The Perfect Salad

[jbischke]

I've been making this huge salads lately (thank to my buddy Farb for this inspiration) and wanted to share the ingredients and preparation instructions with all y'all. I'd love to hear any thoughts/suggestions for improvement as well.

Here goes...

The perfect salad

6+ different types of lettuce (Trader Joe's)
Microgreens (TJ)
Alfalfa sprounts (TJ)
Shredded carrots (TJ)
organic celery (Whole Foods)
Green onions (TJ)
Pearl tomatoes (TJ)

*Raw nut mix*
Walnuts (TJ)
almonds (TJ)
sunflower seeds (WF)

*Dried fruit mix*
Rainier cherries (TJ)
Raisins (TJ)
omega cranberries (TJ)
Gooseberries (TJ)

*Dressing*
Flax seed oil (WF)
Hemp seed oil (WF)
Bit of Tuscan Italian (TJ)

Optional
Avocaodo (TJ) or shrimp (TJ)

Preparation

For starters I'll buy my lettuces at TJ's (basically anything they have that's organic) and then mix all of them together with some spinach and the sprouts and micro-greens and put all of that in a couple of large Evert-Fresh bags which help to keep this mix fresh in the fridge for a good number of days. I have the mix of nuts and dried fruits prepared ahead of time in tupperware dishes.

Then on the days when I want to make the salads all I have to do is the following:

1. Take a few handfuls of the green mix and throw it in good-sized tupperware.
2. Chop a couple of stalks of celery and a couple of things of green onions and add that.
3. Add the carrots and tomatoes.
4. Add a small handful of nuts and a small handful of dried fruits.
5. Mix a small plastic container of the dressing.
6. Add a fork, the dressing and an avocado or shrimp (opt.) to the tupperware and I'm good to go.

I can't describe how good this salad is! You're getting a really full spectrum of fruits and veggies, some omega-3s (from the dressing and nuts) and it's really easy to prepare I can throw it together in less than 5 minutes.

I'd love to hear any suggestions for improving the Perfect Salad. Some great additions would be cucumbers and bell peppers but I usually chop them up separately and munch on them throughout the day. I also use kale and parsley in my daily green smoothie or else they would make the cut too.

Any other ideas?

[Steve Pavlina]

Try adding some raw sesame seeds to the nut mix -- I think you'll like the flavor it adds to a salad.

[Narz]

Evert Fresh bags are the best new product I've used this millennium.

I like walnuts on my salads. Sea lettuce is great too (try seaveg.com) or dulse (you can get in bulk on Amazon, ideally thru me). I like heirloom tomatoes rather than any other kind (they spoil you for any other kind).

My girlfriend makes the illest dressings. Not sure her exact recipes. I'll ask her to post some.

[Lauxa]

We used to pre-chop a bunch of veggies to mix with our greens. Store in a tupperware and add a handful to the salad.

- broccoli
- cauliflower
- red bell pepper
- red onion
- jicama
- radishes
- mushrooms
- pickled beets

Not necessarily every veggie every time.

We also added cheese.

I like olives.

Mmmmmmmm. Salad.

Mmmmmmmmm. Salad.