Bring on the freshness….it’s salad season!

Most people who know my husband and I know that I’m the (almost) vegetarian, and he’s the carnivore. When we got married, we received the most beautiful wooden salad bowl as a gift, and our guests wrote in the card, “Keegan – welcome to your salad days.”

That’s sort of how I feel about summer. Amazing veggies are in season – and dare I say – some of us even start to crave salad. Even if you’re not a salad craver, I think you’ll benefit from some quick tips about easy ways to build your own salad bar as we head into our “salad days.”

Choose a green. Baby spinach, arugula, romaine, or spring mix. Try them all!

Choose a protein. Chopped boiled eggs, tuna, salmon, grilled chicken breast, a few shrimp (you can even just thaw some pre-cooked frozen ones), black beans, chick peas, kidney beans, lentils…so many options!

Choose extra veggies. Try green beans, beets (grated raw beet is yummier than you might expect!), broccoli, cucumber, grilled zucchini or eggplant – whatever your heart desires!

Go nuts! Add a tablespoon of your favourite nut – try walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, pistachios, or even sunflower seeds for added healthy fat and protein.

Try making a simple dressing from scratch. For an easy lemon vinaigrette, mix the juice of half a lemon with 1 tsp of olive oil and 1/2 tsp of crushed garlic, and you’re good to go. For an easy balsamic, add 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar. Another one of my faves is tahini dressing. Same as the lemon vinaigrette, but substitute 1 tsp of tahini (sesame seed paste) for the olive oil. Thin it out with some warm water (1-2 tbsp). Basically, choose an oil (maybe even sesame or hemp), choose an acid (like lemon or lime juice or vinegar), and add whatever flavours tickle your fancy. Black pepper, cumin, oregano and basil are all quite at home in a salad dressing.

Keep it simple. Streamline your experience by having ingredients ready in containers in your fridge so you can just grab it and go throughout the week.

Do a little prep on the weekend, cutting and grilling meats or vegetables, making your dressing, and maybe marinating beans in the dressing to get rid of the canned taste. Get creative, experiment, and find out what your faves are!