Food For Thought - Salad Simplified

I eat a LOT of salad. I love lettuce. My dad used to get after me for eating iceberg lettuce, telling me that there are other lettuces that taste better and have more nutrients. He was right. I like all of them, too. I use all of them, at one point or another – sometimes all at once. I suggest you use whatever lettuce or lettuces YOU like.

I tend to use Romaine more than any other. It’s easy and it’s crunchy. Tastes good, too. You can buy it fresh and clean it yourself or you can buy the pre washed and packaged romaine hearts. I cut off the end and throw it away and then I just slice my way up until it is nothing but strips. Sometimes I use one or two heads, depending on how hungry I am or if it’s just me or if it’s me and Pat. All those lettuce strips go in a big bowl; and you are ready to start.



I think people make too big a production out of salad. We're so afraid of lettuce, so afraid that it isn't enough, that it doesn't taste enough, that it won't satisfy that we put SOOOO much - TOOO much - in our salads. You cannot possibly taste every item in that salad; it's too much. Sensory overload. Why use up all that food when it is nothing but a mishmash mush of stuff that you can't really taste? And all that dressing.



We don't need it.

I take four hard boiled eggs, chop one – yolk and all. Then chop the other three after removing the yolk. Four eggs whites, one yolk – chopped up.

Get some peanuts. Raw is good. Roasted is good. Salted is not good. Use a half a cup. You don’t need more than that but if you are going to use more because there are two or three of you, go ahead – but please remember that moderation is a beautiful thing.

Get some sunflower seeds. Raw or roasted; not salted. It’s so bad for you. About a quarter or a half a cup of these will do, depending on number of people. MODERATION!

I keep grilled turkey in my fridge. I cook it, seal it, put it in the fridge and that way it is there when I need it. You NEED that convenience. I take a couple pieces of this turkey and slice it up and throw it into a small pan with a DRIZZLE of olive oil that’s been heated up a little. Just toss them around for a minute or so while they warm up.

Peel and chop up an orange in big chunks.

Take your pepper mill and grind over the lettuce a few times.

Add all the other ingredients – the egg, the seeds, the nuts (peanuts are a bean, though)…

When the turkey is hot, throw it into your salad. Mix Mix, Toss Toss. Toss Toss Mix Mix.

Last up: the oranges.

You won’t even notice that there isn’t any salad dressing.

DE LISH.