HEALTHY GREEN AND PURPLE SUMMER SALAD

I've been warned that the beautiful summer sun and warmth comes with quite the humidity in Baltimore! Warm weather always makes me crave salads, but humidity makes me especially crave those that have a bit of fruit on them- I think it's the feeling of instant refreshment and the sweet counter to bitter greens that leaves me so satisfied. Plus, you don't need much dressing on a salad like this since the fruit juice released with each bite kind of acts like a vinaigrette on it's own. That being said, I think I found the perfect "vinaigrette" for salads on such sticky, hot days. My mom gave me a couple of Misto olive oil sprayers a year or so ago that I hadn't actually unpacked until my move to Baltimore, but now I'm excited that I did! Originally I didn't really see the point of them, but now I understand: they are a REALLY easy way to add flavor while reducing the amount of oil you use. I actually filled one with olive oil and one with vinegar, so I just spray my salads with each and I'm good to go! Plus, it's really handy for packing a salad for lunch: if you spray the top of your salad with olive oil and then spray with vinegar, your salad doesn't get soggy before lunchtime! That being said... this recipe is much more of an approximation... I'll provide some guidelines, but you decide how much of everything you want to use!

healthy green and purple summer salad

two large handfuls of red and green butter lettuce
1 handful grapes, sliced in half
1 teaspoon roasted sunflower seeds
olive oil and vinegar via Misto!
sea salt

This is literally the simplest recipe ever! Add your lettuce, grapes, and sunflower seeds to your salad bowl, spray the greens with olive oil and then vinegar (you'll see it build up on the leaves, no need to drench, but definitely coat well), sprinkle with sea salt, and off you go! Again, it's great for lunch salads, and you can do this on any salad you'd like, not just this one! I'm much more of a vinegar fan than olive oil, so I probably use about 1.5 times as much vinegar as olive oil, but you can make it as you'd like! Also, if you don't have a Misto, just use any vinaigrette that sounds good to you. Just keep it pretty simple because the grapes will add all the sweetness you need!