Chopped Salad

The Sassy Llama Way

Yes, the rumors are true. I eat green salads for breakfast most mornings and I like it. For several years, it was dinner, as well. I started eating this way in 2020 due to digestive issues, though it was not long before I did so for pleasure. Since I have been traveling, some miracle has occurred and I am now able to enjoy other foods for dinner—breakfast salads are still necessary to keep my digestion on track; I am thankful to have found a way to thoroughly enjoy them.

Salad can be a joy, especially if one can bring themself to look at it with a fresh new perspective. This ain’t going to be Grandma’s salad of iceberg lettuce, giant chunks of vegetables and ranch dressing. Honestly, it ain’t even going to be the salad one gets at most corporate restaurants – romaine that tastes like plastic, dry chunks of cucumber, quarter tomatoes and dressing with enough sodium to power a body for life in one sitting. I am not the only one that used a fork and knife to get a salad down my gullet back in the old days, lest a piece of lettuce the size of my fist flop around my face while I tried to shove it in my piehole. Lookit, I knew a woman who literally carried a pair of scissors in her purse in order to cut the salad up at restaurants. A bowl of greens offers us a chance to add a wide variety of nourishing whole foods into our diet. By adding meat (or vegan substitute) and toasted bread, it becomes a very filling meal and has endless variety.

Here are some tips to make getting more fresh veggies and nourishing greens into your diet on the regular!

To start, plan to have some basic staples always available. It may take a little while to adjust to keeping these items on hand. Each time you go to the shops, purchase one new ingredient from each category. Before you know it, you will have what you need handy at all times and only need to top up with fresh fruit and veggie once a week. I know—you might be thinking I am crazy. Be patient, though, do a little here, a little there; it will not take long to get the hang of it and you will be enjoying the benefits of a delicious, healthy meal in minutes. Really!!

See my recipe here for Chopped Salad to get an idea of what sorts of produce and other goodies to keep on hand for the most satisfaction.

It is very important to buy organic or local food as much as possible. Not only is it good for your body and mind, we offer our support to farmers and producers who work hard to support themselves, their family, us and our planet, too. Seek out your local farmers market or stands.

If you are lucky, like those in Wallowa County, Oregon, you have the awesome opportunity to shop with Good Groceries, whose mission it is to connect local farmers and producers to the community and they deliver right to your door, once a week! Best locally sourced meat options ever……..

Or maybe you live in Corvallis, Oregon, where the best farmers market I have ever encountered sets up along the Willamette River, year-round! Best salad greens ever…...

Perhaps you just happen to be strolling around good ole’ Scotland, where small, family-owned butcher shops are the rule, not the exception. Best customer service ever……..

Athens, Ohio has a pretty fabulous farmers market, also year-round, and happening local foods scene, too. When my daughter was young, we used our SNAP dollars to purchase most of what we needed, from meat to milk to produce, from local farmers. Best bacon ever…….

Anyway, you probably get the point — look around! You might be surprised at the abundance of local and sustainable foods that are very near to you.

Here are a few tips to help get you started on this new adventure:

*Store organic nuts, seeds and dried fruit in mason jars in the cupboard or on the counter so they are easily accessible and visible. Plus they look so nice on display.

*Make a new rule of only washed and ready to eat produce in the refrigerator or in bowls on counter/table. When you arrive home from the grocery, do not put the produce right away. Wash the produce with soapy water and rinse thoroughly (hard or skinned produce) or by making a 2 part vinegar to 1 part water solution (soft/delicate produce) and let them soak for a bit—do not rinse. Lay produce on towels to air dry before storing produce in linen bags, glass bowls or jars in the fridge. Berries or grapes are best washed by submerging colander in a bowl filled with the vinegar solution, letting soak then pulling it up and allow to air dry in colander, giving a shake once in a while. The vinegar smell and taste will dissipate from all produce fairly quickly.

*Make the most of your time in the kitchen. For instance, while a roast is in the oven, fry up some ground beef, pork or bison, say double what you might usually prepare, and roast a baking tray of carrots or parsnips simultaneously. Or perhaps roast a chicken, pan fry pork chops and boil potatoes for mashers at the same time. Working out your comfort level with doing this will save time the rest of the week, enabling you to spend less time on food prep, if that is what you wish. Many of us were raised to cook a meat, potato, veg and bread meal every night, with expectations of variety strong. Ain’t none of us got time for that any more. Unless, of course, that is your happy place. In which case, ignore everything in this paragraph.

*For each meal, pull out the ingredients for salad. Mix it up! Do root veggies one night and mediterranean veggies the next. Make fruit and nuts the star one morning and fresh fruit the next. Here is where the variety comes into play, taking a mundane salad to the next level. Do the prep (chopping, slicing, dicing) while warming up already prepared meat and toasting bread. If toasting in an oven or toaster oven, drizzle a bit of olive oil on the bread before toasting.

*Use a hand mandolin to slice veggies thinly, then a knife to chop the thinly sliced veggies. If you do not have a mandolin, use a knife to thinly slice veggies, then chop them into small pieces after that.

There might be nothing so important as having the right tools in the kitchen. While not everyone finds joy in the kitchen like I do, having proper tools makes it all easier. Here are a few things that I recommend having, just the basics.

*Good knives – a chef knife, paring/peeling knives, bread knife and steak knives are an absolute must. If you can sharpen them yourself, even better.

*Good cutting boards – please, please invest in wood or bamboo cutting boards. Get in the habit of doing all food prep on them. If just chopping fruits or veggies, they simply need a good rinse and allow to air dry properly before stacking them up against a cupboard or wall. If you use them for meat or something messy, give them a proper soap and water wash, then air dry. Do not put them in the dishwasher!

*Good fine mesh strainers and a solid colander – handy in so many ways.

*Good stainless steel pans or cast-iron – please, please, please do not cook in aluminum pans. Cast-iron can be washed with soap and water, do not give in to the fear-mongering! Just be sure to dry it thoroughly after washing and every once in a while give it a good wipe with olive oil and place in the oven on low for a little while to season it.

*Green scrubbies and steel scrubbers – all you need to clean pans well.

*Stainless steel spatulas and wooden spoons for cooking

*Silicone spatulas for swooping sauces out of pans and bowls

*Glass measuring cup – minimum 2 cup, 4 cup is even better.

I have more opinions on the basics for kitchen tools but I will control myself here for now. Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave a comment or ask questions.

I do this work because it bring me joy to share what I have learned over many years working with food and herbs. I do not want to ascribe a certain dollar amount to each offering lest it alienate those that may want this information the most.

If you find value in this or other recipes, blogs or writing on our site, please feel free to click on the Support Sassy Llama’s Work button below and make a financial contribution.

**I do not receive any money from companies or farmers that I promote. I simply like to pass on the good news when I find the good ones.