The past few weeks I've been on a major salad kick. When I was little in the summer most of the food we ate was fresh out of the garden. Typically a veggie soup, followed by a salad, sandwiches, what have you. In the winter we didn't get greens, but we ate a lot of potatoes, grains, meat. Living in the states I found myself thinking I didn't like salad. While friends of mine were happy to eat "rabbit food", I was much more eager to eat a nice steak. I was notorious for picking a sandwich apart to throw out the shredded iceberg. When grocery shopping lettuce was never purchased. When I started growing a garden, I planted red oak lettuce for the benefit of my husband, who loved greens. When the first leaves were ready for harvest, I had to try one, and, a love was born. That summer, before the lettuce bolted I was eating salad almost every day. Amusingly enough, when the weather turned cold, I started craving potatoes and winter squash, and turned my nose up at leafy greens.
This summer I don't have a garden, but my husband scored a huge box of spinach, which rekindled my hungering for greens. Here are a few tips for a good summer salad:
FRESH greens. I cannot stress enough how important fresh greens are. If you want proof, and have lettuce growing, go ahead and grab a fresh leaf and try a nibble. Now stick it in the fridge and give it a few days. It won't taste as good!
Forget the dressing. If you want a mouth full of ranch, just go ahead and eat it with a spoon. Strong dressing is going to mask the flavor of the veggies, and if you followed the first piece of advice, you don't need anything strong.
Mix and match. You'd be surprised what goes well together. Just because you're having a burger doesn't mean it has to be on a bun.
Don't just eat lettuce. There are plenty of other veggies in season, to say nothing of fruit!
Here are a couple of salads I rather enjoyed over the last few weeks. I'm just listing the ingredients, the ratios are up to you.
Burger and strawberry:
cooked hamburger
Spinach
Strawberries
Peas (Sadly I had to use frozen)
Cucumber
Sunflower seeds
Salt
Sunflower seed oil
Super Green:
Spinach
Green leaf lettuce
Sprouts (I used pea sprouts)
Cucumber
Spring onions or garlic greens
Peas
Broccoli
Pumpkin seeds
Sesame oil
Salt
