A few new takes on the garden salad recipe for

A few new takes on the garden salad recipe for year-round variety

Who doesn't like a garden salad? Even children, faced with a choice between a hot veggie plate and a garden dinner salad, would opt for the salad. So popular is this little side salad, some of us serve the same old garden salad recipe several days a week. This can lead to diner boredom. Variety is the spice of life, after all, so before the family starts eyeing that salad with a groan, let's take a look at ways you can just as quickly put together a salad that's enticing, tasty and nutritious.

Back in the day (or at least in mine ;), iceberg lettuce was the only game in town. Fortunately, we now have many choices in lettuces at the local supermarket. Iceberg lettuce is nice and crunchy, but is the least nutritious among lettuces. If you serve garden salads often, try a mix of several types of lettuces to keep things interesting, more nutritious and colorful. Along with the Iceberg, toss in some butter lettuce, Romaine, spinach, and a little Mesclun.

The usual garden salad recipe relies on tomatoes, cucumbers and perhaps some croutons. This can be a tasty salad when those tomatoes and cucumbers are in season, but come winter, these veggies become pricey and rather tasteless when trucked hundreds or thousands of miles from warmer climes.

When fall and winter sets in, it's time to devise some new garden salad recipes from seasonal ingredients. Thinly sliced broccoli florets and julienned carrots make a colorful salad. Add some finely diced onions, grated cheese and some hard-boiled egg slices and you're in business. During the cold months, canned kidney beans, whole pitted olives, marinated artichoke hearts, garbanzo beans and canned kernel corn provide good looks and a nutrient dense garden salad recipe.

During any season, all garden salad recipes are enhanced with just a small mound of salad shrimp, diced chicken breast or tuna salad in the center. Croutons work year around, as do mushroom slices, celery and hard boiled eggs.

Another idea for new ways to jazz up the garden salad recipe are the tubs of ready made, freshly diced mixed vegetables now available in almost every supermarket. This can be a great time saver for the busy cook.

Most people tend to stick with their 'usual' salad dressings, albeit family favorites. Have you checked out the salad dressing aisle lately? There are salad dressings I've never heard of, with dozens of choices with which you can transform the same garden salad recipe you've been serving for years. My latest discovery is a Fire-roasted sweet red pepper vinaigrette, which combines excellently with tomatoes, avocado, minced garlic and my beloved garlic croutons.

So you can see that there's no reason to get stuck in a rut with the dinner salad. A garden salad recipe is a mix and match affair, one of the most versatile recipes you have.