My Staple Salad

The weather is getting warmer and I'm more and more aware of how much tighter my clothes are fitting after this long cold winter.  The more the sun shines the more I want to get outside running and then lying in the sun whenever possible.  It is officially time to smarten up on the food front and get in shape for summer.  I always end up getting itchy feet this time of year and launch into full fitness and health awareness so you can expect more of that to come.  Also, here are some pictures from my adventures yesterday.

This was taken outside of the Square One shopping center.  Cool right?  I navigate around town by the location of those towers, I swear I can't be the only one.

Then this happened, can you see the geese stopping traffic on the crosswalk? #CanadaProblems

Gather everything that is going into your salad.  This pretty much includes everything in my fridge except mushrooms.  I don't like mushrooms in my salad.  Yuk.

I keep a tub like this in my fridge with "open" veggies.  I try to use them daily so they spend only about 12-24 hours in the fridge like this between supper and lunch.

I'm also an avid fan of the trash bowl in my cooking area.  This one was a camping cooking pot and has a lid so I can just pop the lid on when I'm not using it.  We recycle and compost in our house so I do have to be careful to keep my recyclables to the side to pick them out before they hit the compost bin.

So to get started, I chopped up some lettuce, whatever I have.  I have used mixed baby greens, spinach, or as in here romaine.  I tend to have iceburg a lot but that does get boring after awhile.

Now chop up your toppings.

Toss them in on top of the lettuce.  Now some people will start tossing at this point, not me.  It goes to the table like that.  You know where the lettuce is, you can dig to it, you can see the toppings and pick according to your tastes.  I like choice.

Get your dressing.  I have often had just balsamic vinegar and olive oil but I'm sick of it and Catalina is my favourite.

I never put the cheese into the bowl with the main salad.  There is always the chance that we will have leftovers and I'm the one who will end up eating them.  I often do this with the tomato too.  Soggy cheese and water logged salad? ... No thanks.  Then I just drizzle lightly with dressing and you're are one step closer to a healthier lifestyle.  I have also added boiled eggs and/or pickled chilis to this salad other times but I skipped that today.

As I was putting this together today I remembered I have Craisins in the cupboard.  It makes me sad that I forgot to add them in here but they would be wonderful.  I have also completely adopted Greek salads and lettuce-less salads.  You don't have to have lettuce, it's Ok to skip that part.  I do feel like I get overwhelmed by some of the more inventive salads out there sometimes and just want to get back to basics, that is this salad completely.  Enjoy!