If I ask you to close your eyes and picture a salad – what do you see?
Some of you are picturing a simple wedge of iceberg lettuce with dressing poured over it. Some of you are picturing lettuce topped with a few vegetables like tomatoes and carrots. In my house growing up, salad was some type of green leafy vegetable topped with tomato, carrot, cucumbers and onion. Everybody knows salad is healthy and good for you. But it doesn’t have to be boring.
In high school, I worked in a restaurant and we often catered parties where huge salad bowls of salad were served. At that time, I learned to take my salad making skills to a whole new level. We would have contests to see who could make the prettiest salad. It would still be greens topped with vegetables but it would be beautifully created.
Picture a big bowl of salad greens. Now picture a pie chart on top dividing it into 8 pieces. Now picture each of those wedges being filled with different colored vegetables.
Picture a big bowl of salad greens. Now picture concentric circles on top. Each circle is filled with different colored vegetables.
Start with a bowl of potato salad and create a Greek Salad right on top of it! I learned this trick in Tarpon Springs, Florida where I go with Mother Fran and Child #7 pretty much every time I visit.
As an adult, I continue to create unique, pretty salads to serve to myself, to my honey and to guests. I am not typically a creative person. I have no drawing skills, no sewing skills and my fashion sense is pretty much non-existent. But I love to create in the kitchen. I love to try new recipes, I love to experiment with new combinations and I love to make pretty salads.
If you are tired of looking at the same old salad at dinner; maybe it is time to step it up a notch. Here are some tips to try!
Instead of the same lettuce you always use: Try spring mix, spinach, romaine, green leaf, arugula or radicchio.
Everybody knows tomatoes are red right? Next time try yellow, orange, green or pink. Last year, I grew black cherry tomatoes and the year before green striped tomatoes. There are over 3000 varieties of tomatoes in the world; go experiment!
Everybody knows that carrots are orange right? Check out purple, yellow and white carrots for a change of pace.
When I was a kid peppers were green. Now we typically see yellow and red too. But did you know you can buy brown and purple peppers?
People typically add cucumbers to salad but don’t think about adding yellow squash, zucchini, corn, artichoke hearts, broccoli or cauliflower.
I can go on and on about the variety of veggies you can add. But there is so much more to talk about!
I love to add fruit to a salad. Typically fruit you might find in my salad is grapes, apple, orange. They add a burst of color and some extra bursts of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. But don’t stop there. Try some sliced strawberries, kiwi, or blueberries.
Don’t forget the protein toppers! How about black beans, garbanzo beans or kidney beans? What about tuna, salmon, shrimp, swordfish or sardines? Don’t forget tofu, chicken, steak or hardboiled eggs.
What about feta, blue cheese, fresh mozzarella cheddar, or any other type of cheese?
Add a little crunch like walnuts, cashews, almonds or sesame seeds.
Don’t forget the olives. I love the olives. Black, green, Kalamata are all wonderful.
Oh and sliced, diced or chopped avocado’s. Raisins, dried cranberries and other dried fruits.
Salads are so amazing that I have pretty much stopped using salad dressing. Store bought dressing is filled with cheap unhealthy oil like soy and canola oil. They add in ingredients like sugar and other sugar substitutes with names I can’t pronounce. Two tablespoons of dressing likely has more calories than the bowl of salad itself.
I have not done much experimenting with making my own salad dressing but I sure enjoy it when my friends get creative. I usually just drizzle extra virgin olive oil and some fun variety of balsamic dressing and dig in. We currently have a raspberry balsamic on the kitchen table. My honey usually skips dressing all together.
So, have I given you enough tips for getting creative with your salad? Do you have any tips for me? Time to step it up a notch!
Salad doesn’t have to be boring…
Go make a beautiful salad, snap a picture of it and send it to me at lakegirl@mylittlebluekayak.com. I will include some pictures in an upcoming post!
Lake Girl
Fun post. I often put unexpected ingredients in my salad and ask family
members to guess the hidden ingredients. It tends to get everyone eating more and having some fun.
Edamame, nuts, dried fruit and avocado are frequent flyers. Cooked asparagus tips from last night’s dinner gets rid of leftovers and tastes good.
Anyway, hope to share salad with you again soon!
❤️
That is a fun idea! Mother Fran used to sneak all sorts of veggies into spaghetti sauce and her homemade soup. Maybe I’ll try the guessing game on her!