Neatsmart‘s Carrie and I had big fun with recipes this week on Drink Wine and Get Organized. Carrie showed how to organize your recipes in a well thought-out binder and I shared tips for creating your own recipe for the best salad ever!

FOUR Things to think about when cooking up your dream salad:

FLAVOR It doesn’t matter what it looks like or how “healthy” it is, if it doesn’t taste good – no one will eat it! Think about multiple flavors like in the salad above: Briny from the olives, intense from the sundried tomatoes, rich from the sausage, umami from the mushrooms, roasty-toasty from the red peppers.

COLOR We eat with our eyes first, if it doesn’t look appealing, we don’t want to eat it. An easy way to make almost any salad beautiful is to use a large platter and separate your ingredients. Every one can grab their own favorite salad fixings.

TEXTURE Crisp, crunchy, chewy, light, soft, heavy – your salad needs to include something from each category. For example, in my salad above, crisp comes from shredded romaine,, crunchy from grated carrot and red cabbage, chewy from the sundried tomatoes, light from the flakes of parmesan, soft from the olives and heavy from the sliced sausage.

THEME To make it easy to come up with your own ideas, think of a theme like a country, my salad was inspired by the flavors and ingredients of Italy. Or think of a time of year, a fall salad could be beautiful with slices of roasted acorn or delicate squash, red beans, smoked cheddar, raisins and toasted pumpkin seeds.

The sky’s the limit when you “free brain” you way into gorgeous, delicious ingredients for a supper salad. Just make sure to write it down, so that you can share your recipe with those that will want to make it again and again!

Italian Style Salad Dressing

• Small Bunch of Oregano or Basil
• Equal Size Bunch of Parsley
• 2 Anchovies
• 1 Tsp Dijon Mustar
• 1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
• 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Whizz all the ingredients in a food processor until pureed. Taste to see if you need more oil or vinegar. Pour into a small pitcher or bowl and allow guests to dress their own salad.

The Perfect Pair? Pinot Grigio

I love GOOD pinot grigio. I don’t regularly order it in a restaurant, though. Most of the time its way over-priced for its quality. Too often its thin, acidic and unpleasant or way too fruit forward with a perception of sweetness. I solve this dilemma when I look for Pinot Grigio from Northern Italy! Like an Alois Lageder Pinot Grigio from Trentino Alto Adige. Perfect with food like this Italian salad, it has enough acid to hold up well to the vinegar and not too much to pair with the creamy cheese and meaty sausage. This one is about $17 at Local Vine.