WORLD'S EASIEST SALAD

I’ve always had a hard time getting excited about making a salad because of all the washing of lettuces and vegetables, the chopping, peeling, slicing, dicing and tossing involved, not to mention the dressing that has to be something that everyone likes and doesn’t detract from the salad itself. I love going out to dinner where they have a good salad bar and picking and choosing from all the wonderful array of choices to put on the salad, but doing the same thing at home always seems like way too much trouble for something as mundane as lettuce. Salad-making is just something you have to ease into and become converted to like classical music or Zane Grey westerns. So here is a recipe I invented for a simple salad that I guarantee you will find easy, fun to make and possibly as good as it gets when it comes to salads.

1 bag of fancy mixed salad greens, washed and ready to use.

I know it will be tempting for you to start adding on a lot of other stuff like onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, etc. that you might have lying around, but this is not the salad for those vegetables, as lovely and delicious as they are.

Simply put the lettuce on some very fancy plates. If you feel you must, you can sprinkle on some dried cranberries, sliced almonds* and croutons, but that’s as far as you should go. You then drizzle your favorite salad dressing on top (sparingly) or if you don’t have one, here is a recipe for one that will do the job for you:

WORLD’S EASIEST SALAD DRESSING FOR WORLD’S EASIEST SALAD

½ C. vegetable oil

½ C. cider vinegar

4 t. sugar or equivalent amount of sugar substitute

2 t. dried tarragon

1 t. salt

½ t. black pepper

Blend all the ingredients in a blender or whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar (or substitute), tarragon, salt and pepper until sugar is dissolved and dressing is creamy. Serve immediately over salad greens of your choice. Serves 4. Enjoy!

*Sliced almonds are such a handy thing to keep in your kitchen pantry because they can make so many otherwise lackluster things look like you brought it home from a gourmet cookery somewhere. You have to be judicious, though, and not overdo it with them because then they get to be same old, same old. But once in a while you can whip them out and sprinkle them on something and then stand back and watch it go from from ordinary to extraordinary. Whipped cream on top of puddings, pies, cakes or whatever always looks fancier with a few sliced almonds sprinkled around on it.