Herb requirements are low, on space and maintenance. They do not make extravagant demands on your time or money. They adapt well to all types of soil and with little care, they withstand and dare drought and freaky weather. However, these beauties need to be protected from exposure to acid soils. There are a number of online as well as offline resources that now help you in their care and maintenance. These perennials, including Melissa, mint, parsley and chamomile have relaxing properties. They flavor dishes with a distinctive touch.

Today, people add these beauties to desserts, beverages, main entrees and weight reducing teas. They each have unique benefits to your garden like the garlic plant protects the rose bed from aphids, while carrot offers guard to the rosemary and sage from flies.

A World in a Word

The word “salad” probably triggers thoughts of lettuce for most people, right next to the adjective “boring.”

But I’ll let you in on one of salad’s simple secrets: Salad is one of the most versatile dishes you can make. The possible combinations of ingredients are so numerous that you could serve two or three salads at one meal and not repeat a major ingredient! (Try it!)

With dozens of vegetables, dozens of fruits, many kinds of nuts, beans, grains, cheese, and even meats to choose from, the options are limited only by your imagination and what’s available. Add the range of choices in dressings and seasonings and you can see that there’s a whole world of flavor combination’s waiting to be explored.

And with the vitamins and minerals of organic foods, unprocessed oils, and quality vinegar or lemon juice, salads pack a major nutritional punch.

What Is a Salad, Anyway?

To my mind, the main feature of a salad is its being served cold. It doesn’t have to be raw; it doesn’t have to be dressed; but it should be cold. It should also have things that need to be chewed (otherwise it’s soup). That’s about it.

So if you’ve been stuck in the lettuce and tomato rut (with maybe the occasional cucumber thrown in), consider the wide range of foods that can pull you out called “salad.”

I mean, think about some of the more unusual salads you may have heard of or tried: Waldorf Salad (apples and raisins), chef’s salad (cold cuts added), potato salad (not a leaf of lettuce in sight!), Mexican salad (corn and peppers), gazpacho (tomato-based chopped salad), spinach salad (with bacon and walnuts), and more…some yet to be named or even invented!

Where Salads Reign

What if instead of the standard meat-potato-vegetable dinner, you served a meal with a small portion of cooked food and two or three cold salads? Revolutionary, I know. Maybe even un-American. But one of the things that makes the Standard American Diet so S.A.D. is its reliance on cooked (and even overcooked) foods.

Our national standards require many more servings of vegetables than most of us get. The first step to eating more vegetables and fruits may be to stop thinking “cooked” and start thinking “salads.” Raw vegetables are good on so many levels, not the least of which is: It’s hard to get fat on vegetables…but it’s easy to get healthier!

So get out those recipe cards and shopping lists and make “salad” one of your favorite meal-planning concepts. Salad’s simple secrets will reward your body well.

* Potatoes: Cut the potatoes into half inch potato slices before cooking them. Exhaust it and clean it in a strainer. Chop the sliced potatoes into pieces and put in to a salad basin.

* Salad dressing: The normal dressing for potato is mayonnaise. This increases the flavor of the potato. We can also add some amount of other condiments to increase the flavor. Plain mustard is the most popular one to add, to increase the taste. It’s preferred to go for lighter salad which can well mix with oil and vinegar dressing. Use refrigerator as a base to your dressing.

* Vegetables: The most common vegetable used in this salad is onion. Sweet onions are preferred as they are not burly as usual onion. Other vegetables used here are cucumber, tomatoes, carrots and radishes.

* Eggs and cheese: salads are sometimes called as boiled eggs. For standard sized salad of six potatoes we mix four eggs and two eggs are placed at the top of the bowl.

* Fruits: Some salads contain apple, pineapple and pear.

Waxy potatoes are best potatoes to use in salad recipe. We can also use small potatoes with red like skin. Fingerlings give colorful impression with skin like potatoes.

Even though wide variety of salads available, no salad gives taste like German salad. Most of northern and Southern Germany, Australian and southern European, countries use salads without vinegar and other oil products. Even though the base recipe remains unchanged in these regions, the number and variety of added ingredients can change significantly.

Even though salad is a commonly known dish, many people don’t know that potato salad is becoming extensively accepted in the Asian community, especially in Korea. However, the Korean version of the salad is a bit different. In the Korean version, we add beef, which we normally don’t perceive in a side dish, as well as cucumbers and fruits, like pears and pineapple. It is a very simple recipe that takes hardly any cooking.

