Many of us are creatures of habit, and that definitely includes getting the same things over and over at the salad bar. However, if salad is your primary way of getting vegetables in for the day, then eating salad can get rather boring over time unless you start getting creative.
When hovering around the salad bar at the grocery store, I always take a peek at what other people put in their salad because it's interesting to see how people mix up their veggies and fixins' differently. It's also a great way for me to get inspired to try something new.
Here are some of my typical salad habits:
- I always do mixed greens because I don't like ice burg lettuce. At Whole Foods, I will take a salad box all the way to the vegetable/fruit aisles and get some arugula (my favorite) to mix in with the mixed greens. My local store is cool with that.
- On top of the greens, I will get about 6-7 different items and of equal amounts typically shredded carrots, beets, cucumber, edamame, hearts of palm, cherry tomatoes, and snap peas if they have them. Occasionally, I'll get radish, garbanzos, sun dried tomatoes, or peas. I saw some mango salsa the other day and threw some of that on my salad and it was delicious. I also recently tried adding some tabbouleh and that was good too.
- I usually go vegan on salad because for some reason I don't care for boiled egg on greens, and I rarely add cheese because I think it starts to take over the flavor of the veggies.If I add cheese, it will either be a sprinkle of feta or fresh parmesan.
- I always get the dressing on the side, and I do honey mustard or oil & vinegar. Whole Foods has a Ginger dressing and a Sweet Red Pepper dressing I really like.
- I usually only eat crunchy bits in Chinese Chicken Salads. Not a fan of the crouton although I've had fresh baked croutons and those are delicious.
So, what are some of your salad bar habits?
