Making Enjoyable Salads at Home

1) Never buy iceberg again!!!
The best upgrade I have made, salad wise, is the spring mix and the baby greens mix. It comes in a plastic tub. It's a little more expensive than buying head lettuce, but it's wonderful. Super healthy leafy greens. You get all types of lettuces prechopped, clean, ready to eat. The variety is wonderful, colorful, flavorful. It stays fresh in the container a lot longer than head lettuce does in my crisper and it's so ready to go that my husband will often grab a bowl of lettuce rather than taking the time to make a fattening sandwhich. I will use it as a meal by laying thin sliced cold beef or chicken over it or using it to make a taco salad with leftover taco meat. The baby greens can be wilted in a skillet or steamed to make a quick, healthy side dish.

favorite dressings:
Briannas poppy seed and Annie's Cowgirl ranch.

In France, I learned to make dressing right in the serving bowl using 2 parts olive oil and 1 part good vinegar like balsamic. Add a small blob of dijon mustard and a couple leaves of fresh basil, chopped. Mix it, throw in butter leaf lettuce and mix around. Sorry, I don't measure but I'm guessing start with 4 T of oil and 2T vinegar and about 1 teaspoon mustard. It's simple, and tastes light and fresh.

I also like dried cranberries with feta or gorgonzola cheese and walnuts on mixed baby greens with an oil and vinegar dressing.

Or chopped chicken with parmesan cheese with Briannas poppy seed dressing.

Leftover taco meat, tomatoes and cheddar over romaine with cowgirl ranch or salsa dressing.

Ya know... if you Google Search, California Pizza Kitchen salad recipes, it will come up in the search.
Their "ranch" salad dressing too.

I use whatever floats my boat, in salads:
nuts, dried fruit, tofu, corn, all kinds of veggies and whatever I have on hand, beans, cheese, deli meat.... won-ton strips, roasted veggies, Just basically whatever I have on hand!
There are no rules, to salads.

I have a recipe for a really good chinese chicken salad made with ramen noodles.

We also have salad with dinner every night. I'm lucky that my kids are really good salad eaters. I just keep it made in a big tupperware container in the fridge. I chop up iceburg lettuce and throw in some baby greens, baby spinach and my new fave is butter lettuce. The kids like croutons and I like salad supreme on mine. We all have our favorite salad dressings.

My all time favorite dressing is Girard's Light Ceaser. (and I usually dislike most ceaser dressings.)

It is tangy, a teensy bit sweet, just perfect. I use it to marinate fish, I make herb crusted chicken with it, I use it on salads.

For me, a good variety of greens for lots of taste and nutrients, (iceberg lettuce is basically tasteless water). Spinach, some fresh basil leaves...

Then, I do a couple of add-ins such as: carrots, cucumber, celery, cherry tomatoes, onion slices, olives, hard boiled egg, croutons, mushrooms, crumbled bacon... grilled chicken strips, avocado slices, shredded cheese or crumbled feta for taste, strawberries, mandarin orange slices, toasted almonds or walnuts...

Oh yeah, if you make a taco salad, serve it over cornbread... yumm!

My favorite combination is spinach leaves, cut up grape tomatoes, a few baby carrots and cut up pieces of real mozzarella cheese. Then I top it with light balsamic vinaigrette. I eat it almost every day for lunch!

I love salads.

I rarely use dressing because I put all sorts of stuff in the salad that tastes amazing, so we don't need dressing.

Hard boiled eggs, sun- dried tomatoes, black olives, cheese (cubed cheddar or feta is my favorite), onions (raw or grilled), sometimes chicken with bbq sauce or garlic, green onions, bell peppers, sometimes ham, sometimes bacon, my husband likes raisins on his (gag!)... Little of everything.

My primary secret to making a good salad at home is to do it all from scratch. Making your own croutons is easy. Dressing ingredients can be put into a jar and shaken together. A couple extra touches, like toasting walnuts or pecans instead of just throwing them in "raw," could make a big difference.
Another tip is to make sure and taste your dressing as you make it, so you can adjust the ingredients if necessary. A nice honey-mustard vinaigrette is one of my favorites--dijon mustard, honey, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, tarragon, rosemary. Yum. Try it with grilled chicken over greens, sprinkle a little feta over the top before serving.
Now you're making me hungry for salad!!:)