Tossed Salad with Sauteed Vegetables

“We all know we need to eat more vegetables to stay healthy. ‘EAT THE RAINBOW.’ Sometimes, in the colder months, I just don’t want a cold salad. I am always trying to replicate a grilled vegetable salad I had served to me years ago. So delicious! Well, I think this recipe is a close copy to that dish and I enjoy it often. I hope you will give it a try!”
– Carolyn

Total time 45 minutes
Calories vary according to your dressing. I don’t think we have to worry about the calories with the vegetables!

Ingredients

Sweet Peppers, colors of your choice
Mushrooms
Sweet Onions
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1 Tablespoon Butter

Method

In your largest frying pan, melt butter with the olive oil. Heat should be around medium high.
You can decide how many vegetables you want to saute, but do not crowd your frying pan or your vegetables will steam.
You want to fry them to a crisp tender texture with a little browning or char on them. If your pan dries out, lower the heat a little and add more heart friendly olive oil.
Personally, I like to do quite a big batch of vegetables so I usually saute each vegetable separately and then keep them mixed together in the refrigerator in a large container and heat them up as I need them. They will keep good for 4-5 days.
Make your tossed salad with whatever fresh vegetables you desire. Then, pile on the heated sauteed vegetables. I think you will find, as I do, that you actually need less dressing on your salad with these very warm vegetables on top.

Tips

If you love salad but just don’t have the time to make one every night, this is what worked for me in my busy years. I made part of my salad ahead. I got out my big old Tupperware bowl and put all my Romaine lettuce, baby spinach, red onion rings, red cabbage shreds, carrot, celery and whatever else I could come up with that wasn’t real wet. Toss that up and it will stay fresh for a few days.
When I got home from a busy day, all I had to do was add the tomato, cucumber, sweet peppers and any other wet ingredients and VOILA! Salad on the table! Add some bite size leftover steak or chicken, YUM!
You will probably have to make your salad base twice a week but that is better than never having time for salad. A few low-sugar craisins and roasted sliced almonds and some cheese crumbles (of your choice) make salad really special.

If you try this recipe, let me know what you think by sending me an email. I would love to hear from you!