Hello all- Took this salad to dinner with a table full of friends on Valentines Day. A big Italian feast. Jill made us all wear large heart name tags (ala Julia Child) and Tim was ready with the go ’round questions after dinner–
What’s the most romantic things your spouse has ever done??
What about you, most annoys your husband/wife??
If your spouse were famous, what would he/she be known for??
It was a a delightful evening, 12 old friends, most of us married around 40 years, and I appreciated my Larry all the more by the time the evening was over.
And– we had this bright salad–full of a lot of my favorite tastes. It’s hearty enough to be dinner on its own– or just part of a big festive dinner with friends!
ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD
Salad:
6 cups chopped green leaf lettuce*
1/4 pound hard salami, thickly sliced & chopped
3 oz. feta with herbs, crumbled
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/3 cup bell pepper, chopped
14 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
1/2 cup good mixed cured olives
Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tab. white balsamic**
1 tsp. honey
3 tab. parmesan romano
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
Spread the greens in a large salad bowl and top with the other salad ingredients.
In a container with a closed lid, shake together the dressing ingredients until they are thoroughly blended. Pour over the salad just before you are ready to serve and do just a bit of tossing to coat all the salad. (This amount makes 6 servings) Enjoy!
The Thankful Heart 
There are so many of my favorite things on this salad! Also, I love how you make your own dressing.
Me too Lacey– love good garlicky salami!! How’s everything at your house? Busy weekend? take care… xo
We’ve had a good mix of rest and adventure. As usual though, Sunday evening has come fast. How was your weekend?
Hey Lacey– seen the day driving up the coast to seeing our kids and the 3 grand-girls in Ojai– nestled in a little valley full of citrus trees. And with all our rain the stream is full and wild flowers popping up. Played in the water and went to a crazy indoor/outdoor bookstore in town. Good long day. Hope you have a good week ahead… hugs to you and the family!
Oh my goodness that sounds to beautiful!
I love chopped salads, throwing in anything and everything, well almost anything. I love everything you have in this salad. Perfect and satisfying. Great recipe Rhonda, hoping you have a glorious weekend.
Hi Suzanne!! I agree. I’d be happy with a big bowl of chopped salad and a chunk of bread for dinner. Hope you have a good weekend too! working? any plans? Is is warming up there yet? take care friend. xox
Me too!! Well weather is weird. It was 72 the other day and yesterday and today are frigid with temps in the 20’s or high teens with wind chill and tonight will be very cold 10 or 12 degrees. Ugh…
Hope you’re able to stay tucked inside and warm Suzanne! Waiting on spring here too!! hugs.
Looks scrumptious and sounds like a great time! Happy Friday Rhonda~
HI Cindy!! thanks– Happy Weekend! any plans??
What a lovely rainbow of colours Rhonda. 😊
Hey Brigid — thanks!! Don’t you think pretty food tastes the best??! Hope you have a good week waiting ahead friend. hugs!
Rhonda pretty sure does it for me. I hope your week is good too. Hugs to you and yours… 😊
Delish, delish!😊
Thanks Mary!! xox
One of my faves! Funny thing, I had never heard of chopped salad until I moved to Chicago. It’s on a lot of menus here. -Kat
Hey Kat– that’s where I saw it here– at a pizza restaurant (from Mario Batali & Nancy Silverton– our special occasion fave). They have a chopped salad stacked up into a pyramid– so yummy! And I’ll bet there are so many great pizza places in Chicago with great salads. Happy eating (and cooing!) friend. hugs hugs!!
I love garbanzo beans on my salad! This looks so refreshing!
Hi Cecilia– me too. They had some protein and a nice chewy bit to a salad. Fun to read your new “About!” Your blog is so mouth watering!! hugs!
Hug! Thanks for reading!
I love this type of salad. It looks absolutely delicious!
Thanks Antonia!! It’s sort of a new favorite– making it again this weekend. Hugs from here.
Yum! This looks so colorful and delicious, the Italian in me just loves everything in this salad. 🌿🍷
Hi Miriam– agree, I’m not Italian, but we lived in Spain for several years and these are a lot of my favorite flavors from there. Do you cook Italian? Have family recipes??
Oh yes, I do. Mum passed on many of her staple dishes including her brodo and her sugo (tomato pasta sauce) recipe. She was an amazing cook. Strangely though, as much as I love Italian food, my all time favorite cuisine is actually Thai.
Hey Miriam– that’s an around the world leap from Italian to Thai food. do you share recipes?? It would be fun to see your versions of your mother’s cooking… Hope your weekend was a good one– we celebrated our anniversary– 42 years! yikes! hugs hugs.
Oh Rhonda, how fabulous! Happy wedding anniversary to you. 42 years, wow, that’s wonderful. Hope you had a lovely celebration and I wish you many more happy and healthy years together. xo Hugs
What a lovely salad, Rhonda. The dressing sounds wonderful (you know I’ll be stealing that one) and the everything looks so appealing! I don’t think I’ve ever done a salad like this with an Italian flair but I’m going to have to remedy that.I think I want to make everything on your blog!
What a fun set of questions; What about yourself that most annoys your spouse could be very revealing, lol!
Mollie
Hey Mollie– glad you liked the look of the salad– that’s funny because I could pretty much cook most everything on your blog as well! We must have similar Food bents! Is that a thing? I love the variety of things your post– they all look like something I want to make/eat!! hugs from here!
Food twins? lol!! I try to keep it real with a dash of excitement and a touch of class, except when I don’t?…
ha ha ha Mollie!! You’re classy all the way!
lol!!
Lovely looking salad and sounds like a great night 👍🏻
Thanks Sam!! Fun to read through your post on the visit to Augsburg and the area! You’ve really seen so many places!