If you follow me on Instagram, you know that most of my meals end up taking a salad-like form. That’s mainly because, for me, this way of eating is both EASY and delicious. A lot of tasty ingredients combined in a huge bowl, ready to enjoy within minutes? Yep. Now you’re talking.
(Which reminds me — a key ingredient in a good salad is a huge bowl. Nope, bigger. Even bigger. Perfect. That’s your salad bowl.)
So anyway, every time I post an image of a salad I’ve made on Instagram, I get messages from people asking me what’s in it. I figured it might be helpful to put together a post talking about my go-to salad ingredients to help answer that question. (Because here’s the secret: I keep my salad making really simple and repeatable.) I don’t mind eating the same thing week after week (so if you’re someone who needs to mix it up every meal this may not be the post for you), but I do like keeping a variety of ingredients on hand to keep things fresh.
Oh, and here’s another quick salad tip: If you’re making a salad for dinner, go ahead and make a second one for lunch the next day. It’s SUCH a time saver when you already have the ingredients out and the cutting board ready to go!
Okay, shall we talk salad ingredients? I’ll share some of my go-to grocery list items and then a few examples of ways I like to combine those ingredients:
FAVE SALAD INGREDIENTS
I find that if I keep items like these on hand, making healthy, filling meals quickly is a breeze. I get most of my salad groceries from Trader Joe’s (supplemented by Costco and sometimes Whole Foods):
A quick note about tempeh: I eat this as a protein very often, and I actually like it just plan straight out of the package. (Combined with other ingredients I don’t even specifically taste the tempeh. Maggie will eat it this way, too!) Many times, though, Kevin will marinate tempeh for me (using whatever he’s putting on chicken for him) and throw it on the grill. It’s great that way, too, and I’ll get him to grill me a couple of packs of tempeh at once so I have a few servings on hand.
With these ingredients on hand, I can always put something delicious together. Here are a few examples of salads “recipes”:
The Greek:
-romaine (chopped)
-quinoa
-falafel
-bell pepper
-cucumber
-cherry tomatoes
-hummus
-olive oil
-red wine vinegar
The Autumn:
-spinach
-brown rice
-lentils
-hemp hearts
-beets
-roasted veggies
-Green Goddess dressing
The Random-But-Delicious:
–Cruciferous Crunch
-Banza rice
-tempeh
-lentils
-shredded carrots
-kraut
-Balsamic Vinegar dressing
My biggest advice when it comes to salads? Don’t overthink them! Find a collection of ingredients you love — ones you crave and look forward to eating — and begin to combine them to see what you like together.
I hope this post helps to provide some inspiration for my fellow salad lovers out there! Please tag me in your salad posts, too. I can’t wait to see what you put together!
