I’m kind of embarrassed to say that I only started eating salad somewhat recently. After several decades of hating salad, I finally learned to not only tolerate it, but love it!
As a kid, I was never required to eat salad (or any other veggies), so I didn’t.
The first time I was “forced” to eat a salad was when I was twelve. I was at (what seemed to me at the time) a fancy restaurant with a group of adults. I was the only kid and wanted to fit in with the grown-ups, so I choked down the salad.
I was pretty proud of myself for doing something so grown-up as eating a salad.
I was probably in college before I ate salad again. Even after marrying a rabbit (my husband would be happy with salad for every meal), I still didn’t get into salad for several years.
Once I discovered the secret to a delicious salad, I started to enjoy it. Now the only thing I don’t like about salad is how long it takes to wash the greens.
What the secret is not
During my anti-salad decades, I learned that I’m not alone. There are others out there who aren’t big salad fans either. Some of them shared their coping mechanisms with me.
A popular salad-stomaching strategy is drenching with dressing. Sometimes it seems that salad is the vehicle for getting the dressing in your mouth, rather than the other way around. I’m tempted to say, “Would you like some salad with your dressing?”
While salad dressing might be good, it’s not necessarily good for you. In my mind, if I was going to go to all the effort to choke down salad because it’s good for me, then by golly I was going to make sure it was good for me. I didn’t want to neutralize any health benefit by drenching it in dressing.
It’s all about the mix-ins
The secret to overcoming my hatred for salad was mix-ins. Having a variety of interesting mix-ins made all the difference! A combination of flavors and textures balances out the greens and makes salad yummy.
The options for salad mix-ins is limitless. You could seriously have a different salad every day of your life with all the possible combinations of mix-ins.
We usually stick to our family favorites:
- Tomatoes
- Apples
- Cubed/grated cheese
- Raisins
- Dried cranberries
- Hard-boiled eggs (diced with one of these)
- Almonds
- Grapes
- Parmesan cheese
- Pepper (fresh ground)
You can also try
- Carrots
- Cucumbers
- Feta cheese
- Croutons
- Beets
- Peas
- Pomegranate
- Bacon
- Ham
- Chicken
It looks and tastes best when my husband makes the salad. When ever we have people over or bring a salad somewhere, he always get compliments on his salads. People often ask why it’s so good (because it’s seriously amazing) and he tells them that it’s the freshly ground pepper on top that really puts it over the edge.
It’s a win with the kids!
Our kids eat it too! At first our kids would want salad just for the mix-ins. They would pick out all the raisins, apples, and cheese, and leave the lettuce behind. Now they eat it all.
Just the other night, my five-year-old was fussing about what I had made for dinner. He filled his plate with salad and ate that instead. That might be normal for you, but it just blows my mind that someone so young could like salad.
Salad is easy on the budget
Like most other foods, you can really save money by making salad yourself. A salad at a restaurant or even a fast food joint will cost you $5-10 (or more) and it won’t even be as good as the ones you make at home. Keep your favorite mix-ins on hand so that you can whip up a salad whenever you want.
Lettuce is one of the easiest things to grow yourself. It doesn’t take much space and it doesn’t need full sun. It’s pretty, so you can grow it for decoration and eat it too. Instead of harvesting the whole head at once, just harvest the outside leaves and the lettuce will keep growing.
Salad is simple to take for lunch. We usually make a giant mixing bowl full of salad so that there will be leftovers for lunch.
If you are already a salad lover, then keep it up. If you’re new to salad, forget the bag of iceberg lettuce, grated carrots, and slivers of cabbage and give your favorite mix-ins a try. Experiment with a few different combinations until you find your magic. You just might become a salad lover too!
How about you?
- Are you a salad eater or salad hater?
- What are your favorite salad mix-ins?
I eat salad for almost every meal…sometimes even breakfast! It hasn’t always been that way though. As a child I detested salad. I’ve come to find that it’s what’s in them that makes all the difference…the iceberg and mealy tomato salads of my youth were nothing to get excited about. My secret is that I look at restaurant menus for salad inspiration. I don’t live in LA or NYC, but I can certainly throw the same salad ingredients into a bowl as the restaurants there! Making your own dressing is also cheaper, healthier and tastier than store-bought. You have a dehydrator which is great for mix-ins…try using apple chips instead of croutons! SO good! And don’t discount leftovers. Leftover taco meat and fixings make a great taco salad and leftover roasted veggies are delicious over salad greens. I almost never eat the same salad twice!
I’ve never tried apple chips in salad! Great idea! And getting inspiration from menus is a great idea too!
I never really used to like salad but I do now and it’s, as you noted, all about the ingredients. We use higher quality lettuce, as well as different veggies we like. I like a little shredded cheese in mine, and a little bit of ranch, and I’m all set.
Cheese makes such a big difference!
I’ll be honest. I was a salad hater until I realized that iceberg lettuce is the devil (ok not really, but I don’t love it) and I don’t really like dressing that much either. That’s actually what I don’t like. I love spinach and dark greens! We make salads for lunch and dinner and we drink smoothies that are half spinach. Our kids love spinach and dark green salads too (and often steal from my bowl). And there are so many varieties! We like to add in sunflower seeds and mixed nuts, strawberries, grapes, peppers, radishes, green onions and many of your add ins too. We’ve even added in those French fried onions that are cheap around Christmas and thanksgiving.
Exactly! When I was growing up and my family serves salad it was iceberg lettuce. Usually the mix that came in the bag with shredded carrots and onions. Eww. I’ll have to try some sunflower seeds! That’s awesome that your kids love spinach. My kids eat their spinach in smoothies mostly, but I’ll have to start training them to eat it in salad (I usually use Romaine lettuce or something from the garden)!
I love salads! I make a dressing out of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. If I want it to be sweet I add in a little honey and sometimes I put in a tsp of mustard for a different flavor. I didn’t love salad until I began to make my own.Then I figured out I love the sweet vs. salty combination. Strawberries and nuts or diced apples with cheese. My kids love pickles so we usually add some of those in. I also add crushed red pepper or parmesan cheese to mine sometimes. Love the add-in list! Some of those things I haven’t thought of. Thanks!
Ooo strawberries are great with a spinach salad! I’ve never tried making my own dressing, but maybe I should give it a try sometime!
I love salads. It was what I ate a lot of as a kid when my Mom refused to leave a portion of the meal meat free for me. My children have all loved salad from a young age too. Unlike me though they love animal products to eat. I usually put out julienned carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives and cheese so people can mix in what they want. For dressings we do french or balsamic vinegar.
It’s interesting that you mention this AA because just last night (as I was serving white chicken chili) my 8-year-old daughter announced that she decided to be a vegetarian. She asked me if I could always make her some of the dinner without meat in the future. How old were you when you chose not to eat meat?
I am blessed in that I love salad and veggies. I don’t know where it comes from. My mom eats sweet corn in the summer (drenched in butter) and that’s it. My favorite salad mix in is blue cheese. It’s definitely a guilty pleasure. It’s not super cheap or low in fat, but it gives my salad flavor and I just use a little lemon for my dressing. Because of that, I don’t feel guilty about my blue cheese. I also always want something crunchy….nuts or tortilla strips. It’s all about the texture!
Those are some great ones Tracie! I’ll have to try tortilla strips and lemon!