types of food

There are a few classic salads that are made with meat including chicken caesar salad, and taco salad. But there a ton of main meal salads with protein that will keep you full and have a burst of flavor.

You can add shrimp, steak, chicken, or ground beef to your favorite salads for some added protein to make sure salads a bit more filling for yourself.

Bringing these types of salads can be much more filling than the average meatless salad.

Caesar Salad

Caesar salad is a basic salad that can have meat added to it, including prawns, chicken, steak, prosciutto, or pancetta.

Steak Caesar salad is one of my favorite summer salads to serve with meat.

It’s a light salad, but has that extra BBQ sauce topped steak on it, making it one of the most juicy and tasty salads to have in the summertime.

Caesar salads that have meat in them are best served with garlic bread or focaccia bread on the side.

Taco Salad

Taco salad is made with ground beef and black beans, giving it a ton of protein.

Taco salad is made with a main body of lettuce, topped with tomatoes, cheese, corn, avocado, and jalapenos.

Taco salad is a unique meat salad in that it is topped with the same fixings as a taco, including sour cream, cheese, and even tortilla chips.

The tortilla chips are more of a garnish, but they also give the meat salad a crunchy flavor to it, adding a little more texture.

Chicken BLT Salad

Chicken BLT salad is made with chicken, bacon, avocado, cherry tomatoes over a bed of greens.

The chicken in the salad is marinated first with a champagne vinegar marinade, making it have a tangy taste to it.

Chicken BLT salad is topped with a citrus tomatillo vinaigrette dressing.

Shrimp Salad

Shrimp salad is made on a bed of greens, topped with shrimp, avocado, and red onions.

The shrimp are cooked in a frying pan to infuse a citrus flavor into them.

The shrimp are cooked in a combination of orange juice, lemon juice, olive oil, and spices. The shrimp are topped with a bit of parsley, making them have a earthy, lemon to them.

Greek Salmon Salad

Greek salmon salad is made with a base of lettuce, topped with everything you would add to a Greek salad.

The Greek salmon salad is topped with feta, olives, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and red onions.

The dressing is a Greek vinaigrette which compliments the flavors of the vegetables.

The salmon is cooked in the frying pan, and then has a hint of lemon juice added to it.

The Greek salmon salad is best served while the salmon is still warm.

How to store a salad that has meat in it

When making a salad with meat, make sure to store it in the fridge, and not to leave it out of the fridge for more than 2 hours. Meat is not able to stay out of fridge for longer than 2 hours, as there is a risk of bacteria growth that can make you sick. This has a bit of shorter time frame if the salad is sitting in direct sunlight. If you’re bringing your salad for a picnic on a summer day, pack it with an ice pack to ensure it’s staying at the correct temperature prior to eating it.

Fresh spinach can be easily sautéed in a couple of minutes on the stovetop. The spinach must be moved constantly to avoid burning the leaves.

1. In a medium frying pan on low-medium heat, place all of the spinach you would like to cook. Make sure your spinach has been washed, there is no need to dry it off before cooking. The water from the spinach will steam off in the cooking process.
2. Using a pair of tongs, grab sections of spinach and turn them over. Constantly move the spinach this way to cook the leaves at all angles.
3. It should take about 5-10 minutes to cook ~3-4 cups of spinach. You’ll know when it’s finished, because it will be completely wilted and a dark green color.

How to use freshly sautéed spinach for a recipe

Spinach, even when using it frozen, needs to have the water removed before using it.

To drain the water out of your freshly sautéed spinach, you’ll want to cool it for a few minutes before touching it.

1. Wrap small bunches of spinach in paper towel.
2. Hold the wrapped spinach over a bowl and squeeze the water out.
3. Remove the spinach from the paper towel and place in a fresh bowl to use for your recipe.

When making a recipe with cooked spinach, the water needs to be removed because it can interfere with the liquid to solid ratio.

For example, if you’re making spinach dip, the water will not be absorbed by the dip, therefore it will ruin the spinach dip.

If you’re making lasagna with ricotta and spinach, the water will not be absorbed by the ricotta cheese, and will make the lasagna runny.

For these reasons, it’s important to remove the water from the spinach after cooking it down.

