Sweet-Savory-Crunchy Chicken Salad

Lately, I haven't been cooking as much as usual, nor posting the results. This one turned out really great but I didn't weigh or measure every ingredient, so this is more of an idea than an exact recipe, but hey, it's chicken salad! I've rarely met one I didn't like! Give this combination a try.

8oz. roasted chicken meat
1 can (drained) diced water chestnuts 
4-6 green onions
2 ribs of celery
3 small dill pickles
5-6 lg. garlic olives
a BIG handful of craisins
a BIG handful of walnuts
mayonnaise - to hold it together

Chop or slice the ingredients and mix everything together in a medium glass bowl. For a Chicken Waldorf variation, omit the olives, pickles and craisins, and substitute a couple of your favorite apples, peeled and diced. . .Lin

German Potato Salad Soup

I thawed a package of 6 Quail and also 1 Pheasant to roast over the weekend for a family get together after church this past Sunday. Rather than a fussy sit-down roast poultry dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy, etc. I decided to keep it casual. I made an interesting version of something similar to German Potato Salad and a cucumber, tomato, onion salad to go with the roasted meat. After lunch, I took off all the meat, packaged that, and made a pot of bone broth with the bones and skin.

I'll probably make a stroganoff sort of thing with the leftover meat, either all 18oz. of it, or half and use a chicken salad recipe for the rest, so stay tuned for those.

Meanwhile, I still had leftover hot potato salad to turn into something else. Today I decided to make soup, using mashed up potato salad as the focal ingredient. This potato salad has onion, celery, dill pickles, mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, a bit of sugar, salt, pepper, and crumbled bacon. Mashing it somehow seemed the logical thing to do.

Slice-chop the scrubbed vegetables shown: carrots, celery, green pepper and garlic. Sauté these a few minutes in 2-3T butter. Add a couple ladles of bone broth, cover and simmer with seasonings and bay leaves for about 15 minutes until they're all tender. Remove the bay leaves, then mash everything in the pot to a rough-mash stage with a potato masher.

Add the mashed potato salad, stir to combine. Ladle in more bone broth to make it just barely 'soupy.' Simmer this on low for 5-10 minutes. Check the flavor, then stir in a can of coconut milk if you'd like, or just stick with bone broth, using enough to make the consistency right for a rustic soup. Serve with a little shredded cheese on top. . .Lin

I had a bowl of this, made with coconut milk, without cheese on top, and I have to say, it's for sure one of the most interesting soups I've ever eaten! 

A one of a kind recipe, and since there's 3 quarts of it, I'll be working on this pot for a while. It's surprisingly good!

Garlicky Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad

Here we are, in the midst of a, predicted 8"-16," blizzard, but I suspect we've far surpassed that amount! People are cross-country skiing down my street, into the wind! They're all bundled up, wearing goggles, pulling toboggans filled with small children. . .And I'm craving salad!

I have all the components for one of my 5 Ingredient Salads...but...I also had everything needed for an interesting Brussels sprout salad. And. . .The tiny 'cabbages' won out!

Start by whisking the dressing in a medium bowl then add the fresh garlic:

3T Moroccan EVOO

3T Heinz Salad Vinegar

2t spicy brown mustard

2t Maple syrup

1t lemon pepper seasoning

1 lg. garlic clove minced-smashed into a paste

~ a mortar & pestle works best for this

Add the following to the bowl:

2oz. craisins

1/2c chopped Vidalia onion

1 small celery heart + greens

10oz. thinly sliced Brussels sprouts

Fold everything together and continue to mix until all the chopped vegetables are well coated with the dressing. Heat this in a microwave for 40 seconds to jump-start the blending of flavors. Mix again, then chill a couple hours before serving. This would be great with grilled chicken, lamb chops, steak or salmon. . .Lin

Pineapple-Strawberry Pico de Gallo

Earlier this summer I knocked my own socks off when making one of my 5 Ingredient Salads. I was in the chopping-slicing stage when I discovered my tomatoes were less than stellar. I checked the fridge and there it was - a perfect container of strawberries. Okay then, worth a try!?! What a great salad! Try substituting strawberries for tomato the next time you make a big, fresh, garden salad!

Today I was thinking I'd make salsa when I saw my perfect tomatoes. I changed it to pico, then wondered about strawberries. . .In the end. . .Strawberries Won! I don't know if anyone else ever uses celery in pico or salsa. I had 2 big bunches of it, and this celery heart really wanted to marinate with its 'fridge mates in the bowl, and, Who Am I, to say no to such gorgeous celery?

