Make-Your-Own Salad Bar

This post is sponsored by Tessemae’s and is part of the Mom It Forward Blogger Network blogger opportunities.

With the heat of Summer comes not wanting to cook or clean up a huge mess, throw in a few picky eaters and what is a mama to do? Well at our house Summer means a relaxed schedule and easy dinners like Make-Your-Own Salad Bar.

Creating a Make-Your-Own Salad Bar is a great way to allow kids to make healthy food choices with add-ins. We always start with Romaine lettuce but will throw in some artisan lettuce if we have grown some or bought some on sale. Next we grab the add-ins to help make our salads special. We usually offer the following items:

• hard boiled eggs
• shredded cheese
• dices tomatoes
• broccoli and cauliflower pieces
• carrot chunks
• croutons
• nuts or sunflower seeds
• dried fruit
• bacon bites

Of course you cannot have a salad without the dressing! With six family members we have a variety of favorites in our family. Our usual go-to salad dressing flavors are Ranch, French, or Poppy-seed but every once it awhile it’s nice to change things up a bit and try something new. We were sent four bottles of Tessemae’s All Natural dressings to try in the following flavors: Lemon Garlic, Honey Balsamic, Green Goddess, and Balsamic.

Since I am the bravest one in the house I decided to try Tessemae’s Lemon Garlic dressing on a grilled chicken salad. I started off with a bowl of romaine lettuce.

Then I added about 1/4 cup of diced chicken.

Next came the diced tomatoes not home grown this year but still fresh not canned!

Adding some orange pepper to give the salad some color.

Sprinkled some Colby Jack cheese to add in some more protein!

Then I drizzled some Lemon Garlic dressing to top it all off!

Some things you will want to know about Tessemae’s:

• Tessemae’s organic dressings, marinades, and condiments are the perfect enhancement to these delicious foods –they use real, whole sourced food ingredients and are now certified USDA organic

• Tessemae’s make 25 different dressings, marinades, and condiments – offerings are USDA organic certified, Whole30 approved, and contain no added sugar, thickeners, or additives – unlike most salad dressings on the market.

• Tessemae’s All Natural is a growing natural food company from Annapolis Maryland that makes clean, fresh dressings, marinades, and condiments with real ingredients and no preservatives.