One, Two, Three, Salad!

Sometime last year while Dashing Boy and I were discussing dinner ideas we decided that one night it would be nice to eat huge salads. Like the kind you make yourself at the natural foods store- delicious, full of variety, veggies, cheese, seeds and nuts and lots of satisfaction. You know, the kind that end up costing $8.53 when weighed at the register.

So we made them. We rinsed the salad and veggies and cut them up to appropriate sizes. We roasted sunflower seeds and grated cheese to put on top. The salads were delicious. But surprisingly, (and maybe we just work really slow) they took more time than wanted to make.

So, when I made my new years resolution of eating a salad a day I knew I had to do it in a very "doable" way.

It had to be easy.

This is what I do:
Each week I go to Costco and buy tons of ingredients.


The trick is to get things that are easy to use with little prep. Like pre-washed lettuce or crumbled or grated cheese (either purchase ingredients this way or do it yourself so you can easily retrieve them throughout the week).

When I used to buy vegetables in larger quantities I had a difficult time using them all before they went bad. Things like:


These days though, most veggies are consumed before the dreaded time when they have to be cleaned out of the refrigerator and tossed.

For extra time-saving, pre-cut veggies like carrots or peppers and store them in a tupperware in the refrigerator.

My current favorite salad dressing is Dashing Boy's homemade balsamic vinaigrette made with honey- yum. But for a long time it was Bolthouse's Caesar Parmigiano and I'm guessing I'll be back into it soon. I love all those creamy yogurt dressings.


Seeds and nuts add just the right touch to salads. I try to keep a few different varieties on hand. Almonds are my favorite.


And don't forget the fruit! It can be so refreshing on a salad!


One more tip: get a good salad bowl. Large enough that you can mix the salad right in the bowl without any of the ingredients falling out and small enough that you can eat directly out of the bowl. I suppose you could eat out of any size bowl, but some would feel just silly. I love the 10-inch Pedestal Bowl by Fiestaware.

See how easy that is? Don't you want to go eat a salad now?