Easy Italian Chopped Salad

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Mixed greens, pepperoni, cheese, and other vegetables are chopped and mixed in a big bowl along with homemade Italian dressing for a tasty chopped salad.

Summer started a week and a half ago for me.   My last day of school was June third which is the earliest we’ve ever been out of school so I’m pretty excited to for my long summer.   However, while many of my friends are relaxing and enjoying their summer, I’m still working.

Once summer starts I begin putting in 3 to 4 hour work days into my blog.  Now don’t get me wrong, writing posts, photographing, and cooking in my pajamas is pretty awesome.

I can also work a few hours in the morning, do a few things, then work at night as well.  It’s great to have flexible hours so I can enjoy my summer but I’m still busy.

This means that after all the cooking, baking, and photographing for the blog along with being home with my son I’m ready for an easy but tasty dinner.   I want a great meal with high quality ingredients that I feel good about serving to my family.

I really enjoy grabbing a frozen pizza and pairing it with a homemade chopped salad.   My favorite frozen pizza brands are Freschetta Pizza and Newman’s Pizza.

Ingredients:

• mixed greens (your favorite type of lettuce)
• arugula (if you don’t like arugula you can just add two more cups of greens)
• pepperoni
• black or green olives (whichever you prefer; I just use whichever we have in the house)
• pepperoncinis
• red onions
• Provolone cheese
• olive oil (a good quality as it is for salad dressing)
• red wine vinegar (or your favorite vinegar for salad dressing)
• honey
• Italian seasonings and oregano
• Parmesan cheese

We belong to a CSA and this week we got a lot of lettuce.   We received a head of organic Bibb lettuce, a bag of organic mixed greens, bok choy, and organic arugula.   Since we had so much lettuce I used that to make a delicious Italian Chopped Salad to pair with our pizza.

What is a CSA?

It stands for community supported agriculture.   It is a system in which consumers purchase shares or memberships from local farms and in return they receive a portion of the farm’s produce regularly throughout the growing season. We are able to grab ours from the local farmer’s market in town and not have to drive all the way to the actual farm.  CSAs are a way for consumers to support local farmers and receive fresh, seasonal produce.

I took the mixed greens and arugula and made the base of the salad.   The mixed greens provided a sturdy base and the arugula adds a bit of spice. You can really use whatever combination of greens you would like.

What greens are good in a salad?

Some of the most popular types of lettuce in a salad are Bibb, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, iceberg, and romaine.   Other popular salad greens include arugula, escarole, frisee, and napa cabbage.   Use your judgement and what your family likes to put together the base of your salad.

Sticking with the Italian theme I decided to add pepperoncini’s, olives, and red onions to the salad.   I bought the pepperoncini’s already chopped but you can buy them whole and chop them yourself.

For the olives I used a combination of green and black olives and simply sliced them.   The red onions I thinly sliced but you can chop them into small pieces since this is a chopped salad.

What is a Chopped Salad?

The entire meal took less then 30 minutes to make and bake.   I made the salad while the pizza was in the oven and it was all ready to go at the same time.

The salad was crisp, had the perfect amount of toppings, and the homemade Italian dressing had a nice tangy flavor.   This is a great weeknight meal that the whole family will enjoy.

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Italian Chopped Salad

Yield: 4 salads

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Get rid of the iceberg and make a delicious chopped salad with arugula, pepperoni, olives, Parmesan cheese, and homemade Italian Dressing.

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Ingredients

For the salad:

• 4 c. mixed greens
• 3 c. arugula, chopped
• 1/2 c. pepperoni, chopped
• 3 oz. provolone cheese, chopped
• 1/4 c. black olives, sliced
• 1/4 c. pepperoncinis, sliced
• 1/4 c. red onions, chopped
• 1/4 c. Parmesan cheese, grated

For the dressing:

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1/4 c. red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasonings
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions

1. In a large bowl combine all of the salad ingredients. Toss to combine and set aside.
2. Place all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl with a lid. Shake vigorously to combine.
3. Divide the salad between 4 bowls and serve with homemade dressing and additional Parmesan cheese.

Notes

A Hezzi-D Original recipe