i have decided that i am going to give salads an earnest shot.

ive been anti-salad most of life, but i think thats because ive never seen past the standard iceburg/carrots/ranch number.

i want new, fresh and sweet salad ideas.

recommend sweet dressings too, plz.

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i'm interested in hearing some (low or no-fat) dressing suggestions as well


as for salad contents
other than iceburg
try romaine
and also lately i have been eating greenleaf lettuce which i like a lot

also croutons always add to a salad

you can put whatever you want on a salad

try going to a salad bar a few times there are so many choices
and then once you know what you like you can buy those things at the grocery store another time and its less expensive than the salad bar is

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toss together some shredded romaine lettuce, sliced tomatoes and fresh sliced mushrooms. whisk together 4 tb olive oil, 3 tb red wine vinegar, 1/8 ts sugar and some salt & pepper. toss the dressing into the salad and top with some crumbled bacon and sliced green onion.

Lettuce with some raisins/sultanas and chopped apple/pear sounds awesome although I did just make that up in my head right now, so don't put too much faith in it. Oh and some chopped nuts (unsalted, obviously) would probably go well with that too.

I found this site at the top of a google search for 'sweet salad recipes' which has some ideas on it. I'm not sure if it's quite what you're looking for. Most of them are just plain fruit salad from what I can tell. And, bizarrely enough, some of them include jelly and/or marshmallows. REAL FRESH AND HEALTHY.

http://www.thatsmyhome.com/simplysalads/sweetsal.htm

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i love to use balsamic vinegar in the dressing, that's really sweet. i just usually use 2tblsp olive oil and 1 tblsp balsamic vinegar.

i absolutely love watercress so that always goes in and then trying to get a variety of leaves is nice. i sometimes just buy those prewashed bags just because it's an easy way of getting a variety of leaves without ending up with several different lettuces in the fridge that don't all get eaten up before they go off.

a few ripped up fresh basil leaves are nice and i also like to chuck in some pine nuts.

I love gem lettuce, but I tend to like papaya and chicken salad. Put the peeled and seeded papaya into a bowl and squeeze a lime over it. cube the chicken and grill until it's cooked and lightly browned, and shake a tiny bit of salt on it. Chuck it on a salad base ( I like salads with a lot of texture, things like little gem lettuce, raw peas, cucumber, green beans etc) and add the papaya. drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar and eat while the chicken's still hot.

I've been eating mainly salads for a while now. Or some variation wrapped in a low card wheat tortilla. I founf the perfect dressing and it made it all incredibly easy. Unfortunately it is only locally available at an italian rest.

Raspberry vinegrette is sweet. Catalina is sweet and tart.


Iceberg lettuce doesn;t have much value in terms of vitamins etc. Use romain or some combination - maybe with field greens.

The key that got me into eating salads regularly and enjoying them is a few key ingredients.

Tyson pre cooked chicken breast strips used in small amounts cut into small pieces.
Sunkist almond accents ( produce section.) They come in many flavors, including a sweet one. I stick to the roasted garlic caesar. Almonds are a very healthy nut and are filling. These are small slivers in a resealable package.

A sprinkling of roasted and salted sunflower nuts.

Shredded carrots (carrots add sweetness)

shredded broccoli slaw. It's good to have raw veggies. I also use raw red peppers which are sweeter than green.

And just enough dressing to moisten it and give flavor.



I was thinking lately of a salad with some sweet almond shavings, cranberries, apples of a few tyes, and maybe some goat cheese.


You can also do a taco salad with no shell, tons of veggies including black olives ( good fat) and a small amount of seasoned meat or tofu . I do use cheddar - but sharp so I can use less. I use canned tomato and don;t need any dressing, but you could use salsa.

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smoked salmon trimmings are usually pretty cheap from the supermarket and you can scatter them over a salad for a really posh feel and a cheap tasty meal. They're also great stirred into scrambled egg.

romaine lettuce with apples, cucumbers, walnuts, feta cheese and honey mustard vinagrette.

baby spinach, dried cranberrys (crasins), sprouts, chick peas, carrots, red peppers and balsamic dressing. the cranberry/balsamic is a nice combo i think....

this is sounding awesome. i think i'll have to try it.

Salads that aren't lettuce, tomato, cucumber, dressing combinations.

"Greek Salads" are rad-
Peppers/Capsicum of assorted colour
Red Onion
Tomato
Cucumber
Feta Cheese
Olives
Fresh Herbs

Make a dressing with sweet mustard in it (I think the grainy one goes nicest with this) even though that's not really Greek. They just mostly pour Balsamic vinegar over the shit and drown the flavour... So, dressing: bit of olive oil, tiny splash of balsamic, blob of seeded mustard and some herbs and s+p. Whisk it by hand... it's less effort than cleaning it out of your blender. You can have it served on some lettuce if you want.

"Asian" Salad (I'm just getting these names off the menu of my old work, btw)
Shallots (do you call them that? They are the long green oniony things with no bulbs at the end)
Wombok here
Snow Peas
Snow Pea Sprouts
Sprouts (those big fat white ones that look like worms)
Red Onion
Bok Choy

Chop them all up with a cleaver. Seriously, cleavers are rad and you gotta cut them kung fu style or it doesn't taste the same. A few HAIYAAAAAAAZ make it even tastier. For a dressing you just tip in sesame oil, sweet chili sauce, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Whatever you want. Fish oil is gross, but if you want it a little bit saltier you could splash a bit in. Just a tiny bit.

Um, I'm kinda hungry after writing that so I have to find food.

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Try Lettuce's beyond iceberg and romaine. I love arugala, its soft and had a kind of peppery taste (that goes well with a sweet dressing). Or the mesclun mix that is pretty standard where I am isn't so bad.. or Red lettuce, or even bibb..

Balsamic vinegar is sweet? I love it, but I never thought of it as sweet.

I really like spinach salad. Sometimes we make it a meal by adding tuna and hard-boiled eggs.

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Compared to ordinary vinegar it is. I sometimes put sugar in it to dull the bite.

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You can get these Salad Sprinkles at the grocery shops here. I love them. They're containers of sesame & sunflower seeds that have been roasted in soy sauce. There are a bunch of difference flavours. I could eat the garlic ones on their own. Salads just aren't the same without them for me now.

You can also reduce it as well, that makes it a bit thicker and sweeter.
As far as salad dressing go. You could try some white balsamic, or chamagne vineagar and a tiny bit of mustard to help with the olive oil emulsion.
I like to just reduce a bit of pommegranate juice and use that as a dressing too.
The standard ratio for dressing is 3 parts oil, 1 part vineagar. I like a 2:1 ratio, it cuts down on fat and has more bite.

As far as ingredient, try arugala, stawberries, gorgonzola and pecans.

Belgium Endive (kind of spendy) pears, scallions and goat cheese.

Mixed greens, bell pepper, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes

Hope that helped.

i'm very direct when it comes to salad.

greek salads, lots of feta.
taco salads, with lots of salsa.
plain old salad, with lots of lentils.

those are my favourite three. i'll elaborate if you're interested.

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lots of croutons!!!

Lentils, huh? That's pretty interesting, I've done chickpeas and a few types of beans before, but never thought of the old lentil!