Max Heinritz > Posts

Salad

I eat the same kind of salad almost every day – at the office, at home, when traveling. I’m so habituated to it that I feel a brain fog withdrawal when I go too long without it. The base comprises:

The greens are either spring mix, 50/50 spring mix and spinach, or baby kale. Typically I get the Whole Foods brand or ALDI. I prefer the former for its texture and heft.

For the apple, I religiously ate only Gala for years. But recently I’ve noticed the quality is lower and the sizes are smaller. So I’ve been mixing it up. Cosmic Crisp is my go-to these days. I like the crunch and sweetness and coolness that the apples bring (I keep them refrigerated).

Salted sunflower seeds are the ingredient that’s hardest to find when traveling. Sometimes they are weird places in the grocery stores. The salt adds some fullness. Why sunflower seeds rather than say pumpkin seeds or walnuts? Sunflower seeds are small enough that they adhere to individual leaves once the salad is mixed, so each bite has crunch not just from the apple but also from the seeds.

Typically the dressing is just a heavy pour of extra virgin olive oil. I find the best value here is the ALDI Bono glass bottles. But I mix it up. If you are looking for a good gift idea for me (or anyone really), a nice bottle of olive oil meets that criteria of “something I would not buy for myself but really enjoy.”

So that’s the base. Optional add-ons, if I’m feel decadent on the weekend or hosting:

In terms of volume, I typically go through two or three 1-pound boxes of leafy greens per week and five to seven apples. I insist on gently mixing all the ingredients together, usually in a large metal bowl. My parents never pre-mixed salads when we were growing up. Kind of barbarian looking back… nothing like a well-dressed, well-mixed salad with each bite consistent. Yum!