Sensational Salads #5: “To Toss or Not to Toss…Now that is the Question”

In doing this series of posts on salads, I thought it was worth some discussion on whether to toss a salad or not. So, here are my thoughts:

Why Toss:

  • The flavour is more uniform as it permeates the entire body of the salad.
  • It is nice to serve a salad that is already dressed and ready to go.
  • I find that when you put the dressing on the table, it can add to clutter of items on the table and can sometimes be messy to serve, especially when it is not being squeezed from a store bought bottle of dressing. (I guess one advantage of store bought is that they tend to be less messy.)

Why You Might Decide Not to Toss:

  • Once tossed, the salad really won’t keep well, so any leftovers are pretty much trash.
  • Everyone has different preferences when it comes to salad dressing. Some prefer it bathing in dressing, while others (like my daughter) often opt for NO dressing at all. By serving the salad plain, each individual can decided how they would like to dress their own salad according to their own personal preferences.
  • If you are watching calories, you might like more portion control when it comes to the dressing. Years ago, I learned a technique that actually works surprisingly well for this. Use an individual little cup (think shot glass size) and put your dressing into it. Instead of putting your dressing on your salad, dip your fork into your little cup of dressing before each bite. Although there is no dressing actually applied to the salad, it does give great flavour and keeps your dressing usage to a minimum. The down side is that whatever you don’t used has to be tossed and thus is wasted, but I guess better those calories in the trash than in your body if you are trying to cut them!

In the end, it really comes down to personal preference. I find that I change it up depending on who I am serving the salad to, what kind of salad it is and if there is the potential for leftovers. Here is what I tend to do:

  • Very lightly toss the entire salad (or a portion of it I think there might be extra leftover). By tossing it with minimal dressing, I am getting the flavour throughout the salad, but know the dressing won’t be too heavy. I then serve a side of extra dressing for anyone who wants to add more.
  • If I make a salad for myself (say pack it for lunch), I always take a little container and just pour it over the top. I don’t ever toss it. It just works for me.
  • Some salads actually need to be tossed in the dressing to soften the flavours or textures in the salad. I feel like kale might fall into this category. I might have more tendency to toss if I have kale in a salad, as it can be bitter tasting.

By now you’ve realized that I never really answered the question, but have just given you some options to consider. Stay tuned for more great salad recipes!

Mystery Box Riddle #104

Sensational Salads #4: Our Family’s Favourite Salad

I came upon this recipe a few years ago and although I didn’t make-up the name for this salad, the title doesn’t disappoint. It is absolutely one of our favourites! I like to roast my own peppers and don’t always have artichokes on hand, so I do find it is a bit more of a “plan ahead” salad and thus I don’t make it as often as I’d like. This recipe for Our Family’s Favorite Salad is brought to you by Gimme Some Oven.

Our Family’s Favorite Salad

SALAD INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 head red-leaf lettuce, chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • (I am never too particular about the greens I use in my salads and will sometimes just opt for the store bought “Spring Mix” in lieu of above or just use a mixture or what I have on hand)
  • 1/2 red onion, peeled and thinly-sliced
  • 2 (14 ounce) jars quartered artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped (I only use one but this is just personal preference)
  • 1 (12 ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and diced (I prefer OVEN roasting my own peppers! It is simple to do and can be done ahead of time. Here is a simple tutorial. One pepper is probably enough, but I would roast two and then decided if it looks like too much and if it does, just store the extra in the fridge for your next salad, pizza topping or omelette!)
  • 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts*
  • 1 batch zesty red wine vinaigrette (See below)
  • optional garnish: extra freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

Place the ingredients in a large bowl and toss.  Serve immediately, garnished with extra Parmesan cheese, if desired.

ZESTY RED WINE VINAIGRETTE INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano is super yummy!!)
  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil (I sometimes substitute with avocado oil)
  • 1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, store-bought or homemade
  • 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Place all of the ingredients in a jar and shake like crazy!  Toss in salad and serve immediately.*

*Pine nuts can be pricey and I fine them to be quite bland. I will use them if I have them on hand, but will throw in other nuts or seeds when I don’t. I really like the salad with pistachios! We buy a large bag at Costco, so I pretty much always have them on hand. So yummy!!

Simple Upcycle: Sofa Feet Turned to Tiered Pillar Candle Holders

A few years ago, I salvaged some old couch feet. I immediately saw the potential to stack the short stubby feet and make a set of tiered candle holders. Despite the fact that I knew this would be a super easy project, I had them stored with my other “to do” materials for close to two years. I finally took them out during Covid.