1 lg. clove garlic

1/3 poblano pepper

1 celery heart and tops

10 oz. cleaned strawberries

4 oz. frozen pineapple

1 lemon - zest and juice

1 oz.+ fresh cilantro

1 med.-lg. Vidalia onion

1t fresh ground black pepper

1/2t Himalayan pink salt

1-2t fruity white Balsamic vinegar

Finely mince the garlic and pepper, chop the rest and gently combine in a medium glass bowl. Serve with corn chips or quinoa chips. Grind it up a bit, and spoon it over any grilled meat: chicken, fish, shrimp, steak, burgers. . .This would also be great over a wedge salad with a drizzle of poppy seed dressing.

Or just grab a fork - Pico Salad! 😉 Lin

Summer In A Bowl - Nancy's Garden Gazpacho

I. . .♥️ LOVE ♥️. . .SALADS. . .

To me, one of my wonderful 5 Ingredient Salads is always the best. I had all the ingredients for that, then I saw the beets, 2 lonely cherry tomatoes and a nice cucumber from my daughter, Nancy's garden. I thought, GAZPACHO!?! What else could I add to make Gazpacho!?! Carrots for sure, since those are always in my favorite restaurant Gazpachos. . .then I rummaged, and found all the rest in the 'fridge.

Everything you see above, garlic, onion, green pepper, radishes, celery and tops, etc. . .went into the blender with about 1/2c of that amazing Moroccan EVOO, 2T or so of the vinegar, juice and zest of that lemon wedge, salt, pepper, and about a cup of V-8, since I needed to tomato-this-up a bit. Blend well, or leave it a little chunky, your call.

I wanted to top it with sour cream before serving, but I was low on that. I combined equal parts-just under a cup each-of sour cream and plain Chobani Greek yogurt, a drizzle of water, salt, pepper and a generous amount of dry dill. Stirred and shaken, it was perfect finishing touch to make this Wonderful Saturday Night Cold Soup Dinner! Ahhh, Gazpacho!!←click here for some history on this amazing creation. . . Lin

Chive Flower, Pistachio, Cilantro-Ranch 5-Ingredient Salad

Anytime I begin with one of my 5-Ingredient Salads, things can only get better and more interesting depending on the current additions. This time, I added mung bean and lentil sprouts, pistachios and a couple pulled-apart chive flowers. The entire chive is edible, and the flowers are often overlooked for an amazing onion-y pop of flavor, as well as their pale violet color and delicate beauty.

The other wonderful, surprise, addition to this salad was the dressing. . .

I combined equal parts of ranch dressing and coriander (cilantro) chutney. Ohhh my. . .so much freshness! However, be aware, there are Serrano peppers in the chutney, so depending on your heat preferences, you may not need to add black or cayenne pepper. After I dressed the salad I realized another great, flavorful addition, would have been a finely minced, crushed, fresh garlic clove.

Mmmm . . . It's Salad Season!
Have fun with them! . .Lin

Another Take on my 5 Ingredient Salad

Salads should be a year-'round part of our diets. My original 5 Ingredient Salad is made with tomato, cucumber, avocado, onion and a lettuce mix usually containing romaine, cabbage and spinach. Today I skipped the lettuce but added fresh mushrooms and some peanuts.

This was lunch today, a late lunch, after grocery shopping, voting and a few other stops in town. I found a new tea at Aldi's today.  Pomegranate, Blueberry, Acai berry. I added lemon juice, zest and honey. That was really good with the salad and a ciabatta I made a while ago and froze. I heated up a big piece of that and spread it with Swiss almond cheese spread. Today's salad dressing was Lemon-Olive Oil Dressing. . .Lin

A Healthy Salad Mix

I've been doing a lot of listening and reading lately, trying to sort through all the information floating around, regarding nutrition.  My old standby, my 5 Ingredient Salad, has always been my favorite go-to.  It would (will) be hard to turn my back on that.  However, I've learned that tomatoes and cucumbers 2/5 of the salad, contain high levels of lectins.  The 'jury' still seems to be out as to whether or not they should be reduced or eliminated from our diets, but I do know lectin containing foods are inflammatory.  Having many auto-immune conditions, which are perpetuated by inflammation, for myself, I'm going to eliminate foods high in lectin until I hear or read otherwise.

