“Just the Toppings” Salad

This isn’t really a recipe. More of a suggestion.

Leave. Lettuce. Alone.

• If you’ve ever had a bag of slimy, brown lettuce in your fridge, this recipe is for you.
• If you’re sick and tired of throwing away unused lettuce week after week, this recipe is for you.
• If you’ve ever ate a salad and thought, “Wow, the lettuce is adding nothing to this dish, and if it wasn’t here, I probably wouldn’t miss it,” this recipe is for you.

Essentially, we’re taking everything good about a salad and leaving out the not-so-good (aka the lettuce).

Why? Because of all of those reasons up there. ☝️ And also because it’s probably my least-favorite part of any salad.

I’m never like “OH YES ROMAINE TONIGHT!” Or like “Mixed greens?! Yes please!” Or even like “Kale? HECK YES.”

I just… don’t love lettuce.

But I do love veggies. And that’s how the “Just the Toppings Salad” was born.

Is it weird to eat a salad that is just toppings? Perhaps.

Should that stop you? No. Especially if you’ve fallen victim to the high hopes of working your way through a bag of lettuce in a week only to find it in a very different color in a deep, dark corner of your refrigerator the following week.

I definitely don’t know what that’s like. Definitely not.

Groceries are just too dang expensive right now to allow for that. At least in my opinion.

That’s why I’ve been making a version of this salad every day for lunch for about a month. It’s everything I love about a salad, and find that I’m eating more veggies this way because I’m not at the mercy of the lowly bag of lettuce anymore.

I am FREE. And you can be free too, my friend.

I realize this has been a chaotic and silly little post about a lettuceless salad, but it really is very good.

And of course, the beauty of this salad lies in whatever ingredients you have on-hand. I always have a mix of veggies like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, carrots, and olives, but anything you love in a regular salad will work.

I also am just so incredibly into roasted, salted sunflower seeds on my salads right now, so those are not optional. Unless you don’t like them. In that case, you do you.

Add some chickpeas for protein and toast up some bread on the side, and what do ya know! A tasty, veg-filled salad with nary a lettuce leaf in sight.

Out with the food waste, in with yummy, lettuceless salads. Yes, please.

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