I really like having a salad with dinner. Not every night, but for many meals it’s a great side dish.
But I hate making salads.
If you can relate to that, you’ll want to give this easy method a try. I’m sure some of you already use this method for making salad. It’s not rocket science, but for some reason I used to always tear the leaves into pieces, then wash them, dry them… The process didn’t take forever, but I just hated doing it. That meant I had lettuce languishing in the bottom of the crisper drawer.
Now I buy a large pack of romaine lettuce. Costco sells six heads in a pack. They stay fresh for quite a long time. One head is about the right amount of salad for our family.
I pull the head apart and rinse each leaf under cool water. They get patted dry with a clean towel or a paper towel.
Next, I chop them up by cutting across all the leaves and then running the knife lengthwise down the head as well. This takes all of 20 seconds.
All the leaves go into a salad bowl and I pat them dry again. Sometimes I add tomatoes or red pepper or another vegetable. Sometimes we keep it simple with just the lettuce.
Since I started making them this way, we’ve eaten a lot more salad. And I don’t hate making it.
The other easy salad that gets served a lot around here is the Simple Wedge Salad.
I use a salad spinner that also has a storage cover. After I’ve chopped the romaine I wash it in my sink filled with cold water, spin twice and store it.
Part of my salad making issue is that my salad spinner doesn’t work. I really need to invest in a new one.
I hate making it as well, but I like eating Salad. So I make it my 10 yr old’s job, it’s a win, win 🙂
A while ago, you could clean all your lettuces (romaine, head) break up into bite size pieces, put in cold water that had something called Stay White (1 teaspoon) added, let sit a few minutes, then drain very well and store in bowl covered with tea towel and have salad for a week. I don’t know what was in the Stay White, but it certainly worked. Anyone know what it was or how we can get it? Thank you for you recipes and for posting them.
I googled Stay White and didn’t find much, other than it is a preservative. I’m not sure what the ingredients are.
Both Lara and Karen hit it on the head. I chop all my lettuces first and then put them in the spinner to wash and spin dry. My two year old – yep, two year old – likes helping peel cucumber and carrot and is also just beginning to learn safe knife handling skills. So, under a lot of my supervision, he picks which veggies will go in the salad and cuts those too. It’s also a good learning opportunity to talk about the colors of the various veggies and what good things each of them does for our bodies. And because he “made” the salad, he tends to eat a lot more of it, too. The older he gets, the more I’ll shift that task to him to handle on his own.
I’ve also found that a lot of convenience salad items actually last a long time. Pre-shredded cabbages, for instance and pre grated carrots, too. One bag of those can last for about 4-6 salads for my family.
This is pretty much how I make salad too. Since there are just two of us, I do the same thing with one head/heart of romaine but put in Tupperware and keep in fridge. I just take enough out for one or two salads at a time. Keeps for 3-4 days. I just don’t put the soft vegetables in at the beginning, esp tomatoes.
Sharala
I like salad so much. Your photos are so stunning and detailed. Looks so delicious and nutritious. Thanks for sharing
I love salad but it’s a pain to make but if I choose to make it I cut everything up, toss into the spinner, rinse well, then spin. Usually use Romaine, radishes. shredded carrots, red onion, and celery.
I use Romaine but am only fixing for one person. I wash the leaves in hot tap water, place them in the spinner and when done spinning, I place the spinner (with uncut lettuce leaves) in the refrigerator. When I fix myself a salad, I pull out the lettuce needed. It remains crisp and doesn’t spoil when treated in this manner. My MIL taught me to rinse in hot water. When the leaves are washed hot and then chilled, they crisp up nicely. Good salad fixings.
I like making my salads with Napa Cabbage. It looks much like Romaine, but I like the flavor better, and it is just as easy to prepare as Romaine. Any remains from a head of that “cabbage” that tastes more like lettuce… I drop it into almost any soup I might be making. Easy, nice change, and no leftovers.
I thought chopping with a knife made the lettuce brown. I know there are plastic knives made specifically for this purpose. I have a ceramic coated knife from Pampered Chef. I don’t know if that would also work. I will have to try it.
I’d always heard that too, but so far I haven’t experienced it.
I hate making salads as well but thanks alot for sharing this method. Will try it out and see how it works for me.
Just bought a salad spinner for $20 from Amazon and hope it will make my experience better. I never tried until someone else mentioned it in the comment section. I love fresh salad especially when it is easy to prepare.
I buy bagged salad because it’s so easy. Often the when the store marks down bagged salad it is still ok so I’ll buy that at 1/2 price
An easy way to fluff up the romaine when looking wilted is chopped up, put is in ice water with plenty of ice in the salad spinner with a splash of cider vinegar. After awhile when the lettuce looks rejuvenated dump the ice water. Spin real dry, store in a Tupperware bowl with a paper towel on top.
Great idea, Kim! Thanks for sharing 🙂