My go-to recipe when I’m tired or don’t even have 30 minutes to make dinner is a farmer’s salad, so named because I throw everything that grows into it! If you want something heavier, check out my recipe for chicken stew with carrots or browse my dinner recipe page.

I make a filling meal out of salad by adding plenty of protein (garbanzo beans, leftover meat cut up, rinsed black beans), and pair my salads with toast, a roll, or a warm tortilla. These salads make great use of leftovers, which is one way to save money in the kitchen. Here are four combinations I like.

Bonus: If you have pizza dough on hand (Trader Joe’s and other stores sell uncooked balls of dough), cook it as you normally would to make pizza but without any toppings. Instead, brush the surface very lightly with olive oil. Warm slices of plain pizza dough are excellent with salad.

Salad No. 1.

Arugula

Leftover beef, sliced into strips

Roasted red peppers

Thin slices of Parmesan cheese

Lemon vinaigrette

Salad No. 2

Mesclun and arugula mix

Canned corn

Goat cheese, crumbled

Garbanzo or black beans, rinsed

Diced zucchini or yellow squash

Radish slices

Avocadoes

Tomatoes, diced

Red or green peppers

Raspberry vinaigrette, honey mustard or your favorite dressing

Salad No. 3

Romaine, mesclun, or butter lettuce

Dried cranberries or raisins

Apple chunks

Walnuts

Blue cheese, crumbled

Red onions, raw or sauteed

Leftover chicken, cut into chunks

Creamy dressing like Ranch or blue cheese

Salad No. 4

Spinach

Boiled egg, sliced

Sauteed red onions

Feta cheese, crumbled

Walnuts, plain or cooked in 1 teaspoon each of butter and brown sugar

Leftover chicken, if you have it

Balsamic vinaigrette

What do you add to salad to take it beyond an appetizer?

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