Insalata

View from a fah

Things are really warming up in South Texas and so salads have been on my mind.  The other night I made a sort of antipasto salad...not difficult to make.

Here 'tis:

Ingredients
Lettuce, any variety will do, but I like Romaine for it's crunch (use as much as you need for feeding a few or a crew)
1 red bell pepper cut into strips
2 Roma tomatoes, diced or sliced whichever suites you
1-2 green onions (I use only the green ends, snipped in and saved the whites for other things)
A few spoonfuls of small capers
1/4 cup banana pepper rings
a handful of green olives stuffed with pimentos
a handful of black olives (I used Kalamata)
a handful of whole milk Mozzarella, cubed
small handful of Feta, cut into small cubes
5-6 slices Genoa Salami, cut into bite size pieces
5-6 slices ham cut into bite size pieces, any variety (I had brown sugar ham on hand and liked the contrast of the sweetness, you can get any ham cut thick or thin for this)
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut on a bias
2 celery stalks diced, greens and all into the salad bowl
a few good lugs of your favorite Italian dressing, really just dress to taste
salt and black pepper to taste (I season the salad after every few additions to the bowl to make sure that everything is seasoned, but don't over do it.  You can always add more salt, but you can't take it out if you've added too much!)

up close and personal view

Well, everything into the bowl and give a good toss.  My whole family loves this salad and it eats like a meal because there's just so much in it.  It's nice for when you don't want to crank up the heat in the kitchen on a hot day.  I like to make this on a Friday and then have to pick on throughout the weekend, BUT when I do this I leave the lettuce out because it will go soggy in the fridge.  Everything else does just fine overnight so I just add lettuce to my bowl last minute.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cheers,

The Kitchen Witch