Standby Salad

1-2 heads of romaine lettuce

½ a bag of baby spinach

1-2 green onions or scallions

½ shallot

Few sprigs of fresh cilantro

Few sprigs of fresh parsley

2 stalks of celery

½ bell pepper

¼ c raisins

1/3 c craisins

1 diced apple

Get out your cutting board and a good knife; there’s lots of chopping in this recipe.  You’ll also need a big salad bowl with a lid.  Begin by chopping the romaine lettuce into small bite size pieces and add the lettuce to the bowl.  Next repeat the process with the spinach, green onions, shallot, herbs, celery and bell pepper. 

Next take the craisins and raisins and put them in a small pot.  Fill it with water just enough to cover the craisins and raisins.  Add a teaspoon of lemon juice.  Put it on the stove and set the heat to low.  Let it simmer for about 5 minutes or until you see the water evaporate.  Do not let the water evaporate.  Remove them from the heat and put them in a small bowl.  Add cold tap water to cool and drain it.  Now you have nice plump raisins and craisins.  Add these to the salad bowl.

Next dice your apple and place it in a bowl with a lid.  Add a tablespoon of lemon juice and secure the lid.  Now gently shake the container for a couple of seconds.  Remove the lid and add the apple to your salad.  This prevents the apples from going brown.

Mix all the ingredients well in the bowl.  Cover the bowl and place it in your refrigerator until ready to serve. 

Adding Chicken:

This is a lovely salad to serve with a protein so here’s how you add a chicken breast.

Take one of the chicken breasts from the magic bag of chicken breasts and baste it with a nice lite Italian dressing and a little garlic salt and pepper.  Bake or broil it, careful not to overcook it.  Once done, slice into strips and serve on top of a bed of standby salad.  One of these chicken breasts should serve at least two people once sliced into ¼ inch strips.

Adding Tuna or salmon

Personally, I like to add plain tuna or salmon to this salad with a side of ranch for dipping.  It’s really very good and I encourage you to try it.

If you want a bit more umph, try this recipe, it the same recipe whether you’re using tuna or salmon: 

1 can of tuna or tuna sized can of salmon

¼ cup of light ranch dressing

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (optional, if you don’t have it skip it, don’t use yellow mustard)

1 stalk of celery

½ shallot finely chopped.

1 hard boiled egg

Mix the first three ingredients well, chop the celery and shallot finely and add to the tuna or salmon.  Next peel and chop up the egg and add to the fish.  Mix well and serve on a bed of standby salad.