Chopped Salad

Categories: Salads

Description

I first discovered chopped salad in the dining room of my mom's independent-living home and fell in love with how easy it was to eat. No need to use a knife to cut large pieces of lettuce, or to stuff over-sized pieces of cucumber into my mouth! My 9-year-old granddaughter says she loves this salad for the same reason: it's easy to eat! She's been known to consume an entire bowl and then ask for more.

Ingredients

1 lb lettuce (or lettuce blend chopped bite-size)
2 small carrots (diced)
2 celery ribs (diced)
1 red bell pepper (diced 1/2" squares)
1 c cherry tomatoes
1/2 medium red onion (diced)
1/2 medium cucumber (diced)
other veggies as desired

Instructions

1
Start with greens cut into bite-sized pieces. I use a prepackaged lettuce blend and might add bits of spinach, cabbage, Swiss chard or kale. Sprouts are welcome, too.

Toss the greens with grated carrots, beet, and/or radish, and add some cucumber, cherry tomatoes and/or celery, chopped small.

The salad can be topped with olives or a few raisins or apple-juice-sweetened cranberries for some added zing. The key to this salad is that all of the ingredients are bite-sized.

To make this salad into a complete meal, add some protein: hard-boiled egg, grated cheese, nuts, and/or pieces of chicken or fish (sardines and grilled wild salmon are healthful favorites).

Add a salad dressing of your choice.
Source: My mother's independent living dining room meal.

Note

Avalon Haykus