What recipes can you use sautéed spinach for

• spinach dip
• lasagna
• spinach and chickpeas
• Tuscan gnocchi

A cheese calzone is a calzone that has it’s base a mixture of cheeses. Typically a cheese calzone would consist of mozzarella, ricotta, and parmesan cheeses. The cheeses are mixed with breadcrumbs and herbs to give it a good base before placing the cheese filling in the calzone dough. A cheese calzone can also be mixed with meats including salami, ham, prosciutto, or pepperoni.

How do you seal a calzone?

The calzone dough is sealed with a bit of egg and then pressed down with a fork to seal the edges.

Calzone Dough vs Pizza Dough

Calzone dough and pizza dough are actually same type of dough. Usually people make calzones with their leftover pizza dough. To use pizza dough for calzone dough, roll it out into a rectangle. Cut strips of dough that are quite wide ~6 inches wide & 12 inches long. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it depends how large you want your calzones. Place the filling on the bottom half of your cut rectangles. Fold and stretch your calzone dough over your filling and seal the edges with water or a bit of egg. Then using a fork, seal the calzone dough around the edges and you’re ready to bake them.

Calzone fillings that are vegetarian

• spinach
• onions
• peppers
• mushrooms

Do calzones have ricotta?

Calzones can have ricotta in them, along with a mixture of other cheeses like parmesan and mozzarella. Ricotta calzones can also be mixed meats and other vegetables to be a more balanced meal for dinner.

Calzone fillings with ricotta

• ricotta and mozzarella
• ricotta and spinach
• ricotta, Italian sausage, parmesan cheese
• ricotta and arugula
• prosciutto and ricotta
• ricotta, sundried tomato, parmesan cheese

Do calzones have sauce?

Calzones don’t usually have sauce, but you can serve marinara sauce with your calzones for dipping sauce. Another sauce to serve with your calzones is garlic butter to dip your calzone into.

What goes good with a calzone?

There are countless foods that go well with calzones. You’ll want to balance out the flavors of your calzone to the side you are picking for your dinner. Don’t pick two similar foods, try to select complimenting foods for your meal.

• Butternut squash soup
• potato leak soup
• minestrone soup
• Caesar salad
• corn on the cob
• green salad
• marinara sauce

The 4 components of a salad are the base, body, dressing and garnish.

The base of a salad is the greens or leaves that line the bottom of the salad.

The body is the meat, vegetables, or fruit.

The dressing is what coats the salad.

The garnish includes cheese, nuts, and herbs for the top of the salad.

Components of a Salad

Base of a Salad

The base of a salad is the greens that line the bottom of the salad.

You could make a salad with a couple different types of base, including different colors of cabbage.

Arugula another popular base that is usually combined with other types of lettuce like red oak lettuce to complete the base of the salad.

• iceberg lettuce
• romaine lettuce
• cabbage
• spinach
• arugula
• red oak lettuce

Body of a Salad

The body of the salad sits on top of the base of the salad.

The body of a salad are the main contents of the salad including meat, vegetables, and fruit.

Usually salads have a few different types of food that complete the body of the salad.

You could use a protein, a couple different types of vegetables for the body of the salad.

• bacon
• chicken
• shrimp
• eggs
• carrots
• celery
• grapes
• strawberries
• tomatoes
• avocado
• onions
• apples

Dressing a Salad

The dressing of a salad is the liquid that will be dispersed throughout to coat the body of the salad.

The dressing brings the salad together to make it taste refreshing. Salad dressings can be acidic, sweet, salty, or creamy.

• vinaigrette
• ranch dressing
• Caesar dressing
• oil and vinegar

Garnishing a Salad

The garnish of a salad is a food or herb that will go on the top of the salad for added decoration and color, and enhance the flavor of the salad.

A garnish for a salad includes cheese, nuts, dried fruits, spices, or herbs.

The garnish should be eye-catching and appeal to the person eating the salad.

Salad Garnish Ideas

• Fresh berries – blueberries, strawberries, raspberries
• Cheddar Cheese
• Blue Cheese
• Feta
• Parmesan crisps
• Olives
• Grapes
• Pomegranate seeds
• Onion crisps
• Wonton crisps
• Nuts
• Arugula
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Dried cranberries
• Dried raisins
• Strips of tortillas 
• Crostini
• Sliced radish
• Grated carrots
• Grated bell peppers
• Sliced avocado
• Mint leaves

How many types of salad are there

There are 4 types of salad including:

Tossed: A tossed salad is a green salad.

