Uncle Scott Salad

I started cooking when I was about eight or 10 years old, I guess. I asked my mom to teach me how to make scrambled eggs so I wouldn't have to wake her up on weekend mornings to make me breakfast. From there, my love of cooking evolved.

I'm no expert, but I take a great deal of pride in my cooking, and I've received many compliments. I've also usually been one of the best cooks I know. So of course, I wind up marrying a woman who's brother is a professional chef.

Truth is, it's been a great thing. My brother-in-law Scott has taught me a lot in the kitchen. Ironically, at holidays, I do most of the cooking for a couple of reasons. First, Scott's usually working, and secondly, people don't ask me to do TV shows on the holidays, so why should he have to spend the whole day cooking, right? But he usually arrives just in time to help me with that last-minute rush to get everything done and make sure the turkey is cooked.

Anyway... a lot of what Scott makes is, at least for now, a little above the subject matter of this blog. But there is one recipe of his that is incredibly simple and that we ask him to make when he comes to dinner at our house: Uncle Scott Salad.

Here's how simple it is: Get a bag of salad mix at the grocery store. Scott uses the one with lettuce, carrots and some cabbage. Dump it in a big bowl. He tops it with croutons, red onion slices, tomatoes and roasted sunflower seeds. Dish it out into smaller bowls and top it with your favorite dressing. That's it.

Of course, you can add in your personal favorite salad toppings, like the mushrooms I added to the salad above.

I know it's not much of a recipe, but it's really good, and let's face it: We could all use a little more salad in our diets, right?