Basic Salad Formula

Today I made another bucket of salad.  I will never understand why all the restaurants in America call that plate of grass they serve "a salad".  I must be foreign, but the definition of salad for me holds a lot more than a handful of non-nutritious iceberg lettuce and an occasional slice of cucumber and/or a grape tomato. 

I love to make salads in the summer.  Mostly because the endless possibilities make you feel like you are not eating the same thing every day.  I make a huge bowl on Sunday, and my lunch is completely and fabulously different all week.  It does not take much longer than half an hour of shredding and chopping.  And the kitchen stays cool.  Hopefully, this post will give you a couple of new ideas for what to add to your salad.  

The Salad Starter:

     1 head of lettuce (iceberg, romaine, green leaf, dark leaf, spinach, etc.)

     2 carrots, shredded

     1 cucumber, sliced

     5 roma tomatoes, sliced

     1 green pepper, chopped

     3 stalks of celery, chopped

This is your base starter.  You can stop here or you can add practically anything you want to it.  For me it varies depending on what else I have in the fridge that has to be used up or what is on sale at the time. 

Common additions:

     Spinach

     Red, yellow, or orange pepper

     Coleslaw mix

     Purple cabbage, shredded 

     Cilantro

     Parsley

     Avocado

     Green onions

     Canned beets

And of course, I add some protein:

     Ham

     Cheese

     Chicken breast

     Turkey pastrami

     Firm tofu

     Kidney beans

     Tuna

     Imitation crab meat
     Shrimp, cooked

     Cottage cheese, of course

     Hard boiled eggs

Things I do not like in my salad, but you may enjoy:

     Fruit

     Raisins and dried cranberries

     Raw mushrooms
     Raw broccoli

     Croutons

     Nuts

     Chow mein noodles

     Pasta 

     Rice

I also don't care to make my own dressing.  So I use bottled, but sometimes I mix things in for more flavor:

     Garlic powder

     Onion powder

     Salsa

     Dijon mustard

     Barbecue sauce

     Sauerkraut 

     Pickled reddish

Let me know, how you take your salad.