Tossed Salad

I have been making tossed salads for about as long as I can remember, but I have never been excited to make a fresh salad each day.  The past few years I've been doing something different that has been making my salad life so much better.

Before I reveal my "secret" let me back up and give my recipe for a great salad and for the salad that stores in the fridge for many days.

I buy romaine lettuce (usually the 3 pack variety) and a bag of the red and green butter lettuce.  I wash and spin the Romain, but I have to admit, I don't wash the butter lettuce.  Then I chop up green onions, and celery and toss those in.  I use a veggie peeler and peel a carrot, then I take that peeler and cut thin slices from the carrot until there is just a thin strip of carrot left.  Gather up all of those strips you just peeled off the carrot and cut in half then cut a few more times to make them easy to eat.  Toss those into the salad. 

That's a great base for a fabulous salad.

To that basic salad, I add in the following... Parsley flakes, onion powder, garlic powder and dill.

I toss those real well with the salad.  Toss. Toss. Toss.

Do not be tempted to put any spices on your salad that have salt in them if you plan on storing the salad in the fridge.   Salt wilts the lettuce something awful and should only be put on your salad just before you want to eat it. 

Usually I make a huge basic salad,  take a big handful out for my lunch or dinner and then prepare the rest of the salad for the fridge.

That preparation involves just one major thing.

My Secret.

Minced Onion.

Minced onion is dehydrated and when sprinkled generously on your salad it will absorb all of the extra water that naturally comes off the lettuce.  The parsley and dill will absorb a little, too, but the minced onion does it better than any of the other spices :)

Now when you package up your salad to put in the fridge, those little minced onion flakes will absorb so much moisture that it will last for three or four days and look like a freshly made salad.  I have mine in a  Lock and Lock container, but it saves just as well in a gallon Ziploc bag, too.

When I make my salad for dinner I add in cucumber, turkey, mushrooms, red peppers, hard boiled eggs, whatever I want...even meatloaf.  This basic salad can go lots of ways and can last for many days.  I bet you'll eat more salads if you had a stash in the fridge that was just as good on day one as on day three.

Enjoy!
Kristin