I am self-proclaimed salad snob. I just can’t do iceberg lettuce, or pre-made salad from bags. Yuck! I pack over-stuffed salads to take to work for lunch at least three times per week, and one of my favorite dinners is a big giant salad in a bowl. (Remember the “big salad” from Seinfeld?)
What I am particularly snobby about is lettuce. Once I started buying lettuce at local farmers markets, I could not go back to the sub-standard varieties from grocery stores. I always buy arugula each week, along with at least one or two other varieties, as my daughter does not care for arugula. I did discover a great option for when I’m too busy to get to a farmers market. There are many great local, organic options at the Food Conspiracy Co-op, and they are not expensive! As a matter of fact I bought a bag of “local lettuce mix” at the Co-op today, for only $1.99!! That’s less than you would pay for a measly 5 oz. bag of non-local, non-organic lettuce at a grocery store, and the lettuce I bought was recently picked just outside of Tucson, near Benson.
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$1.99 for a bag at the Co-op. Can’t beat that! |
One of my co-workers calls me the Gordon Ramsay of salads. I like to combine dried or fresh fruits with nuts or seeds in my salads, so I always make sure to have salad-staples, like dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds and walnuts in my pantry.
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Today’s lunchtime salads… with arugula for me, without arugula for Logan. |
Today’s salad, which we ate for lunch, had the following: arugula, mixed baby lettuce, cucumbers, roma tomatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, avocado, toasted pumpkin seeds and avocado. A little olive oil and cherry vinegar as a dressing… you don’t need to overdo it on dressing when you are using very fresh ingredients.
Lori’s Salad Snob Tips
- Serve your salad in a bowl instead of on a plate. Don’t know why, but it’s just better this way!
- Toast your nuts or seeds before adding to salad. This brings out a lot of flavor, and only takes a few minutes. Just put them in a dry saute pan, on high, for a few minutes, shaking the pan lightly to turn.
- The easiest way to get avocado out of it’s peel is with a spoon. Cut your avocado in half, use a knife twisted into the pit to remove it, then use a soup-sized spoon to get between the flesh and skin to scrape or pull it out. You will end up with a nice, neat avocado half which you can slice.
- Dried fruits that go well in a salad are cranberries (I buy the unsweetened variety from the Co-op), sliced dried apricots or currants.
- Fresh fruits that go well are pomegranate seeds, sliced strawberries or sliced oranges.
- I keep a bottle of salad dressing at work, so I don’t have to worry about putting dressing on ahead of time (makes a salad soggy), or try to package dressing in a small container.
Get creative! It’s an adventure!