Lovely Summer Salads

I love salads. In the summer I eat them all the time. And the thing about my salads is that I like HUGE salads - the size of a basketball! When I have a huge salad in the afternoon after work it is usually enough that I do not have to have any dinner.

I take the bowl down and just start throwing things in.

Here are some salad ingredient ideas:

**different types of lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
**tomatoes, avocados, green onions
**beans of some sort, garbanzo or black tend to be my favorite
**carrots in lovely ribbons made with a vegetable peeler
**any vegetable like zucchini that can be made thin with the peeler
**grated cheese, like mozzarella, cheddar or parmesan or feta
**hardboiled eggs
**any cold leftover meat or bacon
**roasted veggies, like eggplant, squash and bell peppers
**albacore tuna
**smoked salmon

I like to make everything bite sized so its easy to eat.

To make it even more of a meal I will broil some chicken, fish or whatever meat I have and slice it thinly then toss that into the bowl.

For dressing I like to keep it simple and its just olive oil, balsamic vinegar a squeeze of lemon and some salt and pepper. If I have fresh herbs I will add some(finely chopped) basil or thyme or a pinch of herbs de provence. A smashed and very finely minced garlic clove once in a while is good. Bottled dressings...I have gotten over those.

Give it a good toss and eat it in the huge bowl it was created in. A baguette to dip into the dressing and a cold beer or a glass of pinot and you're there. LOVELY!! Summer is here!!