In Search of the Perfect Green Salad

New year, and in the spirit of resolutions to eat healthier, lose weight, etc, etc, I decided to post about a simple dish:  the ubiquitous green salad.

Yawn, right?  Wrong!!  The right green salad can be a taste explosion in your mouth!  It can grab those taste buds by the base and slap them around a little, and you can find yourself sitting up taller and feeling proud of yourself for not having a hamburger for lunch!

Every good painting starts with a good canvas.  That said, iceburg lettuce should be outlawed.  It shouldn't even be called lettuce.  It is crunchy, watery, non-food.   Slugs couldn't live on it, so why should you?   Happily, there are much better options available, and most of them are pre-cut, pre-washed, and pretty much everything but pre-digested for you, so go for it.  (If you are a hard core pioneer type, they are also available in their natural state, so feel free to grab a few heads and get to chopping.)

As for me, I like a combination that I can't find in the stores, so I make my own.  It consists of a ratio of approximately two parts spring mix, one part baby spinach, and one part butter leaf lettuce.  These can all be found in the afore-mentioned prepared condition.  If my salad lettuce were a painting of a seascape, the spring mix would be the ocean; the spinach would be the tree line, and the butter leaf would be the light fluffy clouds hovering over the water.  That may not be the right mix for you, however.  Maybe you prefer portraits.  The point is, make the base your own.  Pick lettuces (or spinach or kale or whatever) that sings to you and experiment.

Now that you have your base, let the fun begin!!  Add-on's to your green salad can include pretty much anything, with the exception of ground beef (in which case, you have transformed your green salad into a taco salad); ham, turkey, or chicken breast (Cobb salad); or tuna (Salad Nicoise).  (Hey, I don't make the rules.)   Let's assume, for the sake of simplicity, that you want to keep your salad vegetarian and green.  Here are a few suggestions for add-on's:

Stuff that you can keep in your pantry FOREVER:
croutons (whatever seasoning makes you crazy)
dried cranberries or raisins
fried onions (or fresh red onions, if you are single or hate your significant other)
slivered almonds (again, about a dozen kinds in the salad section at the supermarket)
chopped walnuts (or candied walnuts, pecans, etc.)sunflower seeds (shelled)
pumpkin seeds (shelled)

Stuff that you can keep in your pantry/freezer almost FOREVER:
garbanzo beans (canned or cooked)
kidney beans (canned or cooked)
peas (shelled or from a bag)
*shredded cheese (Cheddar, Parmesan, etc)
*crumbled cheese (Bleu, Feta, etc)
crushed pineapple
canned Mandarin oranges (or fresh)

Stuff you probably want to buy within a few days of use:
hard-boiled egg (although, seriously, I keep eggs in the fridge a LONG time)
tomatoes (personally, I go for cherry tomatoes)
avocado
fresh sliced mushrooms
sliced cucumber
shredded carrots
sprouts (alfalfa, clover, etc.)
fresh herbs or edible flowers (if you want to get all artsy on your salad)

And now we get to the part that makes or breaks your salad:  the dressing.

You have a couple of options when it comes to dressing.  If you are not watching calories, your field is wide open.  You can slather on the Thousand Island or Ranch and eat with gusto.   Marie's makes a wonderful (although not calorie-friendly) honey mustard dressing, as well as several other tasty options.




If you are having a salad because you thought you might want to cut back a bit on the fat and calories, you still have a lot of good options.  My absolute favourite dressing is balsamic vinaigrette, which is super easy to make, relatively low-calorie, and delicious.  Just make sure you use GOOD balsamic vinegar and GOOD olive oil, or you will taste the difference, and it will not make you happy.  My recipe is:

In a glass jar (approx 16 oz) with lid, combine:

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar (I use Modena)
2 t. dark brown sugar
1 T. chopped garlic
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground black pepper
3/4 c. olive oil (I use California Olive Ranch)

Put the lid on and shake to combine.  Taste.  If you want it a little sweeter, add a bit more sugar.  If you want it a little more tart, add a bit more vinegar.  Put the lid on.  Shake. Taste.  Repeat until perfect.

Another good option is a brand called Litehouse.  I recently tried their Fuji Apple (yeah, I went there) vinaigrette, and even my meat-and-potatoes loving family went crazy over it.   Litehouse has yet to disappoint me, btw, and they have a LOT of different dressings.  Here is a listing of them.  Makes me want to eat more salad!











*BTW, if you think you know your cheeses, check out this link!!

And there you have it:  the green salad.  If you like any particular toppings that I didn't list here, please feel free to add them to the comments section.  I am always looking to try new things.  :)