How to create a more interesting salad

Featuring our recipe for a colorful and crisp cabbage and kale ancient grain salad

Colorful and crisp cabbage and kale salad, featuring our Takara Bowl, Takara Fruit Bowl, Takara Round Tray, and Tomini Salad Servers

“I’m tired of salad.” “Salads are boring.” “Eww, salad.”

These are just a few of the quotes I hear when I’m in clinic seeing patients. Building a better salad starts with adding texture, taste, and COLOR! Would you want to eat something that is just green and brown? Or something that is all soft and mushy with no crunch? I don’t think so. Here’s a few tips on how to create a more interesting salad that your whole family will love.

1. Building the base of your salad: Texture and Color

• Choosing lettuce and cabbage with different textures really brings a salad to life. Here are some examples:

  • Red Cabbage

  • Green Cabbage

  • Napa Cabbage (softer than traditional cabbage)

  • Kale (massage with olive oil when you put it in the bowl to make it soft and less bitter)

  • Spinach

  • Endive Lettuce

  • Butterhead lettuce

  • Arugula

  • Bull’s Blood

  • Buttercrunch

  • Flashy lettuce

  • Lolla Rossa

  • Red Sails Lettuce

  • Swiss Chard

  • Brussel sprouts

I always like to keep different kinds of salad bases in my fridge and in my garden so I can whip up a salad easily. To help me do that, I have an indoor garden that I LOVE! I found the Garden online, and have found it really easy to use. I love the different salad varieties that are available.

The nice thing about using hardier veggies like cabbage, kale, and Brussel sprouts is that they help your salad last longer in the fridge. Spinach and softer lettuces wilt very quickly and don’t taste as great the next day after they are dressed. Cabbage and Kale in a dressed salad make great leftovers for the next day.

Maddie’s Gardyn

2. How to cut your cabbage and brussel sprouts for a salad

You want to keep in mind how you want to eat your veggies when you put it all together. You don’t want to chew on a large raw piece of cabbage or Brussel sprouts, so you will want to do a finer chop or use a mandoline for nice even pieces of the harder veggies. I have used different mandolines - Oxo makes a nice handheld mandoline. There are also larger mandolines with a base that are easy to use.

3. Salad toppings for color, crunch, flavor, and healthy nutrition

The following are just a few examples of things that I add to a salad to add color, crunch, flavor, and healthy nutrients. The possibilities for healthy toppings are endless!

• Veggies - for color and antioxidants

  • Carrots (sliced with a peeler!)

  • Beets (roasted beets are delicious)

  • Radishes

• Nuts and Seeds - for texture, healthy fat, and protein

  • pumpkin seeds (my absolute favorite)

  • sunflower seeds

  • sliced or slivered almonds

  • chopped walnuts

  • chopped pecans

• Whole Grains - for texture and protein

  • Quinoa

  • Spelt

  • Barley

  • Farro

• Other ideas for protein and/or healthy fat

  • Hummus

  • Aged Cheese like parmesan and feta cheese

  • Avocado

  • Meat of your choice: chicken, steak, fish

4. Simple Salad Dressings

You can create a salad dressing at home in 5 minutes. The basics of any salad dressing are 2-3 parts oil to 1 part acid. If you like a less acidic dressing, use 3 parts oil. Some people like a really acidic dressing and like to do equal amounts of oil and vinegar. Here are some examples of different oils and acids.

Oils:

• Olive oil

• Sunflower oil

• Sesame oil

• Avacado

Acids:

• Lemon juice

• Apple Cider Vinegar

• Balsamic Vinegar

• Red Wine Vinegar

Emulsifiers:

• Dijon mustard

• Ground Mustard

Herbs/spices:

• salt

• pepper

• thyme

• garlic

For my most recent salad, I made a cabbage and kale ancient grain salad with feta and hummus and a lemon vinaigrette. Here is the recipe:

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Cabbage and Kale Ancient Grain Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Yield: 4

Author: Madison Humerick

Prep time: 15 MinTotal time: 15 Min

This is a delicious salad that is easy to make, looks gorgeous, and tastes great!

Ingredients

Cabbage and Kale Ancient Grain Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

• 1/4 head of red cabbage
• 1/2 bunch of kale (about 2 cups shredded)
• 1/4 head of napa cabbage
• 2 cups butterhead lettuce

Salad Toppings

• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• 1/2 cup of hummus
• 1 cup of cooked farro grain (cooked ahead of time according to the package instructions and stored in fridge) Can also substitute any grain you have stored in the fridge like quinoa or spelt

Lemon Vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• juice of 2 small lemons (~1/4 cup of juice)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Prepare Lettuce/Cabbage Base

1. Shred kale and place in the bowl. Massage with a small amount of olive oil to soften the kale.
2. Use a mandoline or chop the cabbage finely and place in the bowl.
3. Mix in the butterhead lettuce (you can shred the butterhead lettuce with your hands or do a rough chop)

Making the Lemon Vinaigrette

1. Place 1/2 cup of olive oil in a small jar
2. Juice 2 small lemons and place ~1/4 cup juice in the jar with the olive oil
3. Add the thyme, garlic powder, and salt and pepper to the jar.
4. Cover the jar and shake it to combine ingredients, or use a fork/whisk if you do not have a lid

Create your salad

1. Place 1.5 cups of the lettuce/cabbage/kale mixture in a small bowl
2. Top your lettuce with your toppings: pumpkin seeds, hummus, farro, and feta cheese
3. Top your salad and toppings with a few Tablespoons of the lemon vinaigrette
4. Repeat to create up to 4 salads.

Let me know how you create interesting salads in the comments!