Kids Club Vol. 28: Salads
KIDS CLUB
VOLUME 28
Welcome to the latest issue of our ChopChop Kids Club newsletter!
This month, spring’s got us thinking about salad! Making it, eating it, learning about it, and even drawing it. What’s your favorite kind of salad? What’s the weirdest thing you like to put in a salad? What would you take out of a salad if nobody was watching? We’ve got recipes and activities for you, and some fun facts, too. A whole bowlful!
Happy salad days!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
- RECIPE
Basic Green Salad
Green Salad with Your Own Dressing
kitchen gear
- Cutting board
- Sharp knife (adult needed)
- Measuring cup
- Vegetable peeler (adult needed)
- Salad bowl
- Salad servers or tongs
Ingredients
- 1 head romaine lettuce, washed, dried, and cut or torn into bite-size pieces
- 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cucumber, peeled, if you like, and diced
- 1 cup Your Own Salad Dressing
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients into the bowl and toss. Taste a piece of lettuce. Does it need more dressing? If so, add more and toss again. Serve right away.
Notes
- KITCHEN SKILL
Make Your Own Dressing
Making your own salad dressing is so easy and satisfying. Plus you can make it just how you like it! Keep a batch of this dressing in the refrigerator and your next salad will be ready in just minutes.
Put 2⁄3 cup vegetable or olive oil, 1⁄3 cup vinegar (any kind), 1⁄4 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon mustard (any kind) in a clean jar, screw the lid on tight, and shake until it’s mixed. The dressing will keep in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks.
If you like, add one or more of these tasty additions:
- 1 teaspoon crumbled dried herbs (like thyme, rosemary, oregano)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs (like mint, dill, basil, cilantro)
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground spice (like black pepper, cayenne, cumin)
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
- 1 minced garlic clove or ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- MAKE IT YOURSELF
DIY Croutons
Did you know you can make your own crunchy salad topping? Turn the oven on and set the heat to 375 degrees. Cut 2 slices whole-grain bread into 2-inch squares, then toss them in a bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1⁄4 teaspoon salt. When the oven is hot, spread out the squares on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the croutons are just starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Use oven mitts to take the baking sheet out of the oven and use tongs or a spatula to flip the croutons over, then put them back in the oven and bake until deeply browned and crisp, another 5 or so minutes. Let the croutons cool completely before serving. They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days
Greens get their color from chlorophyll, a pigment that plants use to turn sunlight into food through the process of photosynthesis.
- PRACTICE GRATITUDE
It's Good For You
Salad might not be your very favorite part of a meal, or it might be, but either way, you know that it’s good for your body and it keeps you healthy—the same way you might not love a rainy day, but you understand that the earth needs the water. What else are you grateful for that you don’t love or don’t even like at all?
- BY THE NUMBERS
That's a Lot of Salad
- The world’s largest Caesar salad weighed 7,246 pounds! It was prepared in Tijuana, Mexico, in 2007, and it contained 5,595 pounds of lettuce! (And 150 pounds of croutons.)
- Lettuce was grown as early as 2680 BCE by the ancient Egyptians, who first cultivated it for its seeds, which they used for oil.
- After you plant the seed, it takes 65 to 130 days for lettuce to be ready for harvesting.
Edible Vocabulary
By BIRDY NEWMAN
Can you match these six kinds of salad with their descriptions?
1. Cobb Salad
2. Chef Salad
3. Greek Salad
4. Waldorf Salad
5. Caesar Salad
6. House Salad
A. A salad typically made of lettuce, apples, celery, walnuts, and a creamy dressing
B. A hearty salad containing assorted slivered meats and cheeses, along with tomatoes and hard-cooked eggs, on a bed of leafy greens
C. A main dish salad featuring lettuce topped with bacon, chicken, hard-cooked eggs, tomato, avocado, and blue cheese
D. A salad made with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, olives, feta cheese, and olive oil, which is typically seasoned with oregano
E. A restaurant’s specialty green salad, often containing tomatoes and cucumbers and the chef’s favorite dressing
F. A salad of romaine lettuce, with croutons, Parmesan cheese, anchovies, and a lemony dressing
Answers: 1 C; 2 B; 3 D; 4 A; 5 F; 6 E
- INSTANT FUN
Map your Favorite Salad
Draw a map of your favorite salad—with a key so everyone knows what you love best! Do you know what a key is? It’s a kind of visual explanation for all the symbols on a map, with an example of each one and a short description of what it means, such as highways, campgrounds, rivers. In this case, draw a bowl of your very favorite salad (real or imaginary), then make a key to show everyone what each ingredient is.
Want More Salad? Try One of These RecipeS
Smashed Cucumber Salad
Winter Salad with Orange Vinaigrette
Rad Radish Salad
The Perfect Fruit Salad
- ENTER AND WIN!
Giveaway!
We are super excited to be teaming up with GIR, the maker of some of our favorite kitchen tools, for a very special Instagram giveaway that will let you make memories in the kitchen that will last a lifetime!
Enter to win:
- 5-Piece Mini Tool Set in Sprinkle
- Eatable Alphabet
- Our new Spring issue,
- An apron from ChopChop!
Visit our post on Instagram to enter! https://www.instagram.com/chopchopkids/
