Salad Secrets, Part 1

We all know we should eat a salad every day, and it would be so easy if someone would just lay out a salad bar before us, so we wouldn't have to do all the work! The biggest chore in salad-making, to me, was washing and preparing the lettuce. Because of that, I would shy away from making salads on most days.

BUT, now I've come up with a system that isn't hard, and I make salads much more often. I hope this works for you, too, and encourages you to eat more salads.

1. I tear or cut the lettuce and put it in a large plastic bowl filled with cool water. You can use a knife, your hands, or kitchen scissors. Swish it around a little, then let it sit for at least a few minutes (while you're getting another part of the salad ready). This allows any dirt or grit to settle to the bottom of the bowl.

2. A little bit later, lift the lettuce out by the handfuls (without disturbing the grit on the bottom of the bowl) and put into a salad spinner. I previously had a salad spinner that just wore me out. I hated using it. I finally spent $25 on an OXO salad spinner, and I LOVE it! It has changed everything. It really does a good job of spinning off the water. It has a basket inside another bowl which catches the water, and you can pour off the excess water. It even has a little button to push to "brake" the spinning and bring everything to a halt. I spin it a couple of times, then the lettuce is ready to use. Any extra lettuce will keep well in the salad spinner in the refrigerator for a day or two.

The plastic bowl and the salad spinner are easy to wash, and I store them together for quick salad prep. I usually use this method even for pre-washed lettuce mixes, because I think you can't be too careful. But take the kitchen scissors and snip up those big pieces so they fit in your mouth. It will be like a chopped salad -- thanks to my buddy Michele for that idea.

I can highly recommend the OXO salad spinner. You can find it at a lot of stores, but at Linens-N-Things or Bed, Bath and Beyond, you can use one of their 20% off coupons. I look at it as a tool that I use almost daily, well worth the expense, because it works!

Tomorrow - great salad ideas!