Ah, salad. Few foods in the American diet share its level of
ubiquity. One could even argue that it’s experiencing a sudden upsurge,
considering the exponential growth of dedicated salad joints like Chopt, Mixt, Sweetgreen
and whatever other obnoxiously named cafés I’m omitting.
Though it’s an easy way to introduce a hefty serving of
veggies into one’s diet, eating what can sometimes taste like a bowl of grass
for lunch every day gets pretty old.
 |
| salsa + ranch = <3 |
Enter homemade dressing. Using whatever ingredients are at
one’s disposal to create new salad sauces helps dispel the monotony surrounding
a daily dish of greens. In this particular salad, spicy salsa contrasts, and
also carries farther the calorie count, of cool, creamy ranch, while hot
peppers and onions offset crisp chilled lettuce and other veggies.
Other good ingredients to keep on-hand for homemade dressings
are mustard (Dijon, regular, horseradish, whatever), honey, vinegar, lemons,
limes, oranges, avocados, scallions, chiles, cilantro, basil, garlic, ketchup (haaaahahaha),
Worcestershire, soy sauce, ginger…all it takes is a little imagination and a
lot of quality olive oil.
Ensalada suroeste picante (spicy southwest salad)
onions and peppers (sautéed in olive oil, garlic and
splashes of Worcestershire and tabasco)
black bean burger, cooked and diced
lettuce
carrots
red cabbage
pepper jack cheese
avocado
banana peppers
diced cherry tomatoes
salsa mixed with ranch dressing
