Italian Salad

Italian salad is perfect for hot summer days! It is filled with bright and crisp veggies, cheese and meat with a tangy Italian dressing. This couldn’t be easier to prepare for a side dish to bring to a barbeque or even as a main dish on a hot day.

Not only is this an extremely easy recipe (no measuring, no cooking), it is also very budget friendly. You may even have a garden with several of these ingredients right at your fingertips. These items are also readily available at your local farmer’s market or grocery store, typically at great in-season prices!

Italian salad is great because you can also tweak it really easily to suit your tastes. Don’t like something you see? Easy, swap it for something else that you do like! Don’t let the “recipe” turn you away because you don’t like something in it. For example, you might imagine this salad to have what every typical salad has – lettuce. I don’t prefer lettuce in this salad because I really like the bold crunch of the veggies alone, however, you might love lettuce and come up with your very own perfect combination. To me, that is the fun in preparing food. There is something special about making what you have on hand work for the occasion and most of the time, the result is better than expected!

Let’s take a look at what I had around the house/garden for what is one of my favorite combinations.

Ingredients

• Cucumbers – Grown from the garden
• Sweet Peppers – I have these in the garden but no harvest yet, fingers crossed!
• Cherry or Grape Tomatoes – I also have these in the garden, but those dang squirrels are having a feast!
• Sliced Pepperoncini
• Thinly Sliced Salami
• Pepperoni
• Cubed Mozzarella
• Italian Dressing

As you can see, this can be a very frugal dish! I happened to have these on hand so I didn’t make a special trip to the store, but I think sliced red onion would be really nice in here, too! It’s both a tasty and filling way to get in your veggies.

How to Make

I almost feel guilty for calling this a “recipe”. It’s really a preference, in my mind. However, start by gathering your veggies and giving them a good wash. Then chop the veggies into bite sized pieces. I did a few small cucumbers, three or four sweet peppers and a handful of cherry tomatoes. I am the type of person who likes the idea of cherry tomatoes more than the flavor, so I keep them minimal in mine – but feel free to go all out if this is one of your favorites!

After the veggies are chopped, grab a few slices of salami and a handful of pepperoni and cut them into smaller pieces, as well. For the cheese, I cubed up a few ounces from a block of mozzarella. You can also sub this for those cute little fresh mozzarella pearls. I didn’t have any on hand, and like I said, I don’t like making special trips to the store for one ingredient that can be swapped for something else and still have a great outcome.

Next, it is time to add the pepperoncini peppers. These are my absolute favorite and bring such a bold, tangy flavor. I like to add several of them to mine!

Finally, pour on the dressing. I used Restaurant Style Italian Dressing, which is an Aldi knockoff of Olive Garden dressing – and pretty dang good! You could also use Zesty Italian or even make your own using the instructions on the back of an Italian seasoning packet. Or if you are really fancy, you could make your own.

I like to keep things simple though so I used the Olive Garden knockoff, no shame here!

The Delicious Result

And there you have it! It probably took you longer to read this than it does to actually prepare it. That’s why this is so great for a last minute barbeque, side dish or even a full meal. In fact, I had this for lunch today all by itself and it was perfect to have something so cold and fresh during the heat we had today.

Ideas for Tasty Additions

• Cooked Spiral Pasta
• Cooked Tortellini
• Sliced Red Onions
• Chopped Broccoli
• Chopped Cauliflower
• Roasted Red Peppers
• Olives
• Lettuce

I hope you enjoy these ideas for Italian salad and find a perfect flavor combination to suit you!