Why does making a salad sometimes seem like a chore? Well, it shouldn’t be. A salad is a great component of lots of meals and often it can even be your entire meal. Salads are great for maintaining health, as they take time to eat, they add vegetables and fruits into your meal and they are filling. One caveat: what starts off as a healthy salad can quickly move to the unhealthy category if too many high-calorie items are added, so beware of too many add-ons, like croutons and creamy dressings.

Depending on which is more important to you, paying for your time or paying for ingredients, many of these items can be purchased pre-cooked, pre-cut or pre-diced.

So, pick one or two ingredients from every category and make yourself a fabulous spring salad!

Leaves:

• Iceberg lettuce
• Romaine lettuce
• Arugula
• Spinach
• Chopped kale
• Butter lettuce
• Chopped up cabbage for cole slaw
• Chopped up broccoli slaw
• Spring mix bag of salad

Proteins, nuts and cheeses:

• Hard boiled eggs, or just the egg whites, sliced or diced
• Gorgonzola cheese
• Shredded Swiss Cheese
• Buffalo mozzarella cheese, sliced
• Crumbled feta cheese
• Chopped or shredded cooked chicken (can sometimes be purchased from the butcher counter in a grocery store or as part of a rotisserie)
• Leftover cooked ground turkey, ground beef or shredded beef or pork
• Tuna, packed in water, drained
• Tofu, drained and cubed
• Prosciutto
• Leftover poached salmon or other fish
• Any nuts (walnuts, sliced or slivered almonds, pine nuts, cashews, sunflower seeds)

Loads of Fruits and Veggies (go crazy with these!)

• Berries (blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry)
• Slices of clementines (no seeds and so easy to peel, the lazy man’s fruit)
• Sliced or chopped cucumbers
• Red or yellow peppers (a little milder than green peppers), sliced or diced
• Roasted beets
• Corn, canned and drained
• Black beans, drained and rinsed
• Artichoke hearts
• Hearts of palm
• Onion varieties (red, yellow, scallions, leeks, shallot)
• Halved cherry tomatoes (easier to slice)
• Pitted figs or dates
• Olives (black, green or kalamata)
• Raisins or currants
• Dried cranberries
• Sun-dried tomatoes or peppers
• Shredded carrot

Dressings:

Any commercial dressing is great, particularly a low-calorie option.

You can also make your own vinaigrette by combining olive oil, balsamic vinegar or any other vinegar, and your choice of these:

• herbs (basil, dill and mint are great options)
• a little bit of sweet (sugar or sweetener, honey, jam or jelly)
• citric juice (lemon, lime, grapefruit,orange)
• chopped garlic
• a touch of yogurt
• sour cream
• soy sauce
• Picante sauce
• Pico de gallo