This is one version of a healthier alternative.  If we shop carefully, at food co-ops and farm stands, we can later, check our vegetable drawers for good salad mix ideas.  Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale, cilantro, parsley, celery, green and purple cabbage, radishes, kohlrabi, onions, romaine and all types of lettuce, carrots. . .SO many good choices!

This time I used Romaine, Purple Cabbage, Green Cabbage, Celery, Carrots, Onion, and added black beans, avocado, and some bleu cheese crumbles.  The dressing I was craving today was made in an old Good Seasons cruet using apple cider vinegar, rosemary seasonings, water and good quality extra virgin olive oil.  Clean eating can be fun as well as healthy. . .Lin

Slow Eggs and a 5 Ingredient Salad

Scrambled Eggs

½T butter

2 lg. pasture raised eggs

a splash of half and half

Rosemary Seasoning *

Leftover. . .for another big salad!

5 Ingredient Salad

sliced romaine lettuce

½ cubed firm avocado

Sliced Vidalia onion

*chopped cucumber

*chopped tomato

Lemon Olive Oil Salad Dressing *

The other day, this was breakfast.  I love vegetables with some great well raised, perfectly cooked, brown eggs served together.  

Whisk the first group together in a medium glass bowl.  Pour this into a small non-stick pan with the butter melted, over low heat.  These should take about 10 minutes, start to finish.  Leave them a while, then slowly move them around the pan.  Repeat this until they're the way you like them, but go slow...

Arrange the first 3 salad ingredients on the plate.  *I'm seeing a new Chiropractor and reading a book on nutrition he recommended, that's very informative.  There is so much interesting information available about the foods we eat and ways to make them healthier!  Nightshade Vegetables: potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers are bad for people with inflammatory issues and auto-immune diseases.  Additionally, tomatoes, cucumbers and squash, with seeds we eat, such as zucchini, all contain lectins.  The lectin in tomatoes and cucumbers is diminshed greatly, and they're made healthy, simply by peeling and removing the seeds.  The cucumbers are self-explanatory, but the tomatoes can easily be peeled if dropped, for a minute, into boiling water.  Remove and put them in ice water for a couple minutes.  Quarter them, cut out the cores, and the skin will slide right off.  Remove the seeds and continue with your salad assembly.

Drizzle with the dressing, plate the eggs and savor your Beautiful Breakfast 😃 . . . Lin

Yet Another 5-Ingredient Salad

1½ romaine heart ~ cut off end

~ cut vertically then across

¼ sm. green or purple cabbage

~ slice thin or cut in ½ cubes

½ med. onion - sliced

2-3 pickling cucumbers ~ cubed

1 lg. carrot ~ scrubbed and grated

tomato and avocado

My Original 5-Ingredient Salad contained: lettuce mix, onion, cucumber, tomato and avocado.  Lettuce Mix is a loose term since it always contains more than lettuce.  I don't buy pre-packed, I make my own.  Cut or tear the lettuce of your choice into your salad spinner and get it squeaky-clean.  Enhance it with the addition of cabbage, carrot, spinach.  Balance these with thinly sliced kale, radicchio, or other bitter greens (even radish greens!) for a whole different pop of flavor.

Onion. . .Ohhh onion.  Todays salad has solidified my love-hate feelings about purple onion.  Love it cooked, in chili, dark soup or stew since cooking often turns it an odd blue-green!  I thought of Dr. Seuss the few times I used it in an omelette!  I tried once again today, but I stand by my original parting-of-the-ways with numerious TV Foodies regarding putting it in a raw salad.  I hear from several of them that purple onion is the 'mildest' of onions, therefore perfect for this.  Nope!  To me at least, it's the most aggressive of all the onions.  My hands down favorite for a tossed salad is a perfect Vidalia onion.  One that's short and wide...think puffy hockey puck!  They're the best!

I add the onion to the lettuce mix.  Cucumbers too, if they're in their prime.  Otherwise, don't put them in the lettuce mix.  Check them each day for freshness and slice them on the salad as you fix it.

