A Big Ol' Bag of Salad

Salad. When people think of people sitting around a table, playing games, they don't think of salad. They think of people eating cheese doodles and pizza, and drinking large quantities of soda. And sometimes it's a true statement.

That doesn't mean it has to be all the time, however.

In this world of convenience, it's very easy to go to the store and get a large bag of salad. They make for a great side dish, or you can add extras like chicken or tuna to get a good, full meal.

Bag salads are great for when you don't have a lot of time to prepare, but I find them to be a bit more expensive than necessary. So lets make our own!

Ingredients:
1 head Romaine lettuce
3~4 medium-large carrots
3 sticks of celery
2~3 handfuls cherry tomatoes
~1/2 of a small-medium red onion

Equipment:
Cutting board
1 chef's knife
1 carrot scraper
Collander/medium sized bowl
1 Gallon zip-top bag

Directions:
1. Wash the lettuce, tear it up, and place into the gallon bag.
2. Scrape the skin off the carrots and remove the tips. Slice the carrots up and put into the bag.
3. Wash the celery, and chop off the base. Leaving the leaves on, slice the celery and place into the bag.
4. Wash the cherry tomatoes, and toss them into the bag.
5. Peel the onion, and slice off the roots and the stem. Cut in half, and dice. Place the remainder of the onion into a sandwich size zip-top bag, and store in the fridge.
6. Seal the bag and shake vigorously.

Store it in the fridge, or serve immediately.

Possible Alterations:
Salads are great, but they need a bit more than vegetables to make them filling enough to be an entire meal. This salad will store well, but storing it with things like nuts, chicken, or beans isn't going to be great. I recommend storing these things separately and then adding them before serving. This is especially handy if one needs to feed vegetarians/vegans, because then one simply does not add meat/cheese to their plate, and viola! No need for two separate salads!

I would also recommend that you store that other half of the onion diced in the zip-top bag, because it makes life easier.  Having pre-diced onion means you don't have to pull out the knife and cutting board every time you want to add a little onion to something.  Just pull out the bag, grab a handful, and toss it in.  If stored properly, the onion can last for a good number of weeks.

Happy gaming!