with lettuce as a base, which is topped with a sauce. In Western European countries and South Africa (maybe other places) "salad" means raw vegetable, but they aren't necessarily mixed together with lettuce as a base.

Here's a Swiss-style nutritious "salad" for a budget. In the center of a plate put about half-a-cup of finely sliced cabbage. At the 3 o'clock position arrange 5 or 6 finely sliced rounds of cucumber. At the 9 o'clock position arrange 4 or 5 thinly sliced rounds of tomato. At the 7 o'clock position arrange 5 or 6 half-circle finely sliced strips of bell pepper, red, green, yellow, as you wish. At the 5 o'clock position arrange thin round slices of left-over cold boiled potato.

At the 11 o'clock position arrange thin circular slices of cold boiled egg. At the 1 o'clock position arrange a serving of left-over cold, seasoned macaroni. Top the cabbage with 1 or 2 tablespoons of tuna, thin slices of left-over beef, or diced left-over ham -- or any left-over meat or poultry, really. Make a light vinaigrette-type dressing by adding 3 parts vegetable oil of some sort to 1 part vinegar, lemon juice concentrate, orange juice concentrate, or pomegranate juice, with an optional 1 part water. Add salt, pepper, and Spike to taste. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and enjoy.

Another variation is to put the cabbage in the center of a broad bowl and surround it with pockets of thawed raw frozen peas, carrot sticks, thawed raw frozen corn -- or left-over de-cobbed corn -- beets, celery sticks, bell pepper sticks, diced tomatoes, raw snow peas, cold macaroni and cold diced potato. Top the cabbage in the center with cold diced chicken and diced cheese. Top with a mustard vinaigrette. Make it by adding a dab or two of mustard to a 3-1-1 (optional), seasoned vinaigrette as described above. To thaw frozen vegetables to use raw in a salad, put the frozen vegetable in a collandar and run cold water over it for one minute, longer if you live where the water is very, very cold. Drain and use.

A salad that is very popular -- and delicious -- in South Africa is a pineapple and tomato salad. This salad usually does start with a butternut or iceberg lettuce base. But since we're preparing this on a budget with an eye to enhanced nutrition, we'll substitute cabbage for lettuce and reserve the fun of lettuce for when you serve it to dinner guests.

Place finely sliced cabbage in a bowl. Now here's one of the tricky parts: hold a washed tomato in your clean hand. Hold the tomato over the bowl. With your other hand slice a checker-board pattern through the tomato -- being sure to STOP cutting before you get to your hand. No emergency room visits, please. Cut several lines in one direction then cut several in the crosswise direction. Always holding the tomato in your hand over the bowl. The tomato juice in the greens is critical to the preparation of this salad. Now here we run into a little problem with this salad.

In South Africa you simply buy a very inexpensive whole pineapple from the street vendor who drives his truck down your street selling his wares to the families in the surrounding homes. If you can get a really inexpensive pineapple, fine. Whack off the outer shell, skin, armor...? Hold it over the bowl to collect all the juice while you cut it into cubes. If you can't get an inexpensive pineapple, then buy a can of pineapple chunks, add some to your bowl and add a proportionate amount of pineapple juice. Probably the unsweetened pineapple is best. Add salt and pepper in moderation to the salad. Make a pomegranate juice (Lakewood Pomegranate Juice is yummy) vinaigrette-type dressing as per above: 3-1-1(optional), with salt, pepper, and Spike. This salad tastes great with chicken or a salmon steak. It is also good with a green pepper and mushroom cheese pizza.