Once the lettuce is spun dry, I put it back into the bowl of my spinner and add whatever else I'm using in the current mix.  I store it there, covered in the 'fridge.  Grab a handful, add tomato, avocado and dressing. . .So easy for a quick lunch or dinner side salad for the next several days.  Today I added gorganzola crumbles, sunflower kernels and my Lemon Olive Oil Dressing *  Summer is the perfect time for a big, colorful salad.  Remember to shop at your Local Farmer's Markets for the best, freshest locally grown vegetables. . .Lin

Mini Cheese and Vegetable Quiches

6 large eggs

¾c half and half

⅓c corn flour

1t baking powder

1t baking soda

salt and pepper

chili powder - cumin*

1 med. tomato

1c carrot matchsticks

1 med. broccoli crown

¾c green onion-shallot

some chopped cilantro-parsley

4-6 slices American cheese

a little grated parmesan cheese

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the half and half.  In another bowl, combine dry ingredients with a clean whisk.  *(eggs and cheese go well with these warm spices - try a little of each if you're feeling adventurous - they create a nice Tex-Mex flavor)  Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients, whisking until smooth.

Dice the tomato and broccoli, break up the long carrot matchsticks and combine this group in medium bowl.  Spray muffin pans with oil, then put a spoonful of the vegetables in each one.  Cut the American cheese into squares for however many muffin cups you've filled, putting a square on each.  Ladle on the well-mixed egg and dry ingredient mixture.  Top each with a nice pinch of parmesan cheese.  (these were what I had in the fridge - an easier way would be to just sprinkle your favorite grated cheese on top.)  Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 20 minutes.  My house is now wonderfully scented!  Extra Vegetables = Salad for lunch, with a bowl of hot Scotch Broth!!  Mmmm!

When cool, put them in a zip type plastic bag in the 'fridge, or frozen for another time.  This is not one of my 5 or 10 minute breakfasts!  It's labor and time intensive, but today I was awake at 4 am.  Putzing in the kitchen is a good thing, here in my Little-House-On-The-Creek, on a -22° day, with even colder windchills.  Stay warm and safe all my Fellow Northerners! . .Lin

Fresh and Crunchy Vegetable-Spaghetti Salad

12-16 oz. spaghetti, broken, cooked and chilled

1 sm. jar capers, drained and rinsed

a double recipe of Lemon Oil Dressing *

2-4 T basil pesto
Italian seasoning, black pepper, garlic sea salt

5-8oz. fresh grated parmesan cheese

~ or crumbled feta cheese

Cook the spaghetti to al dente' stage, rinse in cold water, drain well.  Put this into a big glass bowl and add the rest of the first ingredient group.  Toss this then wash, chop and the prep the vegetables.

3 Roma tomatoes, 1 very big purple shallot, 6-8 oz. fresh spinach, a couple bumpy pickling cucumbers, 2 sm.-med. yellow or green zucchinis, 3 celery stalks with tops. Toss all this together with the spaghetti, dressing and seasonings.  Chill and serve.  I've also found scooping out a bowl of this and microwaving it for about 30 seconds after it's been thoroughly chilled, seems to wake up the flavors. . .Lin

Creamy Chili Garlic Dressing (and a salad)

2T chili garlic sauce

2T white balsamic vinegar

6-8oz. mayonaise

If you like things hot and spicy, just combine these 3 ingredients in a shaker container, shake, and you're done!  If you're not fond of the idea of all those chili pepper seeds surprising you with a blast of heat, strain the sauce, rubbing it with the back of a spoon, into a little bowl,  Stir the strainer contents a bit, then press, repeating until you've extracted all the sauce and are down to seeds.  Drizzle a teeny bit of vinegar over the seeds, stopping to stir and press again.  Continue with this until you run out of vinegar.  Pour this into your shaker jar.  Add mayonnaise and shake well. . .Lin

¼ sm. head of purple cabbage

1 baby romaine heart

3-4oz. baby kale

6 green onions

1 big carrot

lentil sprouts

Those of you who follow my blog probably know that my ultimate definition of A Salad is this one *  Today my lentil sprouts were ready to eat, and the lettuce mix I made a few days ago was gone.  I have no tomato, avocado or cucumber, so I was forced to totally deviate from my usual 5 Ingredient Salad.  This ended up being sort of a "clean-out-the-'fridge" salad!  It's good to do that once in awhile, to expand our brains which seem to like to be fixed on one or just a couple ways, of doing things.  Use your salad spinner for the romaine, baby kale and cabbage.  Scrub the carrot then slice lengthwise into long julienne strips and cut them about 1" long.  Add the rest and toss.



This all turned out wonderful.  A nice lunch.  There was enough leftover, for another 3 bowls of salad this size. . . Ahhh, more for later!  Be Bold, Be Adventurous, Think Outside Your Normal Routine, Happy Cooking! . . . Lin

A Big Salad Mix

"Hard Ingredients" - - Ready to be made into A Salad!

