Fun with chopped salads!

I've always loved chopped salads ... ever since I was little and my mom used to order them as a special treat from CPK, they just remind me of home. Yes, even though they weren't homemade. My mom likes cooking, but she's never seemed to have the knife-love I do. Wait. That sounds bad. I just love chopping, I swear! It's like catharsis to me, something I can stand in the kitchen, listening to music, and just methodically do. So, naturellement, I love chopped salads and I love making them myself. Being strictly happy-meat-and-only-occasionally-mostly-vegetarian-ish means that I can't really order chopped salads anyway, they're always laden with delicious salamis and such. But man, homemade chopped salads are nothing to sneeze at! Seriously, go wash your hands. Gross.

I started out with some oh-so-tasty baby zucchini. I like mine raw - it has a really nice crunch that's different from most veggies - but if you wanted to cook it, your taste is all that matters.

I used about 2 per salad.

After slicing into rounds, I diced them finely; I like my chopped salads to have a little bit of everything in every bite.

Then ... things went a little monochrome. Green zucchini, green cucumber, green olives, green artichoke hearts ... I needed some color variation. Cue the cheese and tomato!

Ah, yes, much better.

Now, this setup is fine if you are making one chopped salad for the day. But I decided to pack mine up in jars, so that I could just pull them out at a moments notice, dress, and munch.

Here in the pictures above, you will see me committing a silly error for the sake of prettier pictures.

When you pack up your jars (or tupperware, or what-have-you), you need to put the juiciest items on the bottom, so they don't juice all over your lovely crunchy ingredients. So now, I had the fun task of separating them into three portions while separating them from the other chopped ingredients. This was NOT efficient, and was a gigantic pain in the buns.

Tomatoes-> artichoke hearts-> olives-> cucumbers-> zucchini-> cheese. Whew.

Now, I am a garlic fiend. I love it. I love it roasted spread on baguettes, I love it sauteed in pasta, I love it diced and raw in salads. It's delicious. It's spicy. It's smelly, and my boyfriend hates it, and he wasn't at home so I don't care I love it.

You know how to peel garlic, right? You take out the clove, lay a wide knife on top, and WHACK! Hit it hard with the side of your fist till the wrapper comes off. Et voila!

Flat. As in parallel to the board. As in don't slice your hand. Knife safety!

 

Then I dice it super-fine, sprinkle over the top, and mmmmmm.

 

Now, this salad is looking a little ... vegetable-y. Needs some protein, and a punch or flavor! TO THE GARBANZOMOBILE!

 Again, garbanzos (chick peas, that stuff you make hummus with) are a divisive factor between the beau and I. I love, he hates, we compromise and I eat them at lunch. I blame his conservative English-Italian East Coast family, but the Italians love them some spices so ultimately I blame the Brits. I, West Coaster that I am, had no choice but to love the flavahs ... my mom's rule with food was 'you have to try it once - if you still hate it you never have to eat it again.' Fair rule mom, well played. So, I get my freaky food fix on at lunch time, so the beau doesn't have to deal.

You know the drill - dice up the garbanzos, toss 'em in.

Next, Tofu Time. Don't roll your eyes at me, kid, wait and hear me out. Baked tofu. You are not allowed to say you don't like tofu till you have seen what it can do. Now, this post is already too damn long, so I'm going to bore you later with tofu facts and a baked tofu recipe. Just make it, dice it up, throw it in that salad and thank me later.

Check out that bountiful bounty!

Learn from my mistakes. Don't put the freaking lettuce in the freaking jar. I had every intention to eat those salads over the next few days. Honest. Forgetting, of course, that it was a holiday weekend. And that my boyfriend had Friday off. Whoopsie. So there the lettuce sat, slowly wilting, sad and lonely - yes, even the mighty arugula (lettuce of choice 85% of the time). Awful. Don't do it. Just leave your jars half empty until you are about to eat them, then you throw in that leafy goodness. And let me tell you, this is one killer salad. Flavor like crazy, low cal, almost non-existent fat, nutrients like crazy, and it keeps you nice and full so you don't go snacking. What do you mean, am I trying to get in shape? Such accusations, I swear!

Sweet manna from heaven.

Anywho, that's it for real-post numero uno. Feel free to switch out any ingredients that set your little heart a-fire, and happy munchin'.