I eat a delicious salad that I make at home at least 5 times a week to eat with dinner for good nutrition. It compliments everything deliciously. It’s iconic in my life. My friends always ask me to bring a salad when it’s potluck. Even my friends who don’t like salad want to eat this salad. I didn’t even name it The Jeannie Salad, my friends did.
It can sometimes in and of itself provide you with 5-6 servings of fresh vegetables, which is recommended as a daily dietary goal. I dress the salad with the most basic lemon and oil dressing that I simply make fresh every time in the bowl with the salad.
I don’t recommend any bottled dressing. Stop buying them. None of them are made with extra virgin olive oil or the cleansing healing magic of fresh squeezed lemon. They’re usually made with cheap oils and stabilizers, even the ‘natural’ brands. The simple, fast lemon and oil dressing is very nutrient rich, and heals your liver and gallbladder.
Buy:
- A very good quality olive oil. It needs to at least be packaged in a darkened glass bottle. Do not buy it or use it if it is in a clear bottle or a plastic bottle. Use good olive oil for all vegetable dishes.
- Organic red leaf lettuce. The easiest, most available. The dark lovely color adds to the nutrient profile.
- Organic fresh garlic. Secret yum bomb that makes it irresistible. Not from a jar already chopped. It’s just not even comparable.
- Organic lemons. Classic acid.
- Maldon salt or any natural unflavored sea salt or earth salt. Maldon salt is my favorite for this
This is all you need for a basic salad. You can add tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, carrots, beets, whatever vegetable you like. Fresh chopped herbs like parsley and cilantro are wonderful, also fresh chopped ginger and fresh chopped turmeric root. Try raw sunflower seeds or toasted chopped hazelnuts.
HAVE:
- A cutting board you like. I like ones that are easy to clean under running water, so not TOO big, but big enough to have a couple of little piles of things on it while you’re chopping something else. I have two thin sturdy non-plastic ones, one small, one medium-large. I got them at Kitchen Kaboodle. The brand is Epicurean.
- A chef’s knife. This makes food prep so easy. It’s wide near the handle so you can rock it to chop things small or mince garlic and ginger. ? You don’t need to spend a lot of money on one, but good ones are typically 50-150 dollars. Remember it’s something you’ll use almost every day.
- Make salad in your favorite bowl. Make it a ritual. I have special bowls that I love to serve my food in.
For 1-2 people
Rinse your lettuce one leaf at a time to remove all the grit. 3-6 leaves or more depending on the size. More leaves as you get closer to the center/core. Dry it in a clean towel. Pat, shake. Tear it up into bite size pieces. Add finely chopped garlic. 1-2 cloves. Pour app. 1-2 TBSP of extra virgin olive oil on. Squeeze a half a lemon in there (pick the seeds out or use a little strainer while squeezing.) Sprinkle with Maldon salt or other sea salt. Toss gently. Serve.