I've been calling these 'Lettuce Mixes' for years now, but that goes back to a time where I was using a couple types of lettuce and maybe one other ingredient like cabbage or spinach.  Today, there's no way I can just call this a lettuce mix.  A Salad Mix is best when made with only 'hard' ingredients, such as what are listed below.  When done right, these will keep for up to 5 days after washing well then spinning dry in a good salad spinner.  I've mentioned mine several times.  They don't have to be expensive.  

Mine is a Progressive Salad Spinner, available at Bed Bath and Beyond * and Walmart for under $10.00!  (They're also available at Amazon, however, Amazon charges twice as much.)  I've had a couple different ones over this years and this is by far my favorite.

Today's mix, shown in the photo above, consists of: romaine, cabbage, onion, radish and carrot as 'Hard Ingredients.'  Don't add wet or mushy ingredients like hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados, etc., until just before you're serving a salad.  To this basic mix, for an early dinner tonight, I added: cucumber, and for protein: lentil sprouts, small red beans, cashews, and cubed parmesan cheese.  I splashed on a little Mango Chipotle Vinaigrette dressing that really woke up the flavors.  It was delicious! 😋 . . .Lin

Chicken Cacciatore

2# boneless skinless chicken

1 lg. purple onion

1 yellow sweet pepper

1 orange sweet pepper

1lg. clove elephant garlic

4 lg. ribs of celery

8oz. fresh mushrooms

1c± dry white wine

28oz. crushed tomatoes

12oz. seasoned pasta sauce

14.5oz. can petite diced tomatoes

2t sugar

2t Rosemary Seasoning*

1-2T Italian seasoning

Pasta:  Spaghetti, Linguini or Fettuccine

Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces, or a little larger.  Pat the chicken dry and combine with a little finely chopped onion, and a couple tablespoons of butter or olive oil, in a heavy 5qt. pot.  Sauté 15 minutes or so then add the rest of the rough chopped or sliced vegetables.  Stir and continue to sauté another 15 minutes.  Add the wine about half way though, continue to stir and simmer.  Stir in the tomatoes and sauce and simmer and additional 30-60 minutes, on low heat, covered, stirring occasionally.  Toward the end of the cooking time, try the sauce and see what additions or seasonings might be needed.

While this is simmering, cook the pasta to the al dente stage.  Drain and put into baking dishes.  Pour on a cup or two of the sauce to coat the pasta, and keep it from sticking together.  Cover with the rest of the chicken, vegetables and sauce.  Ideally, to fully develop the flavors, you would chill this overnight and reheat it before serving the next day, but it can be served now.

I cooked for friends yesterday.  It was supposed to just be enough for 4, but. . .even though I've lived alone on and off for the past 21 years, I've never mastered the Art Of Cooking Small! 😉 

Fortunately, most people I know are hungry, and I'm also a Big Fan of leftovers!  This recipe made a 9"x13" and a 9"x9" pan.  Probably enough for 8-10 people.  Have fun with this!  Maybe you too know some hungry people?  Invite them for dinner! 😊 It's a nice dinner just as is, but if you're a bread person, some toasty ciabatta with garlic butter would be nice.  Or if, like me, you can never get enough vegetables, try it with my very favorite - My 5-Ingredient Salad . . . Lin

5 Ingredient Lettuce-Vegetable Mix

Shown in Salad Spinner Bowl—>

2 romaine hearts

a big handful of fresh spinach

1/3 med. head of cabbage

1 med. sweet onion

1 fat carrot - scrubbed

Slice the romaine lengthwise, then make 1½" crosscuts.  Put this in your salad spinner, rinse, soak then drain and spin until dry.  The salad spinner shown is a priceless find!  It's a Progressive brand spinner and is under $10 at Bed Bath and Beyond as well as Walmart!!  I've tried others over the years, mine as well as friends.  You can spend anywhere from $10 - $100 on one, and you'll have a hard time finding one you like better than this!  Such a bargain!

With Feta Cheese, Capers & Tomatoes

Almonds, Beans & Tomatoes Added

In a large bowl, or the bowl from your salad spinner, combine this with the spinach; either left whole, or sliced a little; the slice-chopped cabbage, quarter-sliced onion, and julienned pieces of the carrot.   