Bound: A bound salad is one that has a cooked ingredient in it, such as meat, eggs, pasta, or potatoes.

Vegetable: A vegetable salad consists only of raw or cooked vegetables.

Fruit: A fruit salad consists of fruit and/or a sweet or sour dressing.

Combination: A combination salad is a mixture of the 4 types of salads.

What’s the difference between a sauce and a dressing

The difference between a sauce and a dressing is that a sauce is a liquid that has been cooked, and a dressing is uncooked.

Both a sauce and a dressing are used to coat foods to give them more flavor, or enhance the flavor.

A sauce or dressing is either sweet, tart, or savory depending on its makeup and the food it is complimenting.

A dressing is usually put onto cold foods like salad, whereas a sauce is typically used on foods that are served warm like gravy on mashed potatoes. 

If you have too many potatoes on hand, you need to figure out what you’re going to do with all of them. You need to decide if you want to store them, cook them, or freeze them.

How to Store Potatoes

To store your potatoes at room temperature, place them in a dark, dry area. They will stay good for a couple of weeks.

If you’re wanting your potatoes stored for longer, there are a couple of other options.

What to do with potatoes before they go bad

• hash browns
• roasted potatoes with parmesan
• scalloped potatoes
• smashed potatoes
• parmesan garlic potato wedges
• potato casserole
• baked potato rounds
• mashed potatoes
• broccoli and cheddar potatoes
• twice baked potatoes
• potato latkes
• Greek lemon potatoes
• Breakfast hash brown and bacon casserole
• potato pancakes
• potato bread
• French fries

What can you make with potatoes for dinner

• potato soup with Italian sausage
• potato salad
• twice baked potato casserole
• onion and cheddar mashed potato cakes
• Buffalo potatoes
• potato nachos
• chickpea and potato curry

Freeze chopped potatoes

You can freeze chopped potatoes that have not been cooked in an airtight container, or a sealed plastic bag.

The potatoes will turn brown in the freezer, but they will retain most of their flavor.

Thaw your frozen chopped potatoes in the fridge overnight and cook them up for hash browns.

Freeze cooked potatoes

You can freeze cooked potatoes by baking them in the oven and then letting them cool.

Next, you can grate, slice, or chop your potatoes. Grating your cooking potatoes is the easiest way.

You don’t have to worry about the size as your grating. It’s much simpler than making sure your slices or chopped potatoes are all of similar sizes.

Frozen grated cooked potatoes are a great additive for making soup, curry, stew, breakfast casseroles, and hash browns.

Freeze shredded potatoes

Once you have your potatoes shredded, place them in an airtight container and freeze them.

To thaw your frozen shredded potatoes, place them in the fridge overnight and use them the following day for your recipe.

How to keep potatoes fresh after peeling

To keep potatoes fresh after you’ve finished peeling them, place them in a bowl of cold water.

They will not go brown, since they are not exposed to air.

Therefore, oxidation will not take place. The potatoes will keep fresh after peeling them and putting them in water for a couple of hours.

Creating a charcuterie board is a ton of fun and lets your creative self takeover.

You can shape your charcuterie meats into roses, or intricate layers to give a bit of texture to your charcuterie board.

You can add a ton of color to your charcuterie board by adding fruit, herbs, and berries at throughout the board.

How to plate a charcuterie board

Plating a charcuterie board involves getting a large enough serving platter for all of your items.

Depending on how many people your serving for, you might need quite a large serving board.

There are many items that need to fit on a plate for charcuterie including many tiny bowls, cheese, meet, and fruit.

Select your food serving board:

• Marble
• Wooden
• Porcelain
• Slate

Things to keep in mind for plating a charcuterie board

Height: Vary the heights of your cheeses. Place your Brie, Boursin, Blue Cheese in large pie shaped pieces standing up. Lie flat with the other cheeses that you plan to slice. 

Color: Green/red grapes, mint leaves. Fruit slices – red skins for apples, green skins for pears. Brown nuts. Light colored cheeses.

