What do you do to jazz up your salad? Any recipes? Any ideas?

Avoid the blahhs! A nice spring mix with artichoke hearts, sliced red onion, quartered Roma tomatoes, crumbled bleu or Gorgonzola cheese and top with a nice sweet cream vinaigrette. (Mix equal parts ranch with basalmic vinaigrette.) Buen Apetito!!What do you do to jazz up your salad? Any recipes? Any ideas?
I never follow a recipe, but great ways to jazz up salads include a little bit of real, freshly cooked bacon, chopped hard boiled egg, sliced almonds (you can buy them flavored for salads), feta cheese, olives, slivered sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, pepperoncini, feta cheese, blue cheese, fresh chopped parsley or basil, leftover cold meats or chicken, sliced deli meats or salami, chick peas, canned or marinated artichoke hearts.





Of course, not all of them in the same salad!What do you do to jazz up your salad? Any recipes? Any ideas?
Two of my favorite salads are


Simple...


Spring Greens, sliced beets, walnuts, and crumbled bleu cheese with a fresh herb vinaigrette.





Not so simple...


Mix some romaine with spring greens and broccoli slaw. Top that with mandarin oranges, sliced water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, wasabi peas, peanuts, chow mein noodles, and some sliced fried wontons. I always add chicken to mine as well. Then drizzle that with a sesame-ginger dressing and enjoy.
Some things I like to add to salads are:





white beans, dried cranberries, cubed ham, feta or blue cheese crumbles, sun dried tomatoes, green olives, banana peppers, bacon crumbles, marinated mushrooms, cashews or pine nuts, fresh basil or parsley, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, fresh cracked pepper, mandarin orange segments, water chestnuts, homemade garlic and herb croutons.
So this might sound strange, but my friend taught me this amazing salad recipe.





All you need is some fresh spinach leaves, strawberries, and grilled chicken and mix together. the strawberries taste great in it.





it tastes the best with a vinegar base dressing
I like to add dried cherries and toasted slivered almonds, serve with balsamic dressing and add goat cheese to greens, makes a great salad.





Or I love a Greek Salad:


http://www.cooking-is-easy-and-fun.com/G鈥?/a>
Olives (either black or green), banana peppers, fresh ground pepper, crumbled feta cheese or grated parmesan cheese. It makes your salad somewhat Mediterranean.
All of the above suggestions are fine, but it makes a huge difference if you use a salad cream that's really yummy. I love peanut-ginger dressing.
you can make an anti pasta salad with meats, cheeses, olives etc or you can do fiesta style with tomatoes, avocadoes, etc. or in place of greens use something else such as asparagus, noodles, etc.
garbanzo beans, asparagus, beats, croutons, cheese, sunflower seeds, bacon, tomatoes.





The possibilities are endless!
I enjoy Greek salads, so try making one of those. I also use Goat Cheese to mix it up a bit. Add a balsamic base dressing. Good luck!!