The essential salad ingredient

[Morn]

I was just thinking about it and I found for me if I don't have tomatoes on my salad it really isn't a salad. What is you essential salad ingredient that you have to have?

[ella]

i love tomatoes and avocado in my salad- but when i find good olives it just takes the salad to a whole other yummy level. :)

[Vegan Princess]

Well I'll go ahead and state the obvious and say greens - usually spinach. ;) But lately I just don't seem to enjoy a salad unless it has avocado. In fact for lunch all week I have just been having a big bed of greens with an avocado sliced on it. Mmmm.

Cindy

[Dimond]

Onions and/or garlic.

[Crisyn]

Ha, I'm the opposite - I don't have to have any "leaves" for it to be a salad. I am not a big fan of lettuce - and never was, I used to call it "a useless vegetable" - and if I do use a leaf, it is always spinach.
My have-to-have veggie is avocado. I love, love, love, love, love them. I also like grated carrots, and tomatoes. Yum!

[aubrey]

My salads always seem to contain what I call the "base" ingredients, to which I add to depending on what ever else I have...

1. Avocado
2. Red bell pepper
3. Spinach
4. Alfalfa sprouts
5. Bragg's

Today, I added crimini mushrooms that had been marinated in lime juice, EVOO, sea salt and pepper, broccoli heads, cauliflower heads, and finely chopped sundried tomato bits. :D YUM!

[Gosia]

Greens! Recently, I've been enjoying a simple salad. A selection of baby greens, lettuce, and juice from one orange and 1 Tablespoon tahini as a dressing. It's yum and feels complete to me! I always drink the juice from the bowl at the end, when all the greens are gone, mmm. My son does it too and he mmms when he mentiones this too. Nice ending for the nice meal.


Gosia

[michigan roman]

tomatos are the key for me also , but so is garlic in my dressing .
everything else can vary .

[Firicia]

Spinich. I love the stuff. I don't like sald dressings or anything most of the time I'll just eat a bunch of spinich as a snack while watching tv, or other salad stuff. We get this stuff thats organic and already washed so I just grab the bucket and eat it... everyone else things I'm weird, but who wants to smother salad with ranch dressing? That kinda makes a good meal into a bad meal I always thought.

[Ireland]

Lots of tomatoes. I also love alfalfa sprouts, freshly sprouted and greened up in the sun. :)

[rawpesto]

I need it all...if it's in the fridge...I'm puttin' it in there! Herbs, microgreens, carrots, radishes, cucs, zucchini...whatever!:D
Also, always have to top it off with Sunflower seeds and gogi berries. For a dressing I either use my Japanese style creation or the sweet mustard flax from Foods Alive. Now I'm hungry...I think I'll make one now!:D

[Beckla]

I'm with you, pesto.

I also have found that sprinkling some "cheeze" and/or some artichoke hearts (I know, not raw) makes all the difference for me. I like pine nuts on there a lot, too.

By far, as someone else said, my fav is good olives. Oh - and some fresh beets. I guess it's just that I like my salad to have a mixture of leafy, green, fresh veggies and some "weight" - like the things I mentioned.

The dressing is the real key, though, for me. So far I'm in love with Cynthia's Ceasar from Alissa's book and Alissa's honey mustard.

[RawFoodieMom]

Green onions and celery... just love 'em right now...

[Blazin'Jane]

I put lots of greens in my salads and broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, etc. But I agree with Ella --the olives take a salad over the top! I also like to vary dressings, so it tastes "new" every day.;)

[luckitri]

Olive oil and Braggs apple cider vinegar dressing with some other things added. . . . Chinese dry mustard, sesame oil, nama shoyu

green onions
avocado
spinach
olives of any kind

If I have at least one of the above ingredients I can call it a salad.

Tomatoes I like to have with green bell pepper and avocado, onion and some kind of olive and some greens added as a spice - usually cilantro. The avocado blends with the oil-vinegar dressing and is creamy and delightful.

[RowanC]

Jicama!

Crunchy, sweet JICAMA!

[misslinda]

Avacado for its cellulase that breaksdown the celluose in lettuce

Lemon juice and Cilantro is a must :)