Salad is one of the few foods I never feel guilty about eating and it comes in endless varieties so you can always try new flavors and ingredients. I’ve been fortunate that my kids love salad so it makes an easy, quick, and healthy meal in our home.

This filling salad includes a variety of fruits and vegetables to create a well rounded meal or a tasty appetizer. Including cauliflower in this salad adds some great nutrition and always tricks me into thinking I added more cheese than I actually did so it is a great way to cut down on the fat.

Blueberry Date Salad

• Butter or leaf lettuce
• Cucumbers
• Celery
• Cauliflower
• Blueberries
• Date nuggets
• A small handful of mozzarella cheese

Rinse the lettuce and dry well to avoid a soggy salad. I like using a salad spinner but laying the lettuce leaves out on paper towels will work just as well. Slice the cucumbers, celery, and cauliflower into  bite sized pieces and toss with the lettuce. Layer the blueberries and date nuggets on top. Date nuggets are small, slightly candied dates that add a delicious sweetness to the salad. Top the salad with a small amount of mozzarella cheese. You can go light on the cheese because the cauliflower does wonders for tricking your brain and the dates and blueberries add enough flavor that you won’t even miss the cheese if you want to leave it out completely.

Balasamic Dijon Salad Dressing

• Balsamic vinegar
• Olive Oil
• Half a fresh lemon, juiced
• Dijon Mustard
• Greek Seasoning

This is a great salad dressing recipe that I adapted from this one found at 5 Minutes for Mom. The rosemary in the original recipe was a bit strong for my kids so I left out the fresh herbs and now they honestly lick the dressing from the bowl when they are done.

Fill a small container (I like to use the small container with the screw on lid from my Magic Bullet set, which is well used in my kitchen) with 2 parts olive oil and 1 part balsamic vinegar. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon into the mix, shake in some Greek seasoning to taste (I just used the stuff I found in my grocery store), and squirt in about 1 T of dijon mustard. Put the lid on your container and shake it until the dressing is mixed.

Note – Do NOT mix this with a blender. I figured that since I was already using my Magic Bullet container I might as well mix the whole thing up with the blender base. I ended up with some kind of weird mustard sauce.