This project was so simple to do and cost next to nothing to pull off.

couch feet upcycle
1. I gathered the feet and gave them a very light sanding just to scuff the surface so the paint would stick.
2. I used “NO More Nails” adhesive to glue the feet together. I wanted 3 different heights, so I left one as is and then made a stack of 2 and a stack of 3.
3. I spray painted the stack once the glue had set. I didn’t like how visible the joins were, so I ended up filling the gaps with plaster and then lightly painting again.
4. I picked up some metal coasters at the thrift store and glued them to the tops. I felt that I wanted something extra for the candle to sit on. Once these set, I added spray paint to them as well.
5. Here are the finished candle holders. I am pleased with how they turned out, but am still wondering if I might go back and distress them slightly. The one thing about spray painting is that you are somewhat limited by the colour selection. I find the white spray paint very stark and sometimes feel that antiquing projects slightly, often creates more of the result I am looking for.
Part of my outdoor space makeover this summer has been to pretty up our front porch. I ended up putting these out on the porch. Instead of antiquing them as I originally thought, I just ended up adding a small band of twine around each. Simple, but the natural rawness of the twine seems to soften the stark white just enough!

Stay tuned….as part of my front porch project, I recently made a welcome sign for our entrance. You can see a hint of it behind the candles!

Mystery Box Riddle #103

Upcycled Garden Decor #2: DIY Picket Fence

As mentioned in a previous post, the lush green vine that completely encompasses our fence is quite lovely, but also over powering. This spring, I decided that we needed to break-up the vine/green with some yard decor. There were hardly any stores open at that point (due to Covid), so I decided to look through what we already had on hand. Some of the items were set to be listed on Kijiji while others were awaiting projects or their final resting place in the landfill. Amongst our stash, I found the old spindles from our stair case make over last summer. As I walked past them, I was immediately struck with an idea! (My husband has grown to hate when that happens because my ideas often involve him!)

spindles turned picket fence
What I saw was the angle on the top of the posts…why not flip one post so that the tip of the angles met to create a peak…like on the top of a picket fence?
spindles turned picket fence
You can see that just by flipping the post, the fence top was automatically created!
spindles turned picket fence
I had my husband screw the posts together.
spindles turned picket fence
He then added two braces across to finish the fence off. You can see this didn’t cost us a penny as it was all scrap wood!
DIY Picket Fence
Here is a before shot. It was still quite early in the spring, so the vine wasn’t as lush and full as it is later in the season.
DIY Picket Fence
Tim actually liked the idea so much, he even painted it for me. I added this old mailbox that I had previously painted daisies on, for added interest. This photo was taken the day we set it up. Now we have to work hard to keep the vine from completely hiding it as well!
DIY Picket Fence
This shot was taken just after I had pruned back some of the vine! I like how the picket fence is mostly hidden and just peaks through to break up the green wall!

I love this upcycle project! It was relatively simple to do and I am quite pleased with the result! In the end, this didn’t end up being my project at all as my hubby did the whole thing…I guess you could just say I was the brains behind it!

Mystery Box Riddle #102

Mystery Box Riddle #101

Upcycled Garden Decor #1: Spindle Birdhouses

Spindle Birdhouses
Spindle Birdhouses
Spindle Birdhouses
Spindle Birdhouses

During the first few months of Covid 19 most of the city was shut down, so not only was I working from home, but like everyone else, there were no dinners out, trips to the mall, gatherings with friends, etc. Like so many others, I found myself trying to get projects done around the house and yard. I would never consider myself a gardener. In fact, my husband would declare that I am not even able to keep our few house plants watered. It’s just not my thing. However, being home more this spring, we decided to try a small container vegetable garden knowing that there were no travel plans and thus no excuses for not being able to care for them. So, on May long weekend, we set to work and planted several containers as well as our basic bedding plants. So far, I would say that for us it has been successful. We’ve enjoyed many fresh salads and some of the vegetables that take longer to grow seem to be coming along well. I’m still in the doghouse for not helping with the watering when Tim is at work, but I am trying! 🤪

Being outside in the yard more, got me noticing how blah it really was. We have gorgeous vine that encompasses our whole fence. Although it is very lush, it is like a green wall. So, I decided that we needed to add a bit of interest by trying to break up sea of green. I began scouring Pinterest for garden upcycling projects, knowing that we have a large supply of “project materials” in storage.

I found some faux birdhouses on Pinterest and loved them. They were a simple project and the only cost was a few bottles of “outdoor” acrylic for the roofs. We had 4 spindles left over from our “oak” hunt last year when we rebuilt our main staircase with antique tables. This old table was actually salvaged from a scrap pile at an antique store, so they cost me nothing. In all honesty, they were in a “take to the dump” pile we were building at my house as well…so they got saved not once, but twice!!!

How to Build the Birdhouses:

  1. From the center of the spindle top, cut down each side of center in a 45 degree angle on the mitre saw. This forms the roof.
  2. Cut two scrap pieces of wood for the roof. We did not mitre these, but rather used 2 straight cut pieces of wood. The size will depend on how big your spindle is and how much of an overhand you want. Tim used the nail gun and glue to secure. One will be slightly larger than the other to compensate for the overlap at the tip of the roof (basically the thickness of the board coming up the other side of the roof.)
  3. Drill one or more holes down the front (depends on style of spindle and how much room you have)
  4. Paint with exterior paint. (I gave them a very quick sand just to get the varnish off. I also put on a coat of primer before my exterior paint.)

I love how these birdhouses came out and it was nice to save the landfill one more time!! Stay tuned for more backyard decor projects that we managed to create from the crap we have hanging around….kind of embarrassing really!

Mystery Box Riddle #100