Texture: Textured whole seed mustard. Smooth honey. Soft and hard cheeses. Soft and hard cured meats.

Shopping List for Charcuterie

Select your own cheeses, meats, condiments, and plating foods that fit best for you. Pick condiments that you have at home to make it easy on yourself. Pick only a couple to maybe a few of the cheeses and meats. You don’t need more than 3 of each for your guests.

Cheese

• Brie
• Gorgonzola
• Aged cheddar
• Aged smoked cheddar
• Parmesan
• Camembert
• Goat
• Burrata
• Boursin

Meat

• Salami
• Prosciutto
• Capicola
• chorizo
• Ham
• Foie Gras

Condiments

• Mustard
• Red pepper jelly
• Honey
• Fig jam
• Pomegranate jelly
• Dried cranberries
• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Pecans
• Cashews
• Sliced pickles – pickles for cheese board are typically dill pickles
• Olives
• Sliced apples
• Sliced pears

Breads & Crackers

• Crackers
• Raincoast Crisps
• Pita chips
• Baguette

Extras

• grapes
• pretzels
• rosemary sprigs
• mint sprig
• raspberries
• strawberries
• blueberries
• basil leaves
• pineapple cubes

Charcuterie vs Cheese Board

The difference between charcuterie and a cheese board is charcuterie has both cheese and cured meats on the board.

A cheese board would be a no meat charcuterie board which can be just as delicious as regular charcuterie.

If you’re going with a no meat charcuterie board, pick a few more cheeses (5-7 cheeses) and a couple more condiments for the added variety,

What kind of mustard do you use for a charcuterie board

Typically whole grain mustard is used for a charcuterie board. Whole grain mustard has the seeds still visible in the mustard, giving it a textured coarse look.

How to put together a charcuterie board

1. Place all of your condiments into small bowls, or directly onto the charcuterie board. Group them into sections. Try to vary the textures and colors when placing them onto the board.
2. Put your cheeses onto the board next. Keep in the mind the heights of the cheese, and fan out the flat cheese for a tasteful look.
3. Roll up the meats that are long pieces up so they look presentable. Fan out the other meats that are cut into disks.
4. Place your breads and crackers onto the board. Try to fan out the bread pieces and stack the crackers or fan them out if your have the room. If you don’t have enough room on your food serving board, you can place them on a separate dish.
5. Last but not least, the plating items. These are the items that dress up the board like fruit, or fresh herbs. If you’re putting sticks of pretzels onto your board, you can either lie them flat, or place them in a tall glass so they add the height variation to the charcuterie board.
6. Serve your plated charcuterie board immediately. If you’re not serving it right away, place it in the fridge with some plastic wrap while your waiting.

How to transport a charcuterie board

To transport a charcuterie board, you’ll want to find something you can put the entire plate in, that has high sides.

This could be a reusable grocery box, a cardboard box, or a plastic bin. Find one that it fits snugly in. Keep your charcuterie board covered during transport with plastic wrap.

Charcuterie board themes

Christmas Charcuterie Board: add decorative cranberries or small cedar branches to your charcuterie board

Halloween Charcuterie Board: add small gourds to your charcuterie board, or some spooky decorations like fake spiders or skeleton bones

Valentines Charcuterie Board: add a bowl of cinnamon hearts to your charcuterie board or some chocolate dipped strawberries

Dessert Charcuterie Board: All different types of desserts – cakes, chocolates, jams and fruit. Learn how to make your own dessert charcuterie board.

• Pizza pinwheels with pepperoni
• Bread sticks
• Calzone
• Flatbread
• Italian garlic knots
• Pot Pie
• Pigs in a blanket (small hot dogs wrapped in dough, then baked)
• Toads in a hole (breakfast sausage wrapped in dough, then baked)
• Breakfast Flatbread
• Quiche
• Breakfast bruschetta
• Pretzels
• Cinnamon rolls
• Stromboli
• Pizza dough filled appetizers

How to make pizza dough filled appetizers

Cut pizza dough into rectangles that will fit in a muffin tin with a bit of overhang. Fill the pizza dough with toppings inside the muffin tin. Bake for 15-20 min at 350 degrees F.

How to store leftover pizza dough

Leftover pizza dough can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. The dough will keep rising in the fridge, so sometimes it will break open the airtight container. Leftover pizza dough can be stored for up to 2 days in the fridge.

