Salad Bar Dinner

Note: I am reposting my old food columns from Milford Patch. They originally contained step by step photos and accompanying instructions, which I hope to recreate at some point. Until then, I am posting the original text. This post originally appeared on Patch on May 1, 2011...

May is birthday season at the Raleigh house. Over the next few weeks, our diet will consist of about 30 percent cake (and another 10 percent frosting), so our actual meals tend to rely heavily on salads. This fits in nicely with the warmer weather (finally!) and the beginning of the hectic soccer season when meals need to be quick. We probably have salad bar dinner at least twice a week this time of year. I chop up some lettuce, leaving it right on my cutting board on my island and put out anything else I can find that could conceivably go in a salad. Everyone takes a plate and goes around the island assembling their own salad. It's a great way to use up leftovers, and an even better way to let everyone eat what they want for dinner without having to yell about not being a short order cook! Here are some tips to pulling this off:

Start with good ingredients: Making your own dressing and croutons are easy steps that can be done in advance, and can be used for multiple meals. I’ll give you the recipe for my favorite all-purpose salad dressing that takes seconds to make in the blender.  My other dressing tip is to save your old spice jars to make quick, shaken dressings. I put a little squirt of mustard (maybe some honey) in the bottom, then do a basic 3:1 oil to vinegar ratio (don’t bother to measure, just eyeball it) then shake it up. And that little shaker top with the holes? Throw it back on there; it helps to slow down the dressing pour when kids (or clumsy adults) are doing it themselves. The reason I like the little spice jars is they only make enough dressing for a day or two. The dressing is fresh, it's whatever you're in the mood for that day, and it's gone quickly, so you can throw the whole greasy thing in the dishwasher rather than having to clean it off to put it away.

Have a wide variety of toppings: I always include cucumbers, craisins, walnuts and shredded cheddar for my kids, but I have put out shredded cabbage, broccoli, peppers, berries, shredded carrot, croutons, sunflower seeds, blue or feta cheese, tabouli, chick peas- whatever I have in the fridge. Think about the foods your kids like, put them out there and see what happens. Leftover pasta and rice are very good in salad -- hot or cold -- and serving something sweet, like raisins and coconut makes your kids feel like they are getting away with something. The key is thinking outside the box. I promise you, fruit and grains make a salad! If you need inspiration, just walk by the salad bar at the supermarket, or try to remember a great salad you’ve had in a restaurant.

Slice up your meat: One of the side benefits of serving dinner this way is how much it has cut back on our meat consumption. Because I grill steak or chicken and then serve it sliced, we take only what we will eat from the serving platter. In fact, this has influenced how I serve meat for every meal. Where in the past I would grill 4 chicken breasts for my family of 5, now I grill 3 breasts. The other night, I grilled a steak that was .70 of a pound and I had a few slices left on the serving plate after dinner! If it's too hot to grill, use leftover deli meat, or Easter ham or roasted chicken, or open a can of tuna.

2014 note: Wow, I wrote this column when my kids were much smaller so these amounts have increased significantly! The underlying principle remains the same, however.

Make it portable: If you need to eat on the go, have everyone assemble a salad in a food storage container. Or, while you have everything out, make up a salad for tomorrow’s lunch. Having everything ready is the key to eating more salad, so chop everything up while you have the knife in your hand and store it all ready to grab and go.

The recipe (from smitten kitchen)

¾ Cup canola oil

¼ Cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ Cup red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

¾ tsp dry mustard

½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce

¼ tsp. sugar

1 clove garlic, smashed

Salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor.