Why is it that salads never taste as good at home as they do at fabulous restaurants, or actually even at Soup or Salad? It's the dressing. I used to think the only way to have a tasty salad dressing was to make it at home, which is a rare occurrence at my house. Not true. You know the dressings they keep refrigerated in the produce area? Those are for the most part worth every penny. I have recently discovered that having a delicious dressing ready to go in my fridge almost guarantees, as long as there is something green and leafy in there too, that salad will be served with dinner. I never thought the day would come when I could go months without throwing out rotten greens, but it has.
Also, you can throw just about anything into salad and I usually do. Apples, oranges, nuts, pomegranate, beans(kidney, black, garbanzo, or even pinto just make sure to drain and rinse), cheese (romano, gorgonzola, and dubliner are my faves), raisins, craisins, cooked squash, corn, beets, red onion(I've used yellow too), grapes...etc. The more the merrier. I buy the big plastic containers full of organic (it's just a couple of bucks extra) spring mix and spinach, bags of nuts I keep in the freezer and just take what I need out and throw directly it into the salad, peas and corn I also keep frozen-just thaw under warm running water, I like to buy crumbled cheese on sale and the Dubliner they sell at Costco in a medium-sized block, and Costco also sells huge resealable bags of craisins. During the winter months when squash is plentiful cut it up into 1" cubes and boil for 20-30 minutes then cool, keeps in the fridge for a couple of days.
Last, but not least, the dressing! I like the Organic series from Litehouse, my fave is the Balsamic. At Smith's there is also a local brand called Wild Coyote that makes a tasty light ranch. Sometimes I'm already working hard on the main and side dishes and I don't want to fuss with the salad. Because the dressing is so good, I can just throw it on the greens and toss and everyone still loves it. I always dress and toss the salad in a large bowl to ensure that there is enough/not too much dressing and everything gets coated because, admit it, that's what makes it taste good.
The point is don't be cheap when it comes to salad and you will probably want to eat it, all the time.
Bon Appetit!
-Natasha
Also, you can throw just about anything into salad and I usually do. Apples, oranges, nuts, pomegranate, beans(kidney, black, garbanzo, or even pinto just make sure to drain and rinse), cheese (romano, gorgonzola, and dubliner are my faves), raisins, craisins, cooked squash, corn, beets, red onion(I've used yellow too), grapes...etc. The more the merrier. I buy the big plastic containers full of organic (it's just a couple of bucks extra) spring mix and spinach, bags of nuts I keep in the freezer and just take what I need out and throw directly it into the salad, peas and corn I also keep frozen-just thaw under warm running water, I like to buy crumbled cheese on sale and the Dubliner they sell at Costco in a medium-sized block, and Costco also sells huge resealable bags of craisins. During the winter months when squash is plentiful cut it up into 1" cubes and boil for 20-30 minutes then cool, keeps in the fridge for a couple of days.
Last, but not least, the dressing! I like the Organic series from Litehouse, my fave is the Balsamic. At Smith's there is also a local brand called Wild Coyote that makes a tasty light ranch. Sometimes I'm already working hard on the main and side dishes and I don't want to fuss with the salad. Because the dressing is so good, I can just throw it on the greens and toss and everyone still loves it. I always dress and toss the salad in a large bowl to ensure that there is enough/not too much dressing and everything gets coated because, admit it, that's what makes it taste good.
The point is don't be cheap when it comes to salad and you will probably want to eat it, all the time.
Bon Appetit!
-Natasha
No comments:
Post a Comment