It doesn’t matter where you go, salads are everywhere. I love salads and eat them every day, but, I’ll admit that restaurant salads have always been super basic to me. When you think of salad, you probably think of a bed of lettuce with some tomatoes, croutons, and cucumbers right? I’d like to talk about the way I assemble my salads at home to be the most NOT BASIC SALADS EVER. So let’s start with what everyone knows to be the base of a salad… the greens! I personally do not like romaine lettuce for my salads, but prefer arugula, radicchio, spinach, or a 50/50 blend. Arugula is my favorite because of the nice and spicy bite that it has so I feel like theres some flavor to my greens before even having to put a dressing on it. Next, comes the crunch. I hate croutons with a passion and think they’re way too salty, so crunchy vegetables it is. Yes, I put cucumbers in my salads but I also put bell peppers, onions, and sometimes even green beans. I almost always put roasted sweet potato and roasted butternut squash in my salads because carbs are life and it adds a really nice sweet flavor. Then, I’ll add some cherry tomatoes and if I’m looking for my salad to be more of a meal, I’ll add some protein. A few common examples for me are chicken, salmon (smoked or seared), steak, or tuna. I usually add half of an avocado but that really depends on if Publix has good avocados on the shelf. My final step to making a really non-basic salad is my dressing. When I have the time, I like to make my dressings from scratch. I am all about eating my medicine so I try to always incorporate anti-inflammatories into my food so my staple dressing is a homemade ginger and turmeric dressing. I finely chop fresh ginger root and fresh turmeric root (and when I say finely I mean FINELY), then I chop some garlic, shallot, and sometimes cilantro. I then juice either lemons or limes or both depending on if they need to be used and then add some honey and I’m done. I give it a good whisk and pour it over my salad. I make vinaigrettes too but that’s less common for me to want to eat. If anyone wants some of my dressing recipes, let me know in the comments section and I’ll post them!
Eating Post Grad 