With Beans, Capers, Cauliflower

Toss this, grab a handful, and it's ready.  By itself, with your favorite dressing, or add any and all of your favorite accouterments: chopped tomato, avocado, capers, artichokes, chopped mini-English cucumber, cashews, black beans or garbanzos, sunflower seeds, cheese, croutons, or. . .whatever strikes your fancy.  😉  Here are three big salads I've made with this salad mix in the last couple days.  There's still enough for one or two more.  I also added canned corn and feta to the last one!  So good!  And healthy, but NOT low carbs or calories.  Have Fun-Be Creative-Happy Cooking! . .Lin 

Shape, Size and Texture!!! It just might be all about TEXTURE!

I've never given any conscious thought to how texture impacts the foods we cook.  Cubed cheese or grated?  Grated potatoes, as in hash browns, or cubed for American fries?  Ground lean steak, or cubes of that same steak, in your favorite chili recipe?  I'd never use lasagna noodles in my shrimp scampi, nor angel hair in a hearty stew. . .it's all the same ingredient, but in the end, the texture really matters.

Enter my new favorite kitchen toy in. . .well. . .years!!  My new spiral slicer arrived yesterday and I ran right to the grocery store to get some interesting vegetables to try it out.

This time it was celery root, zucchini, yellow and red beets, of course onion, and napa cabbage that didn't spiral well at all.  It shredded nicely however.  So I only used a little.

I was torn between a raw salad and a vegetable stir-fry, so I made both.  I broke up the spirals a little then tossed it all with olive oil, a dark fruity balsamic vinegar, fresh ground black pepper, Himalayan pink salt and ground rosemary, then added a few tiny tomatoes and half an avocado.  It's perfect!

The stir-fry started with a little coconut oil and butter, ground red and black pepper, ground rosemary and Himalayan pink salt.  After 5-10 minutes, transfer to a serving dish, top with bleu cheese crumbles and it's ready to serve now, or heat up later.  Side benefit, your kitchen will smell awesome with the scent of coconut oil, rosemary and all those lovely vegetables.

I realize, it's brand new, but already I give this slicer very high marks!  I'm sure I'll always have one in my kitchen! . . . Lin

Cabbage Chopped Tossed Salad

Chinese cabbage

purple cabbage

½ sweet onion

½ lg. tomato

½ avocado

2 med. pickling cucumbers

crumbled bleu cheese

This is a cabbage version of my 5-Ingredient Salad. Rough slice and chop all the vegetables into salad bowls. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, season with finely ground red pepper, black pepper, and Himalayan pink salt. Splash with some really good balsamic vinegar. . .Lin

5-Ingredient Salad with Beans

Today a big salad sounded great. A handful of the kale, onion, cabbage, lettuce mix, ½ a can of beans for some great soluble fiber, kohlrabi, white and green pickling cucumbers, half an avocado and a tomato. The avocado is also surprisingly high in fiber.  Dressing was Fig Balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

Eating cleaner, closer to the way food grows in nature, is a great goal. It helps with weight loss, blood pressure, stabilizing blood-glucose levels, mood fluctuations, headaches, etc.  I'm excited to see the changes. . .Lin

Red and Green--it's not just for Christmas anymore!

After cleaning my kitchen, my plan was to make a new salad mix using herbs, green cabbage, red butter lettuce, spinach and some baby romaine.  However, I had already used the red butter lettuce.  Not being one to run to the store for just an ingredient or two (even though it's only a 7 minute drive from my house) I decided to just use what I have.  A word of caution - most of the chefs I watch on TV insist red (purple) onion is sweet.  I disagree.  If this is your first time using one, you might want to keep it a little light unless you really like strong onion flavor.

1/4 head (heavy tight head) green cabbage

      sliced then cubed if you want

4-8oz  fresh spinach

1    baby romaine - slice twice lengthwise

      then cut into 1" cross-sections

1/2 big red (purple) onion sliced and cubed

Combine the cabbage, spinach and romaine in the basket of your salad spinner.  Wash and spin it several times.  When dry, add onion.  I also added some herbs.  Shown here from l-r are lemon thyme, Genovese basil, boxwood basil.  This mixture, without the tomato and avocado, will keep 5-7 days, covered, in the refrigerator.

When it's Salad Time, grab a handful of this mix and add whatever other fresh things you want that sound good.

Today it's half of that big juicy tomato, half an avocado and half a can of drained-rinsed black beans.  Also a splash of my Lemon-Oil Dressing and some fresh ground pepper.  MMmmm it was good!  :o) . . . Lin