I'll have the big salad.

**Virtual points to anyone who can tell me where the big salad is from.  :) **


Last weekend, my husband decided that we needed a new kitchen faucet.  We can get something new and shiny?  Okay, I'm in!  :) 

I don't have a before photo, but here is the after:

I'm seriously in love.  I feel all fancy when I'm doing dishes now.  Our old spout came straight out.  I had no idea how much room a gooseneck spout would give me!

I wanted to try out the new faucet further by doing something other than dishes.  If you recall, in my previous post, I mentioned how I had bought some lettuce the other day that went bad really quickly.  Well, I had purchased the other salad veggies to go with it, but now they didn't have a bed of lettuce to rest on.  Quite sad, huh?  I didn't want the other veggies to follow in the footsteps of the first head of lettuce, so we picked up another head.

Disclaimer:  I am fully aware that Iceberg lettuce has virtually no nutritional value, but it's the only kind my husband will eat.  Every now and then I try to slip some Romaine or Green Leaf lettuce past him, but I usually hear about how he prefers the other kind.  For the sake of this post, please imagine whatever type of lettuce you prefer to eat.  :)

Yes, I know that making a tossed salad is super easy.  I just wanted to pass along some tips that I've found along the way that I think are helpful.


Tip #1
Use a lettuce knife.  The serrated plastic blade keeps greens from browning which can happen when you use a metal blade.  I love my lettuce knife by Zyliss.

Please be careful.  Even though the knife is made out of plastic, it still hurts if you run it across your fingers. 

I may or may not be giving you this tip from personal experience...


Tip #2
Use a salad spinner.  I didn't have one until a few months ago, and I constantly wonder how I lived without it.  My friends Jess (from Healthy Obsessions of a Girly Tomboy) and Marcin gave me a Bed Bath and Beyond gift card for my birthday this year.  I wasn't sure what to spend it on and finally decided on this salad spinner.  I'm glad I did!  It really does help dry the lettuce after you've washed it.  I used to just shake the collander around until my arms hurt, but my lettuce was usually still really wet.  No more soaking wet lettuce = a happy Brooke.


Tip #3

Shred your carrots.  Shredded carrots are much easier to pick up with a fork.  You don't have to be a master chef to use shredded carrots in your salads, trust me.  I used to use the julienne disc for my food processor.  This was very easy to do, but kind of a pain to clean up.  If you're making a really large salad, I would recommend using this method, but if you're making just a small salad to go with dinner, I would suggest getting a julienne peeler.  Again, I have one made by Zyliss, and I LOVE it.


Tip #4

Cover your salad.  If you're preparing your salad in advance, make sure to keep it nice and crisp by covering it with a wet paper towel.  My mom learned this neat little trick when she volunteered in the kitchen at Camp Barakel where I used to go to summer camp.  That was over 15 years ago, but we still use that handy tip to keep our salads from drying out.  I also cover my bowl with plastic wrap before sticking it in the fridge.

Enjoy!

And there you have it!  A crisp, green, fresh salad to go alongside dinner.  We had ours last night with Stouffer's French Bread Pizza. 

Sometimes I just don't feel like cooking.  :)