Recipe Box, Summer Salads

Summer equals salad, don’t ya think? With hot temperatures and high humidity, nothing appeals to me more. Here’s a couple of salad type dishes that are easy to make and full of flavor.
One is a “salad sandwich” and the other is a vegetable medley, a rainbow of colors and ingredients~
Let’s start with the Salad Sub.
My hands down favorite sandwich is an Italian Submarine sandwich, filled with Italian meats and cheeses on a long crusty loaf, topped with veggies and Italian dressing
To lighten this up for summer I took a small baquette, cut it in half and scooped out the soft bread, leaving a shell
Drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with Parmesan, it heads to the toaster or broiler to crisp and brown
In the meantime fix a salad
I used fresh spinach and crisp romaine with chopped red pepper and green onion
Toss it lightly with dressing of your choice
I cut strips of ham and salami
and gave them a quick saute in a skillet~you don’t need to add oil or fat, they will saute in their own
Pile it on!
Fill the bread shell with the tossed salad, top with meat and some bleu cheese crumbles~
You can see that this open face version would be hard to eat as a sandwich, so serve it with a knife and fork. You could also use a little less salad and top it with the other hollowed out baguette and wrap it tightly in saran wrap and tuck it into a cooler for a picnic or travel.
YUM!
The vegetable medley salad is made with black beans and a rainbow of vegetables and can be easily adapted to any veggies you like
HHjr made this for us and he used black beans, fresh corn, tomatoes, avocado and red onion
I call this Hot and Cold Summer Salad because you saute the corn and onion, then toss in the black beans to warm, and right before serving stir in the tomato and avocado.
It’s a great summer side dish when you’re grilling
and it’s also good cold. Pack leftovers in a jar and you have a grab and go lunch for the next day. This will keep for several days.
Here are the recipes:

SALAD SUB SANDWICH
Ingredients
- french baguette style sandwich roll or rolls
- sliced salami
- sliced deli ham
- freshly shaved Parmesan
- bleu cheese crumbles
- salad greens {romaine and spinach}
- red pepper chopped
- green onion chopped
- Salad dressing of your choice Italian, vinaigrette, buttermilk, whatever you like
Instructions
- Cut bread in half lengthwise and remove soft insides forming a shell. .
- Drizzle bread shells with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Toast or broil until golden
- Slice meats into strips and saute quickly over medium high heat until it starts to caramelize and brown.
- Make a salad with the greens and other veggies and toss with dressing.
- Fill toasted bread shells with salad and top with meat and bleu cheese crumbles. Serve open face or top with another bread shell.
Notes
For some other versions of a “boat salad” pop over and see Mary’s at home is where the boat is, hers are gorgeous!
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HOT AND COLD SUMMER SALAD
Ingredients
- 1 large heirloom tomato or use 2 medium, any color
- 1/2 red onion diced
- 1 can black beans rinsed and drained
- 3 ears of fresh corn cut from the cob
- 1 avocado cut into cubes
- fresh basil leaves chopped
- balsamic vinegar {optional}
Instructions
- Saute corn and onion in a little olive oil to soften and cook.
- Add black beans and warm.
- Remove from heat and add tomatoes and avocado.
- Season with salt, pepper and some chopped fresh basil or herb of choice. Drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar to spike flavor if desired. Serves 4-6
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Thank so much for stopping by!
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I’m sharing with these great parties:
Stone Gable for ON THE MENU MONDAY
The Gunny Sack for TIME TO SPARKLE
I Gotta Create for WILDLY ORIGINAL
Rattlebridge Farms for FOODIE FRIDAY
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Jenna, Your salad sub looks delicious~ love the combination of flavors and the blue cheese on top! Your hot & cold salad has our favorite ingredients in it too! Leftovers are always better & more fun eaten out of a jar 🙂 Thanks for the shout out, have a great weekend!
The salad sub looks great. I should put it on my list of Gabi food. She will be here for a few days. We’re shopping for meals today or tomorrow.
This is a great idea for this hot humid weather we are having. Your salad sub has to be delicious, I think I would like one right now! Guess what I’m making over the weekend for dinner? Great photos, yum.
I love this idea. Your vegetable medley reminds me I’ve been wanting to make black bean salsa! Never thought to make it up as a veggie medley. Great idea!
I have written this down…we are making these over the 4th weekend…thanks for sharing.