Marcia Selden's Ultimate Chopped Salad

You gotta love a chopped salad! There’s something so satisfying about all of the different textures, flavors and colors.  Marcia Selden Catering wants to share their favorite chopped salad recipe with you; chock full of color and crunch with kale as it’s main ingredient. This is not only scrumptious but it’s incredibly healthy.

It’s best to let the kale “cook down” in the dressing for at least an hour.  Raw kale can be a bit hard to digest.

Marcia’s Best Salad Dressing

1 C. extra virgin olive oil

1 C. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 to 2 small garlic cloves, crushed

1 Tbs. honey or agave or Dijon mustard

1 tsp. Kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste 

Place all dressing ingredients into a large bowl, add kale and mix together until well combined. 

Here is their list of the best mix-ins to make the ultimate in chopped salad deliciousness.  If you don’t want to use kale, chopped romaine or any combination of greens (butter lettuce, arugula, spinach, mesclun etc) is great too. Remember to thinly slice or finely dice everything so it mixes evenly. Pick your favorite 6-7 mix-ins for an incredibly yummy, satisfying meal!

Chopped Salad Suggestions

Chopped kale leaves, stems removed

Cooked and cooled brown rice, quinoa or wheat berries

Pomegranate seeds

Toasted slivered almonds, pine nuts or sunflower seeds

Currants or dried cranberries

Diced avocado

Cubed roasted sweet potato or squash

Crumbled feta, goat, blue or Gorgonzola cheese

Grilled or Corn

Diced Red onion

Red and yellow peppers

Artichoke hearts

Hearts of palm

Diced tomato

Kalamata olives

Hard-boiled egg

Crispy crumbled bacon

Chickpeas

Cucumber

Slivered Carrots                                                       

Diced Beets

Get creative…make a deconstructed “chopped salad bar” for lunch with friends or for a light supper in the Spring or Summer.  Put all of the components in separate bowls and let guests toss their own!