Everyday Salad + Gardening
Fresh garden lettuce and my new Mediterranean inspired everyday salad
I love a good salad. I love adding fun ingredients, trying a new lettuce mix and making my own dressings. But now with a newborn and 4 year old I'm often throwing together anything I can find, keeping it as healthy as possible. As much as I love different toppings, my favorite part of a good salad is the lettuce. I like mixing arugula, baby kale, mesclun or spring mix.

My new go to everyday salad is inspired by Mediterranean flavors. I start with a large bed of lettuce and add the following:
TOPPINGS
a healthy scoop of hummus
an even healthier scoop of tabbouleh
chopped pickling cucumber (honestly I really only like Persian or pickling cucumbers)
prepared falafel (I use Joseph's brand but I'm going to practice making my own)
diced avocado
sweet and hot salad peppers
If I'm not in a rush I'll add some other fresh veggies like:
sliced radishes
diced or julienned carrots
quick pickled red onions
julienned jicama
You could add a sprinkle of sumac spice or shawarma spice mix.
DRESSING
A light simple dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and a bit of honey pairs well - just shake in a mason jar or whisk in a bowl and drizzle over your salad. Or skip the honey for a more sour tart flavor.
Earlier this summer we've enjoyed fresh lettuce from our garden. We planted a simple mesclun mix which you can harvest by cutting leaves about one inch from the roots. You should get a few harvests from one plant, but eventually the leaves become tough and do not taste as good. I heard you can plant a new batch of spring mix now, which I might try! Next year I plan to add in arugula - my favorite lettuce!
