This ITALIAN CHOP SALAD has so much flavor! It’s tangy, filling, and delicious!
I’m glad it’s January. I do miss Christmas and all the holiday fun, but that month is stressful! All the shopping, cleaning, cooking, planning, wrapping, organizing, and eating. I’m so tired of all the eating. I know they say you gain 5 lbs over the holidays, and I think I gained all of those 5 lbs. Time to hit the gym and eat better foods!
In January, we all try to make healthy food choices. The new year is full of smoothies, salads, whole grains, and healthy soups. I know, it’s not quite as fun as December’s appetizers, dips, and cookies! While this recipe IS a salad, it is still pretty fun, and it’s delicious!
This chopped salad has a little bit of everything. It has fresh, crisp lettuce, tangy olives, pepperoncini peppers, two kinds of cheese, and deli meats. A simple balsamic dressing gets drizzled over top.
This salad is so good and so filling; it’s more like a meal than a salad! One thing to note about this salad is it’s rather versatile. You could interchange the ingredients if you’d like; swap out the deli meats and use turkey or roasted chicken instead.
You could use any cheese you have in your fridge and add more veggies if you’d like. This salad really does make a great main meal, but since it makes so much, it would be a great side salad for a dinner party or to share with friends.
Finally, the dressing would really be good on any salad you can create.
If I can eat like this all through 2016, then when next December comes around, I’ll be ready to dive into all the cookies with little regret!
Equipment
Ingredients
Chopped Salad
- 1 large head romaine lettuce finely chopped
- ½ cup green olives chopped
- ½ cup kalamata olives chopped
- ½ cup pepperoncini peppers chopped
- ½ cup hard salami chopped
- ½ cup pepperoni slices
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shaved
- ½ cup white cheddar cheese cubed
Italian Dressing
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
Instructions
- Add the chopped lettuce to a large salad bowl. Top with the green olives, kalamata olives, pepperoncini, salami, pepperoni, parmesan, and white cheddar.
- Add the olive oil, balsamic, honey, salt, oregano, and rosemary to a mason jar. cover with a lid and shake until well combined. (You can also whisk everything together in a small mixing bowl.)
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately.
Maye Taylor says
Love your blog and recipes but can’t get any to pin. Don’t have that problem on other sites, Has anyone else mentioned that to you, Thanks