Tag: salad

Posted in Food

One ranch to rule them all

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Ranch dressing was on my shopping list last week. My wife and I don’t eat a whole lot of it, but the grandchildren sure do. They don’t eat a lot of salad, but they love to put it on other things. Like pizza. I find this puzzling, but one grandson first sprinkles parmesan cheese on his slice, followed by red peppers, and then a healthy squirt of ranch dressing. A granddaughter loves to eat rice smothered in ranch dressing. Some dip a burger or grilled cheese into a puddle of ranch on their plate. Not to mention pretzels and chips. Before you know it, we need to buy more.

I never noticed it before, but Walmart and other stores have shelves and shelves filled with all makes and models of ranch dressing. I had my choice of the original Hidden Valley Farms, Ken’s, Kraft, Great Value generic, Marie’s, Newman’s Own, and a bunch more. I could choose lite, vegan, fat free, organic, or plant powered. Bonus flavors include cheesy, jalapeno, parmesan, pickle, and garlic. Next, what size do I want? They have them all from tiny dipping cups to squeeze bottles to restaurant sized jugs. I can take home a packet of spices and mix it up myself. Or sprinkle ranch seasoning on anything and everything.

I remember when ranch dressing became popular in the seventies. In 1992 it surpassed Italian as the most popular salad dressing in America. Now it occupies about half of the salad dressing section of the grocery store.

I’ll reach for it once in a while, but I’m not a huge fan of creamy dressings. I most often choose a balsamic vinegar or mix up my own Good Seasons Italian copycat recipe.

Posted in Moments of grace

Long live the salad bar!

Posted on by William Douthwaite

As I reached for the handle to open the restaurant door for my wife I saw it. I did a double take. And then I said, “They have a salad bar!”

Do you remember salad bars? We saw one! A vintage sixteen foot, help yourself, all-you-can-eat, as-many-trips-as-you-want Ruby Tuesday salad bar. This was the only real restaurant close to our hotel on the way home from our most recent trip to Dallas. We’re glad we stopped in.

Once Covid shut down everything over three years ago, salad bars disappeared. Were they the reason everyone was getting sick? I don’t know.

Four kinds of greens. All the veggies from cukes to shredded carrots, bell peppers to broccoli, radishes to cherry tomatoes. Chopped up eggs, diced ham, chick peas and edamame. Croutons, seeds, and bacon bits, seven kinds of salad dressing. Amazing.

I’ll bet there’s a whole generation of diners who have never seen a salad bar. Just like a wired phone or a television antenna, they only exist in grandpa’s stories of the good old days.

Every once in a while, someone spots a bird or animal thought to be extinct. I got to be that guy tonight!

Posted in Life

The cleanest lettuce in the world

Posted on by William Douthwaite

While looking for BOGOs in the produce section, this label caught my eye: “The cleanest lettuce in the world.”

That’s quite a claim. How do they know? Who studies this? Does it really matter when you wash your vegetables at home? What about the lettuce package that boasts, “Triple washed”?

Skeptical, I did a little bit of research. Kalera brand lettuce is hydroponic. Rather than being grown in the dirt, it’s grown in water. As long as the water is clean, the product is clean from germination to harvest. In my research I did find a story about Kalera’s recall of lettuce in Florida in the fall of 2022 because of some salmonella contamination. The cleanest lettuce in the world isn’t necessarily germ-free.

My dad grew a lot of lettuce, spinach, and other vegetables in the big garden on the side of our house. He washed it, but it could still be a little gritty to the teeth. Definitely not in the running for cleanest. Sometimes we would just eat it right from the garden, along with green beans, peas, or a tomato. Wipe it off on your shirt and you’re ready to go. Dad didn’t use any pesticides, so that wasn’t a problem.

The label also claims the lettuce has “50% superior nutrition.” Hmm. Superior to what? To other brands of butter lettuce? To lettuce grown in soil? To Doritos? I did learn that butter lettuce is a good source of vitamins A, C, and K, along with minerals like iron, copper, potassium, and manganese. You’ll also get flavonoids and antioxidants in a salad made with butter lettuce.

It ain’t cheap, that’s for sure. With a unit price of $.70 per ounce, it goes for about $11.00 a pound. That’s more than a lot of the beef for sale. And even though the label doesn’t specify, I’m sure it is gluten-free, just like the arugula on the shelf above it. Just so you know.

I may not be doing myself any favors, but I generally choose the cheapest dark-leaf lettuce I can find. Never iceberg. Spring mix is a favorite. I used to find amazing locally grown lettuce at the farmer’s market near us. Sadly, that market closed.

I half-heartedly rinse it off, so I doubt if my efforts bring my lettuce anywhere close to being the cleanest.