How to store pizza dough after it rises

After your pizza dough rises, you can keep it on your counter for a couple of hours before using it . If you won’t be using it the same day, store it in the fridge overnight.

How to let your dough rise overnight in fridge

You can let your dough rise overnight in the fridge very easily. Dough that is made with yeast will constantly be rising and expanding in the fridge or on the counter. It creates gas bubbles that make the dough increase in size. After your dough has risen overnight, punch it down to release the gas bubbles and then you can roll out your dough and bake your recipe.

How to make pizza dough a day ahead

You can easily make pizza dough a day ahead and then store the dough in the fridge overnight. It will continue to rise and expand, even if you put it in an airtight container. Once you’re ready to use your dough, let it come to room temperature ~20 min. Then roll out your dough and bake your pizza. You can store your pizza dough in the fridge for up to 2 days in the fridge.

How to add flavor to pizza dough

Adding flavor to pizza dough is fairly simple to do by adding a few of your favorite spices:

• dried oregano
• dried basil
• garlic salt
• garlic flakes
• chili flakes
• Italian seasoning (if you want to make it easy on yourself)

You can add 1 tsp – 1 tbsp in total of your spice mixture to your pizza dough. Add the spices to your dough when you add the flour. Mix the flour and spices together first, then add them to your pizza dough. The spices will even distribute as the stand mixer kneads your pizza dough, adding an aroma of flavors to your pizza dough. You will love the added burst of taste in your herbed flavored pizza dough.

When you’re making your pizza dough, instead of using regular extra virgin olive oil, you can use garlic infused olive oil. It will add a punch of garlic flavor to your pizza dough. Alternatively, you can make your pizza dough, roll it out, and add a brushing of garlic infused olive oil to the pizza dough where you plan on putting your pizza sauce. The garlic olive oil will give you a savory taste to your palate.

To seal dough, this depends on what type of dough you are sealing. If you’re sealing puff pastry, use a bit of water or egg to seal the edges together. You can pinch the pastry together to seal the dough.

Be sure not to overfill with filling. If any of your filling gets on the pastry you want to seal, this can make it difficult to seal the pastry together. This is due to the oil or fat that is present in your filling. Water or eggs cannot seal fat together, so it makes it difficult to seal your dough.

When making foods like a calzone or a sausage roll, make sure your dough is at room temperature. This will make it easy to roll out and seal your dough.

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Once you’ve sealed the dough with your fingers by pushing down on the dough, use a fork to press down on the edges of the pastry to complete the seal. The calzone/dough pockets need to be poked on the top with a fork to allow for aeration. This helps let the steam out of your food when it’s cooking. The seal will remain intact without the steam trying to push open your pastry dough.

How to seal puff pastry without eggs

You can seal puff pastry without eggs by using water. Dip your finger into a dish of water and run your finger down the pastry where you plan to seal the edges. Press the edges together. Then use a fork to push the seams together which will create a good seal for puff pastry.

How to seal pastry edges

Pastry edges can be sealed using water or egg along the very edge of pastry. Squish the pastry edges together once you have wet the edges with water or egg. This should hold the seal well for pastry.

What is a pastry crimper?

A pastry crimper seals the edges of dough and adds decoration to the dough as you run it along the edges. A pastry crimper is going to cut the dough for you to give you that beautiful edging on ravioli, pie crust, etc.

A pastry crimper is also known as a pastry edger.

You can make decorations for your pie crust using a pastry edger. If you want to make some decorations for the top of your pie crust, you can use cookie cutters to cut your pie crust into shapes. Then use your pastry edger to make the edges have a bit more texture and depth to them. Your guests will love how beautiful your pie turns out.

If you don’t have a pastry edger, you can also use your fingers to pinch the pie crust to make it have triangles all the way around the pie. Another way to decorate the pie ege is by pushing the dough in between your 1 index fingers and folding it in a tiny bit at an angle. This will create long pieces of dough that will fold in and create a rope looking decoration all around your pie. If you want a more simple design, push the tip of your finger into the dough all the way around the pie to make small rounded circles for your pastry edge. You can get creative with utensils at home by using a fork and criss crossing a design on your pastry edge.