This big, hearty pot luck salad recipe is perfect when you’ve got a busy week and don’t have time or energy to cook loads of different meals. 

This salad has a source of protein, a source of carbohydrates, some salady bits and a dressing (if you like, optional if you don’t like!) and can be kept in the fridge for a day or three.

It’s perfect from dipping into when you get hungry! It also lets you use up all those bits and pieces lurking in your fridge salad drawer and is fairly portable and versatile. And if that wasn’t enough in itself, it’s also really tasty! 

Cooking Tip:
The beauty of it is, you can adapt it time and time again by changing the ingredients and you can experiment with different proteins, different carbohydrates and different salad vegetables. 

Ingredients

A source of protein: choose one or more from

• Cooked Salmon Fillet
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Cooked Chicken
• Cooked prawns
• Roast Ham
• Tuna, drained well
• Cheese – feta, cheddar work well
• Mixed Beans, drained
• Any other protein source of your choice

A source of carbohydrates: choose one from

• Cooked pasta shapes like pasta twists or bows or spirals
• Cooked rice 
• Cous Cous made up to the packet instructions
• Cooked Bulgar Wheat
• Cooked new potatoes
• Any other source of carbohydrate of your choice

Salad Vegetables: choose as many as you like, to taste!

Whatever you have lurking in your kitchen and totally to your taste. My favourites are

• Cucumber, cubed
• Tinned sweetcorn
• Tomatoes (either cherry or baby plum tomatoes cut into halves or quarters or vine ripened tomatoes, diced)
• Onions – red onions or spring onions are particularly good
• Diced bell pepper – either red, green, orange or yellow
• Carrot, peeled and grated
• Radishes washed and quartered
• Any other salad item that you may have laying around
• Black olives, halved and pitted

Cooking Tip:
You could add lettuce but it can go brown if you cut it with a knife and can go soggy if you put the dressing on too soon, so maybe keep that separate?

Dressing (optional) 

Choose from:

• Caesar salad dressing
• Mayonnaise
• Salad cream
• Vinaigrette 
• French dressing
• Thousand Island dressing/seafood sauce
• Any other dressing of your choice

 Cooking Tip

If using vinaigrette or French dressing, be aware that it may make your salad vegetables more soggy, so you may want to add it at the last minute or 30 mins before serving. 

Method

In a big bowl add the ingredients you’ve picked and give it a big stir. Keep in an airtight dish until needed