One of many perks to having a garden in the back yard? THIS at any time:
I love this super simple salad! Fresh baby lettuce from the garden, homemade croutons, diced tomato, cheeses, and just a bit of Newman’s honey dijon dressing. SO good! And now that we’ve installed chicken wire around the garden, all the salad is going to me — not the bunnies.
I have a lot of lettuce coming in… faster than I can eat it! So I’m sure I’ll have to get more creative with toppings as the summer goes on. What are your favorite salad toppings? Something unexpected, or do you stick to the basics? My friend loves Gorgonzola cheese on all her salads. The Yankee wants all Caesar all the time. The Kiddo wants, you know, yogurt and Cheerios. This post isn’t for him. 😉
So enlighten me! What else should I try while I have lettuce coming out of my ears?
One Particular Kitchen 
I LOVE caramalized onions and toasted puts (pine, pecan, walnut) on my salads. Artichoke hearts are up there as well as olives in moderation.
Oh man, I love feta on salad. LOVE it. I also love pecans and walnuts. Homemade croutons, for sure. Dried fruit, too. Ooooh, yum.
Goat cheese and blueberries. I love it!
feta, with dried cranberries and chicken is always good
I also like those tiny canned orange slices with chow mein noodles and snow peas (and chicken, if you want some protein)
You could also do a nice strawberry salad, with feta, snap peas and almonds.
when in doubt, I always go with a sliced hard boiled egg, a little bit of cheese, some nuts sprinkled on top. that’s the easiest, assuming you have eggs around 🙂 and if you have any leftover luchmeat turkey or chicken you can add that too.
I love anything that uses up what’s in the house — brilliant! And I didn’t think about dried cranberries. Yum!
Oh I forgot Pecan Pie Salad! I once googled it, thinking that it didn’t exist, but I was WRONG!!! It’s very tasty.
PECAN PIE SALAD
assorted baby greens
1 large diced and seeded tomato (i hate tomato, so I only use a little bit)
1 large skinned and diced cucumber
1/2 cup sliced black olives
8 ounces Stilton cheese, diced or crumbled ( I use goat cheese, I hate blue cheese)
8 ounces large or giant pecan halves, caramelized
cornbread croutons ( I assume you’ll make your own, ha)
bourbon balsamic maple dressing (Recipe Below)
* 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
* 3 tablespoons maple syrup
* 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
That sounds so good! I can’t believe such a thing exists!