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) Framed - it is good to frame your salad with chips, 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:
7) Cascade - this Pasta Shrimp Salad, made with whole wheat penne, cascades
off the greens - the greens are shredded finely.

8) 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.
9) Molds - this is always fun with couscous in 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.

10) Color - fruits, and vegetables add the most 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
11) 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.

12) 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.
13) 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.

14) 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.