Rainbow Salad
Salad fingers. Do you remember that creepy Ebaum's World video from back in the day? Whenever I think of salad, I think of salad fingers, which then automatically makes me think of Old Gregg and I don't even know why. Maybe because they're both insanely freaky. Now THAT is some weird ish. Weird, but also weirdly quotable and addicting. Classic lines such as "I'm Old Gregggggg," or "you seen my downstairs mix-up," and even the beloved "you pulled me up with your strong arms!" have lived on for many, many years in our household because of that YouTube sensation. If you haven't seen that video, now you're probably curious and I give you permission to leave my site and go watch, and then come back and tell me how weird I am for making you watch that. YOU'RE WELCOME.
Back to food. From my instagram posts, you might surmise that I exist only on chocolate and sunbutter and ice cream. And you'd be semi-correct, but the real fact is that I LOVE SALAD as well. I'm not sure if deep in my subconscious I'm only eating the salad for the sole reason to justify all my chocolate consumption or what, but whatever the reason, I will typically have a gigantic mountain of salad at least once a day--the bigger and crunchier and more colorful, the better actually. I have an undying love for vegetables that came from nowhere. Meaning, as a kid, we ate a lot of the standard American staples--think Hamburger Helper, iceberg lettuce with cheese, ranch and croutons, microwaveable sausage biscuits, glass after glass of chocolate milk, Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies, Rice Krispies with spoonful after spoonful of extra sugar (hey, each bite needed to have at least a teaspoon of white sugar in it, right??), and my personal favorite--Mom's famous homemade Sweet Tea. This tea ya'll. If left unconsumed on the counter for a few days you could pour this "tea" like syrup out of the container.
Recounting all that, makes me wonder how I'm still alive?? In all honesty though, our parents did the best they could with what they had, and we all turned out fine, BUT now that I know better, I try and do a little better. So, although we do have sweets in our house, our main diet is mostly Paleo and includes a TON of fresh vegetables and lean meats.
Although I strongly believe we should be eating for the primary goal of fueling and nourishing our bodies, I also believe that celebrating the beauty of REAL food is equally as important. Food in its natural state can be so amazingly gorgeous if we stop and take the time to appreciate it. That's what I love about a salad, we're getting most of those foods in their natural state, and our bodies can just absorb the heck out of those nutrients! I love the #eattherainbow because those colors actually mean something! Green, purple, red, orange, yellow--those different outer displays reflect a wide variety of very specific inner nutrients that you get from those vegetables, and trying to include as many of those variations as you can in your diet is a great goal to focus on.
This salad is appropriately named Rainbow Salad because my goal when developing it was to get those colors involved! There's no real hard and fast rule here as far as tips go, and realistically you could sub out different veggies based on personal preference, but I absolutely love the combo I have here and how it all comes together. This ain't your mama's iceburg lettuce and diced red tomato salad. There's a ton of crunch and a ton of variety included, and the simplicity and presentation of this dish makes it perfect for entertaining. I subbed out the DELICIOUS Napa Cabbage for your traditional greens base to change things up, and then top everything with my homemade Creamy Poppyseed Dressing. The combination is perfection. Try it out and let me know what you think!
Rainbow Salad
Ingredients:
1/2 head Napa Cabbage, shredded and diced into bite sized pieces
1 cup Radishes, thinly sliced into circles
6 oz pre-shredded Carrots
1 Yellow Bell Pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup Purple Cabbage, thinly sliced
Directions:
In a large bowl place your napa cabbage as your salad base.
Strategically layer your remaining vegetables in rows for presentation.
Serve with Creamy Poppyseed Dressing, on the salad or on the side as you prefer.
ENJOY!