We are big fans of salads. Side salads, main course salads, all of the above. Leafy greens? Yes, please! But no one wants soggy leafy greens or their romaine looking brown. And making sure it’s nice and clean before eating is important. One of my favorite wedding registry items was my salad spinner. It is almost always in our fridge with nice clean, green leaves. I think a lot of people don’t have them because they’re not sure how they work. Below I share how to use one and a favorite salad dressing recipe of mine!
How to Use a Salad Spinner
We have come a long way from the days of a head of iceberg lettuce. And I am so glad we have! Now at the grocery store there are so many options! There are big lettuce leaves and romaine leaves and so many others. I typically buy the packs of 3 romaine leaves but lately we’ve really been enjoying the giant green leaf all in one.
First step is to pull the romaine heart out of the package and place on a cutting board. I start with the end that came from the earth (I don’t know what to call it) and chop that off. I then make parallel cuts up to the tips of the leaves. After each cut, I toss the freshly cut sections into the strainer part of the salad spinner I have placed in the sink. Sometimes I will cut the leaves perpendicular to my initial cuts if they are really big.
Once they are all cut in the strainer, just give them a nice rinse. Use your hands to move them around to make sure each piece is cleaned! After that, place the strainer in the salad spinner with the lid on and pump the top. It will spin the strainer and use physics to pull the water away! That’s a hell of a lot of velocity! (Physics joke from high school… 🙂)
It will eventually stop spinning, in which case, remove the strainer and dump out the water that’s now in the bottom of the bowl. Repeat this a few times before refrigerating. We have lettuce keep a solid week in here but most of the time we eat it in a matter of days. It works great at keeping it crisp for a long time though!
Simple Homemade Salad Dressing
I don’t know about you, but since starting to read the ingredients in everything, store bought dressing creeps me out! This is a super simple dressing I’ve been making for years. I also received the salad dressing shaker as a wedding gift but a jar works just as well! I have doubled and tripled this recipe for holidays too.
Ingredients
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon viengar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon mustard
Garlic powder to taste
Directions
Add all ingredients to salad dressing shaker or a jar. Secure lid and shake. That’s it!
The dressing is best used within 5 days or so. It will start to thicken up after a while. If a good shake makes it pourable it’s still good to eat! If a good shake does not, it’s probably still okay to eat but it’s just really annoying to try to pour.
I recommend offering to bring a salad and homemade dressing to any Memorial Day party. The easiest pot luck contribution ever! 🙂
Simple Salad Dressing
Equipment
- Dressing shaker or jar
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp mustard
- garlic powder to taste
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to salad dressing shaker or a jar. Secure lid and shake. That’s it!