7 Salad Recipes & Our Favorite Salad Tools

Mondays are usually salad night for dinner in our home, which almost always solicits some groans initially from the kids. So I’ve had to get creative with our salad recipes to make them kid-friendly.

Don’t get me wrong, the kids do NOT eat every single ingredient in these salads. I’ve found that the easiest way to make everyone happy is to not add thee dressing or toss the salad before serving. Instead, I place the ingredients into sections so each person can grab the toppings they want, add their own dressing and then toss their own salads.

Alright, here are 7 salads that we really love…

1. The Jennifer Aniston Friends Salad

The salad includes a high protein combination of grains, red onion, extra virgin olive oil, chopped pistachios, crumbled feta cheese, garbanzo beans, fresh herbs (fresh mint, fresh parsley), lemon juice, and fresh veggies.

The only adaption I made to the recipe was swapping out cooked bulgur wheat for our favorite Seeds of Change Quinoa + Brown Rice (also available at Walmart). It takes 90 seconds to cook in the microwave, making this salad a breeze to throw together in a large bowl.

2. The Best Chicken Cobb Salad with Honey Dijon Vinaigrette

Another one of our family favorite salads — chicken cobb salad with air-fried chicken! You can technically grill the chicken if you prefer, but the air fryer gives the chicken the perfect crispiness! And our entire family loves this salad — kids included (Caroline picks all of the onion & tomatoes out of hers and Thomas picks all of the onions & avocados out of his).

This is also a perfect salad for bringing to your next gathering. It’s refreshing and SO pretty once it’s all assembled! And it’s easy to make ahead of time and stores well.

3. Kale & Brussels Sprout Salad

A few summers ago my friend Stephanie brought the most delicious kale salad to my Rosé Wine Tasting. Everyone raved about it and asked for the recipe, including me. Since then I’ve made this salad SO many times.

While I didn’t invent the recipe (or even adapt it), I did discover some shortcuts that make this salad a breeze to put together — pre-washed & shredded kale, pre-shaved brussels sprouts, pre-sliced almonds and pre-grated cheese. All of my ingredients pictured in this recipe are from Trader Joe’s, but I’ve also found all of them all previously at several other grocery stores too.

4. Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

This delicious salad with sweet poppy seed dressing may be our kids favorite salad I make!

5. Grilled Peach & Burrata Salad

It’s peach season which makes this salad the perfect recipe to add to your meal plan!

6. Easy Black Bean Taco Salad (Dairy-Free & Vegan)

This one couldn’t be easier to throw together and it’s dairy-free and vegan! I have a pretty small percentage of vegan readers but it seems I have a lot of dairy-free readers! I hope you all love this salad as much as we do. This is one of the handfuls of salad recipes that no one complains about when I serve it — so it stays in our rotation!

7. Nicoise Salad (Vegan, Dairy-Free)

This vegan salad takes a little more prep work but is packed with fresh and delicious flavors!

Our Favorite Salad Tools

And now for all our favorite salad tools!

1. Salad Dressing Shaker: I use this shaker for all of our homemade dressings and marinades. I also have the smaller size too which is perfect for storing leftover dressing to use throughout the week.
2. Salad Chopper & Bowl: My latest and most favorite salad tool right now! This set makes it a breeze to quickly chop up greens into perfect bite-size pieces. You can purchase just the chopper separately, but I would highly recommend the set because the bowl is huge and curved too so it’s easy to run the chopper through it.
3. Herb Saver: This container keep our herbs fresh for what feels like forever. It includes 3 removable dividers, air vents in the lid help herbs to breathe, and a collapsible clear lid for storage.
4. Melon Baller: We love this tool for scooping out decorative balls from melons for our salads with fruit! This melon baller features two different-sized scoops — 1 inch and 1-1/4 inch diameter.
5. Egg Slicer: For perfectly sliced hard-boiled eggs. We also use ours for cutting soft fruit like strawberries.
6. Salad Serving Utensils: Such a gorgeous set!
7. Herb Stripper: Strips kale, collard greens, chard, and herb leaves from stems in seconds! It also works well with woody herbs like oregano, rosemary, thyme, and taragon.
8. Vegetable Peeler: Perfect for peeling potatoes, apples, carrots, cucumbers and more.
9. Citrus Zester: This hand grater has a razor-sharp stainless steel blade for zesting cheese, citrus, vegetables and more.
10. Kosterina EVOO: Last Christmas one of my girlfriends brought this incredible olive oil to our Favorite Things Party and I’ve been hooked ever since. The quality of this EVOO is truly excellent. This is also the perfect housewarming or hostess gift too!
11. Rapid Egg Cooker: Been using this miracle egg cooker since 2018! It can whip up hard boiled eggs, soft boiled eggs, poached eggs, scrambled eggs,  individual omelets, and all within minutes of the push start button – it is amazing.
12. Air Fryer: I originally purchased the air fryer just for fries (my favorite food) but we use it SOOOOOOOO much!!! Do you know how much better chicken nuggets are once they’ve been warmed up in the air fryer for a few minutes?! Mind blowing. In fact, I cook chicken at least once a week in my air fryer. I highly recommend if you don’t have one.
13. Glass Containers: Two years ago I ditched our plastic tupperware for these glass containers! This set comes with 18 pieces.
14. Salad Spinner: This spinner makes the lettuce washing process so much faster!
15. Avocado Keeper: This container extends the life of our avocado halves SO much further! I do keep the pit in the avocado which helps too.
16. Lemon & Lime Squeezer/Juicer: Another fave gadget for squeezing fresh fruit for cocktails, salad dressings, sauces and so much more!