When I was growing up, salads came in three versions: (1) sadly uninspired tomato, iceberg lettuce, and cucumber smothered in homemade Thousand Island dressing (which consisted of Miracle Whip mixed with ketchup and a spoonful of relish); (2) coleslaw; and (3) potato.
Now to be fair, I grew up in the 60s and 70s, when the only cookbook my mother (and most women, I suspect) owned was Betty Crocker. Suffice it to say that salads weren’t high on the list of must-makes at the time. And about the most creative they got was that shredded-carrot-suspended-in-lime-Jello thingy, which I considered the height of culinary delights at the time and wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole now.
My, how times–and tastes–change.
Vegetables (the more colourful, the better) have become the mainstay of meals in our house. In the winter, they find their way into soups, stews, and curries; and in the summer…salads. Crisp, crunchy, fresh, and in a multitude of combinations that Betty Crocker never contemplated back in the day.
And all because of the Internet. Because recipes, people. From every corner of the world and minds far more creative than mine, recipes for every salad variation conceivable. And a seemingly inexhaustible supply, too. It’s enough to make an iceberg-lettuce-traumatized heart sing. 🙂
On this week’s menu (because it’s a heavy writing week and I made things in advance ’cause I’m smart that way…occasionally 😉 ):
So how about it? Am I the only one who waxes poetic over salads (and who maybe spends hours perusing Pinterest for them, too…ahem)? Or are you an inveterate fresh-veggies-in-awesome-combinations lover, too? 😀
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