Hearty Salad
I didn’t grow up eating salad. Vegetables are normally cooked in our house. Fruits, we eat as desserts. But when I moved to Canada, I developed a love for it. First, only so I don’t feel so guilty eating too much meat and starch. But later, it became more like a habit. A good habit. I would say 90% of the time, when I make a dish I always make salad to go with it. If not, I make a blended version of salad and drink a smoothie instead.
But because I broke the gasket of our blender, I haven’t had a smoothie in a while. I’m still waiting for my husband to bring home a replacement part he said he can bring home from work.
Some people don’t like fruits in their salad. I am not one of them. When I make a salad, it usually is a happy mix between vegetables and fruits. And I just use whatever fruits I have in the house. It can’t get any simpler than that! It helps us not having fruits sitting idly on the counter and going bad.
I like making food that are easy and flexible. I used to do more gourmet meals before I had 2 babies, now I like fast and easy meals, and yet… still healthy and delicious (Not to mention pretty! Presentation is a must! Even my toddler knows that! Gourmet looking minus the fuss!? Why not?!).
We normally buy Fresh Attitude Salad in a big box at our local grocery store. This generally lasts us a week. We usually get the Baby Spinach or the Spring Mix. Sometimes I get the Baby Kale too. I interchange the leaves, fruits, nuts, and seeds that I use when I make a salad so it will be misleading to name this post Spring Mix Salad (although that’s what I used for this recipe) since I will be adding variations of this salad at the end of the post.
Let’s just call it for what it is… a Hearty Salad. And a pretty one too!
I love this salad for its versatility. I have made this numerous times like I said with different ingredients depending on what I have on hand. Today I made a Spring Mix version. So let’s start, shall we?
HEARTY SALAD (SPRING MIX)
Ingredients:
- Fresh Attitude Salad in a box (Spring Mix, Baby Spinach, Baby Kale)
- 2-3 clementines, peeled and individually sectioned
- 1-2 Sweet red apples (I use Gala apples), sliced thinly
- Red grapes, halved (you can skip this step if you don’t have babies like I do that might choke on whole grapes)
- Black cherries
- Joe’s Super Energy Trek Mix (with dried fruits, nuts & seeds –I love this!)
- Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing (optional)
Instructions:
1. Grab a couple of handfuls of spring mix salad and put it in a salad bowl.
2. Add the fresh fruits.
3. Top with dried fruits, nuts and seeds. (If you don’t like dried fruits, just top it with nuts and seeds. It’s up to you what nuts or seeds you’d like to use. If I ran out of Joe’s Super Energy Trek Mix, which is rarely the case, I just chopped some almonds and cashews, and throw some sunflower seeds and dried cranberries into the mix).
4. Serve with OR without a salad dressing. (I normally eat this without any dressing. I find that the juice from the fruits are enough as dressing for me especially if I have more juicy fruits in it like strawberries, mandarin orange, cherries, raspberries etc. But if you prefer to eat your salad with dressing, I find that the Raspberry Vinaigrette works great with this salad. You can either make it from scratch or buy the ready-made one at the store).
And there you have it!
Enjoy! 🙂
Other variations of this Salad:
Disclaimer: I don’t normally use measuring spoons/cups when I cook. Unless I’m baking of course. Cooking is more of an art. So when I cook, I usually just eyeball things. The key is to taste your food while you cook, and adjust your spices as your taste buds dictate. What maybe sweet for me, may not be the case for you. Hence, the lack of measurements on my recipes. I will leave that up to you. All the necessary ingredients (and tips!) however will be provided.
Happy
experimentingcooking!<3 Zhi