Over the weekend I posted a quick pic of the salad a threw together for lunch on my personal Instagram story. I was a little surprised by the number of salad lovers out there! All of those messages inspired me to share one of my favorite salad combinations along with a super simple homemade lemon pepper vinaigrette for all you salad lovers out there!
I love that salads can come together from an endless combination of ingredients from the pantry and fridge. I’ve made a different salad nearly every day for the last week for lunch using leftover protein from the fridge and different pantry items. Variety is the spice of life! When I’m plotting the ingredients for my daily salad, I want contrasting textures and balanced flavors. There’s nothing boring or basic about a salad from my kitchen.
Today, I whipped up a really good one! I’ve listed the ingredients below.
- Baby arugula
- Crumbled goat cheese
- Dried cherries
- Leftover HIH Slow Cooker Chicken
- Lemon pepper vinaigrette (recipe to follow)
Simple Lemon Pepper Vinaigrette
Equipment
- 1 bowl or mason jar
- 1 fork or whisk
- measuring spoons
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1½ teaspoons course ground black pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl or mason jar.
- Whisk in a bowl or vigoriously shake the mason jar until combined. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
Nutrition
Home Salad Assembly Hacks
One Bowl Meal
Truth be told, if I’m making a salad at home, it’s not making it to a pretty bowl. I’m going to eat it right out of the metal mixing bowl I made it in and save a dirty dish. If I’m making a homemade vinaigrette, I’ll whip up a single serving in the same mixing bowl. For the lemon pepper vinaigrette in this post, you can halve the recipe for the perfect single serving of dressing.
Dress the Bowl
My favorite salad hack when making a salad at home is to add the dressing to the side of the bowl I’m mixing the salad in before adding all of the other ingredients. This method will hold true for both small single serving salads and large salads for sharing. If I’ve made the dressing in the bowl, I’ll carefully turn the bowl let the dressing coat the sides before adding the other ingredients.
When the dressing is on the side of the bowl it takes 1/2 the time to get all of the ingredients evenly coated in salad dressing than when it’s poured over the top. No gloppy dressing blobs next to dry lettuce. Just toss the salad ingredients around in the bowl a few times and you’ve got a perfectly dressed salad! Too much salad dressing can shift a salad from a healthy meal to a fat and calorie bomb pretty quickly. This hack can help you use the proper amount of dressing without sacrificing the deliciousness that salad dressing adds to a salad.
Make the Dressing – It’s worth it!
Once you’ve tried homemade salad dressings, you’ll never go back to store bought. Ok, maybe never is too strong of a statement. I keep a bottle of Ken’s Lite Caesar in my fridge at all times because I can’t figure out how to make anything better…yet. But, generally speaking for the little amount of effort it takes to make a homemade dressing, the taste and quality are going to win every time. If the vinaigrette style dressing in this in this post isn’t your style, give the HIH Pantry Ranch a try! It’s creamy and zesty, everything a great ranch dressing should be!
What’s your favorite at home salad combination?
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