I'm not much on salad mainly because I hate to wash the greens and stuff, but when I eat salad, I prefer the spring mix, baby spinach leaves or shredded iceberg or other lettuce. By shredded I mean about 1/2 inch shred.
When I eat salad I like to put the marinated green only in a dish and put additional stuff on top, not mixed in. My favorites are diced avocado, steamed then diced red potatoes, chopped parsley, marinated garbanzo beans, sliced mushrooms, any kind of olives, feta cheese, Parmesan cheese, nuts or seeds, finely chopped chive greens, hard boiled egg, cherry tomatoes (uncut), croutons and stuff like that. Sometimes if I have thinly sliced beef that has been stir fried just with garlic and salt and pepper, I like to add that, too. (I'm getting hungry).
I like a vinaigrette that my dh makes. It's very simple, with extra virgin Olive oil, vinegar or fresh lemon juice, a touch of dry Coleman's mustard, garlic, maybe a little sugar to cut the tartness. (Cut a garlic clove in half and mash and smear it around the bottom of the salad bowl. Throw the remaining garlic away. Add extra virgin olive oil and make sure you get it all over the garlic. Add the vinegar, and the dry ingredients to this and stir to blend it well. If you are going to use Parmesan cheese in the salad, don't add salt, but you can add pepper.) Add the salad to the dressing and toss it. Sometimes he adds a little tarragon (which I hate).
I like taco salad, made with shredded iceberg, diced tomatoes, fine chopped purple onion, chopped cilantro leaves, chopped olives, diced avocado and shredded sharp cheddar cheese. The dressing which I serve on the side, is a mixture of mayo or yogurt and mayo, Pico Pica Hot Sauce or Herdez Salsa Verde and fresh lime juice, all to taste. Then, I cut corn tortillas into wedges and fry them until they're crisp. Even my dh, who hate iceberg, likes this stuff.
I like warm spinach salad. I use baby spinach leaves, toasted pecans, sun dried tomatoes (the kind in olive oil, with no herbs added, blotted) and broken up pieces of Gorgonzola cheese. The dressing is extra virgin Olive oil, raspberry vinegar, garlic and a little orange juice, heated then poured over the salad (make it to your taste and there are recipes on line for this).
