Here are 12 ways to present a delicious,
Framed - it is good to frame your salad with chips,
healthy salad. Try them all!
1) Tall - when making a salad, think tall. Tall could
mean piling leafy greens in a high, airy pile. It can also
mean a ramekin or bowl that is taller than it is wide. It
can also include putting a wonderful Apple Waldorf
Salad in a tall glass. Tall is tall!
2) WIDE - With salads, using a big plate helps them
spread out wide so you get a lot of "goodies" on the
top. This can be good for a platter that you are serving
at a party - and also for a fun presentation, too. In this
particular arrangement for our Spring Salad, we
chose a large square platter and topped our salad with
fruits and toasted nuts.
3) Patterns - in this Fruit Yogurt Salad, we have
used a spiral pattern. But you can also line things up
diagonally, horizontally or even in a scattered fashion.
4) 
lettuce, tomatoes, etc. In this Taco Crunch Salad, just
5 chips (less than half of a serving) make the taco
salad more appetizing and provide a contrasting
crunch and toasted corn flavor.
5) Fans - if you fan veggies over the top you get an
interesting look as we did with this Asian Slaw. We
used snow peas but you could fan thinly sliced veggies
like carrots or bell peppers, too.
6) Cups, bowls, plates, platters - you can use a
variety of interesting bowls, dishes and ramekins to
create visual interest and to complement the food.
Think of your serving ware as a canvas for your
creation! We LOVE white plates - you can never go
wrong with a white plate. Plates that are too busy
(think old fashioned flowered china) detract from the
food. Here is our Asian Broccoli Sesame Salad in a
cup:
This pile of dishes is on my microwave, ready to go!

10) Molds - this is always fun with couscous in

A great source for china is the sale aisle in a
department store or home store. Discontinued items
are always on sale and they are often interesting for
plate presentations. I always scan big stores like
Macy's during the holidays.
our Lemon Couscous Salad - you mold it in a scoop or
bowl and invert it onto the plate. Molding adds a
precise shape and it looks more enticing to eat a
carefully molded grain versus spilling it all over the
plate. This method would also work with tabouleh,
quinoa, or rice.

7) Cascade - this Pasta Shrimp Salad, made with

whole wheat penne, cascades off the greens - the
greens are shredded finely.

11) Color - fruits, and vegetables add the most

8) Citrus - I believe that a small wedge of lemon, lime
or an orange that is squeezed over a salad adds a lot of
flavor without adding sodium and fat. See the salad
above - the tiny squeezable bits of lemon is meant to
go with the Shrimp Pasta Salad.
wonderful colors so use lots of them to balance color
and flavor. Consider using a Japanese mandolin to
finely shave the vegetables so they are more palatable
like we did with the carrots and candy cane beets in
this fresh salad. Check out the image below to see the
translucency of vegetables that are finely shaved on a
Japanese mandolin and with a sharp French knife.

9) Drizzle - this technique is used over and over in

cooking and desserts - you drizzle the sauce over the
top in a fine stream as we have done with the balsamic
vinegar glaze over this Spinach Walnut
Salad. Balsamic vinegar glazes are growing in
popularity and available in almost any grocery store.
You can also drizzle any dressing.
 14) Like A Star - why not make a fun star shape for
your salads? Look what we did with the Lacinato kale
that was lightly steamed and set on the outside of the
plate in a star shape! The delicious baby spinach and
shredded apple with poppy dressing were set into the
center.

12) Spritz and shine - normally chefs add a brush of

butter or a spray of oil to foods to make them shiny.
We like to use an Italian dressing spritzer. We are able
to add a very light mist of a wonderful dressing - I bet
we can dress a whole salad with less than a half
teaspoon and it is shiny and fresh, never drowned! In
addition to dressing, there are delicious oils that come
in spray cans. One of our favorites is avocado oil.

13) Tossed from a big clear bowl, with greens and

herbs. What better way to make a salad than to put a
whole array of mesclun greens and fresh herbs
together and toss them and serve them from a big
clear bowl? This Mediterranean-inspired salad
features a variety of fresh baby greens and herbs like
mint, oregano, parsley, and thyme.