The Ultimate Garden Salad

Basically anything tastes good smothered in my homemade The Only Salad Dressing You’ll Ever Need Dressing (recipe linked here). However I feel like I need to explain myself more, specifically my relationship with salads. I have never been a salad girl. Always a sandwich girl. And then I became gluten-intolerant (before it became a fad, which somehow makes me feel more validated) in my young twenties and those days were gone. Gone like the wind. So because I couldn’t be a sandwich girl anymore, I became a soup girl. Anything to stay away from……………… salad. At the time I thought a salad couldn’t fill me up, it wasn’t as tasty or exciting as other options. It took me until I was around 28 or 29 to finally step into the realm of salads and maaaan I’m so glad I did.

Here’s the story. I went out to eat with my family at one of my favorite local restaurants, Redstone. And they have a steak cobb salad on their menu. I have no idea what prompted me to order it (probably the steak portion of the salad) but at first bite it changed the way I viewed salads permanently. It was insanely delicious – full of flavor, texture, color. It was served on a chilled plate but the steak was perfectly warmed and positioned on top of the bed of lettuce along with shaved red onions, grilled asparagus, grape tomatoes, and smoked bacon. Every bite was mouth-watering and I knew it even before I finished. I was officially a salad girl. I no longer order salads or make salads because “I have to” or because “they’re good for me.” I eat them because they are truly delicious and make my body feel great!!

So back to this salad. It is exactly what it claims to be, the ultimate garden salad. And I eat this salad more than any other because it’s SO UNBELIEVABLY GOOD, easy, and versatile. You can switch up the veggies, add steak or shrimp instead of chicken, or even opt out of the meat altogether for an easy side salad. The options are limitless and we can all be salad girls (and boys) together.