Looking for salad inspiration? I learned about this 1-2-3 method at a kid’s cooking class and it’ll make all your future salads a breeze!
The cooking class called this a “1-2-3 salad,” which refers to the ingredient elements that make up a complete-meal type of salad:
- Greens: arugula, mixed greens, iceberg, romaine or kale are all good options! (I highly recommend massaging the kale when raw–simply squeezing it with your hands until it turns dark and fragrant),
- Fruits/vegetables/seeds: fennel, dried fruit, roasted squash or other root vegetables, cucumber, tomatoes, seeds, nuts, corn, olives, cheese
- Grains: farro, brown rice, quinoa, barley
1-2-3 Salad
This is my favorite iteration of the 1-2-3 salad technique to date!
Ingredients
For the salad
- ½ cup uncooked pearled barley
- 1 tbsp medium butternut squash or acorn squash
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 head curly kale
- 1 bag mixed greens
- 1 fennel root, sliced
- ¼ cup craisins, golden raisins or dried cherries
- ¼ cup crumbled feta
For the dressing
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard optional
- salt + pepper, to taste
Instructions
Prep the ingredients
- Rinse the barley and bring to boil in a medium saucepan with 1 cup salted water. Turn down heat and let simmer for about 45 minutes or until barley is fluffy, tender and chewy. Add more water while cooking if the barley starts to dry out.
- Meanwhile, peel and chop the squash into small chunks. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees F for 30-45 minutes, or until tender.
- Once the barley and squash are done, let cool while you wash the kale and lettuce and tear into bite-sized pieces. Add the remaining ingredients to the bed of greens.
Make the dressing
- Whisk all ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Pang
I can not NOT loving this salad 🙂
Millie
Absoloutely unppin love with your blog and styling – so lovely!
I should be revising, but can’t help looking at all the posts… Whoops! Haha
It would be great if you could check mine out too! 🙂
Katie (The Muffin Myth)
Nice salad! We eat big assed salads for dinner a few nights a week as a part of our routine, but it’s nice to shake things up sometimes. I love to pack a big grainy salad like this for my lunches as well. I love the idea of butternut squash tossed in there. Yum!
The Hungry Mum
Yummo! We eat mucho salad [in fact, Miss8 is making one as I type] & it is great to see new ideas to keep things interesting.
erika
Thanks! 🙂
Lianna
that first picture looks like it could be on the cover of a food magazine! It’s actually so gorgeous, the colours are so vibrant, I want to make this my desktop background is that weird? no I didn’t think so either 😛 I love that this salad would be filling enough for a meal, I always have a problem with salads because no matter how massive they look they never really take up space in my stomach and I’m always left wanting to eat something else 30 minutes later. this salad would also probably make me feel better about all the cake I just ate, good thing we’re on the same page about that!
erika
oh my gosh I love you 🙂 for so many reasons, starting with the fact that I share the need to repent for the cake I just scarfed for breakfast!
Kristi @ My San Francisco Kitchen
Your salad looks beautiful and delicious! I also love those salad tossers! How pretty!!
erika
Thanks Kristi! 🙂
Joanne
I definitely go though phases with salad also! And I am totally craving one after seeing this! A big ass bowl of beauty.
erika
Pre-cisely 🙂
janet @ the taste space
How awesome. I used to do cooking classes with at-risk youth. The young ones were great for trying new things but when I did it with homeless teenagers they would complain if we gave them too many vegetables. lesigh This looks like an awesome salad, though. 😉
erika
Haha! That’s hilarious. And sad. Gotta get em early! Thanks Janet 🙂