To get best potato salad recipe of high quality, proper potatoes must be used. If we don’t use proper potatoes the salad we prepare may produce different flavor which you may not like. Also when you are trying to cook large amount of baked potatoes, get potatoes of similar size, this ensures all slices cooked evenly.

Preparation is the important step to create the best potato salad recipe. Preparation of best salad requires best preparation techniques, good harvested potatoes and other vegetables and ingredients.

Salad is a crowd puller. By following above mentioned steps in this article, you won’t make any mistakes and I think you can prepare salads of great taste. Enjoy making it!

I rarely follow exact measurements while cooking, so the ingredients below are approximated. Please forgive me in advance.

Ingredients

2 Large Chicken Breasts on the Bone, Skin on
3 Large Celery Stalks Sliced (Reserve Leaves)
3 Large Carrots Sliced
1 Medium Onion Chopped
3 Cloves of Garlic Crushed
2 Medium Russet Potatoes Cubed
1 Cup of Small Pasta for Soup (Orzo, Ditalini)
Water
Chicken Stock
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Grated Italian Cheese (Optional)
Bouquet garni of Thyme, Sage and Rosemary (Instructions Below)

Directions

Step 1 – Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the chicken breasts skin side down and brown.

Step 2 – Add water and chicken stock to the pot. Add a 50/50 mixture of water and chicken stock. The chicken stock gives the soup a boost in flavor. Add enough liquid so that the chicken is completely submerged, plus a little more.

Step 3 – Add celery leaves, garlic and Bouquet Garni (instructions follow). Bring liquid to a boil, then cover and simmer. Cook chicken on a low simmer until you can easily pull the chicken off the bone. One chicken is done, remove it from the pot and place it on a large plate. Remove the garlic and bouquet from pot and discard.

Bouquet Garni Instructions/Description

A bouquet Garni is just a fancy French name for a bundle of herbs that can be added to stocks, soups and stews. When translated to English it means: “garnished bouquet”. It is very easy to make. You can either tie the bundle together using strings or you can wrap it in cheesecloth. I like to use the cheesecloth as it keeps the herbs contained so that they do not fall off and become part of the soup. If you don’t mind the herbs in the final soup, you can wrap it with string. This bundle of herbs will impart a deliciously rich flavor to the broth.

Step 4 – Add the onion, potatoes, celery and carrots to the pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Step 5 – Add your pasta and cook along with vegetables until pasta is al dente.

Step 6 – While the pasta is cooking, pull chicken from the bone and shred into bite size pieces. Add the chicken to the pot and stir.

Step 7 – Serve. Top with grated cheese if desired. Enjoy!

And now for some good news! The good news is that egg salad is easy to make. Here are the tips for you:

Tip 1: Do Not Undercook The Eggs.

Here is a problem that I see often when people cook eggs. Many people, when they cook eggs, either undercook or overcook them. If you undercook them, you cannot even make the salad, because the yolk will still be runny.

Make sure to make good hardboiled eggs, they will make your salad taste great!

Tip 2: Control The Amount Of Mayonnaise That You Use.

I once had a salad, which could be better described as mayonnaise with some eggs in it. Do not overdo it on mayonnaise – this will make your salad soupy and not very tasty.

If you love mayonnaise, do add more, but if you want just a bit, use just a bit, don’t overdo it. About a tablespoon of mayonnaise for every four eggs is about right. And you can always add more mayonnaise, but you cannot take it away. Here is what you can do – add a bit, mix with the eggs and other ingredients and then try it. If it is good, leave it as is. If the salad needs more mayonnaise, then add more, mix and try again. It is much easier to add more mayonnaise than to take it away.

Tip 3: Add Something Crunchy.

While the egg salad is all about the eggs, it is also great to have something crunchy in the salad as well. What do you like to add for crunch? Celery, onions, cucumbers all add the necessary crunch that will make your salad taste fresh and will really add another layer of flavor to it.

Just chop whichever vegetables you are adding, and mix them with the eggs before you add the mayonnaise. Make sure to cut vegetables into smaller pieces – since the eggs are in small pieces, you do not want to have large vegetable pieces to dominate your salad.

Tip 4: Serve Your Salad On Good Bread.

What do you do once you make the salad? You will want to make the egg salad sandwich of course! Make sure to make the sandwich with good bread, such as French bread, or a nice fresh bun – it will help you appreciate the flavor of the salad even more.