Salad!

Salads are a definite ‘go-to’ for us all summer long. When you live in a climate as hot as ours the idea of turning on the oven after a long day of work is almost offensive! So, I’ve created a system where we can have a nice cool salad several nights a week. The trick to a salad that keeps for several days is to separate the more moist items - like cucumbers and tomatoes - from the lettuce and to dress the salad when you are ready to eat it.

Easy-Peasy in just a few steps:

Wash the lettuces and other greens and dry them well. Place them in a container with a tight fitting lid. (I use Rubbermaid plastics and it works great!)

Put each salad ingredient in smaller containers. You can use whatever you like. Shown here are sliced black olives, roasted zucchini, sliced hearts of palm, and red onions. These are the ingredients I already had in my refrigerator when I wrote this post but you can add whatever you like.

Put everything in the refrigerator and take out whatever you need when you are ready to enjoy a cold crisp salad!

One of the things I love about creating salads is that you only need a smidge of something to make your salad delicious. Here’s some other options for your salad:

• Leftover chopped cooked chicken

• Drained canned tuna

• Crumbled bacon

• Any roasted vegetable

• Sliced radishes, carrots, celery, broccoli, etc.

• Shredded cheese

• Chopped hard boiled eggs

• Etc., etc., etc., the sky is the limit!

Finally, consider adding something for a bit of extra crunch and nutrition like the Farm Fresh nuts, seeds, and dried fruits shown here! These add a delicious crunch, extra healthy fiber, and color! YUM!!

Here’s another salad option that takes a bit more time but is a delicious alternative to the traditional lettuce and tomato salad we are all used to eating!

Summer Salad Dressing

• ¼ cup olive oil

• ¼ cup cup soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon finely minced ginger

• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

• 2 finely smashed garlic cloves

• Juice of 1 lime

• 1 fresh jalapeno, finely minced

• ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro

• ¼ cup finely chopped basil

Salad

• 1 cup of cashews, lightly toasted

• 2 cups of shredded carrots

• 2 zucchini, spiralized or sliced into thin rounds

• ½ head of cabbage, finely sliced or use a bag of coleslaw mix

• ½ package of broccoli slaw mix

• 1 whole rotisserie chicken

• 1 package of smashed up uncooked Ramen noodles

1. Mix all of the dressing ingredients together and set aside.

2. Pull the chicken off the bones and rough chop into bite size pieces.

3. Mix the chicken and all of the additional salad ingredients together, except the cashews and Ramen noodles, and top with the dressing. Toss to coat. Sprinkle the cashews and Ramen noodles on top. Enjoy!

Pro-Tip: This keeps well in the refrigerator for about a day or two. If you’d like it to last longer serve with the dressing on the side and don’t add the cashews or Ramen noodles until ready to serve.