Today, I wanted to share one of my friend’s and I’s favorite recipes that we created and the story behind it— Quarantine Salad! First, lets start with the recipe:
Ingredients:
Lettuce (we love mixed greens or romaine)
3 Bell Peppers— Orange, Red, & Yellow
1 Cucumber
1 Red Onion
1-2 Avocados
Shredded Carrots
Parmesan Cheese
Olive Garden Italian Dressing
Optional to add:
Tomatoes
Croutons
Chicken
Instructions:
Pretty simple! Wash and add your lettuce to a large bowl. Chop all of your veggies and add in the bowl! Finally, add the cheese and dressing last for ultimate freshness. Mix together until all of the salad is coated in the dressing and enjoy! If you are planning to make this into a meal, add a protein of choice— I recommend rotisserie chicken to make it quick and easy!
The Story:
Now! For the history of this recipe. It all started in September of 2020, when my friends and I were sophomores in college. It was the first semester back from a 6-month break since the COVID-19 Pandemic hit and transformed everything. This was also the period of time when everyone was still trying to figure out the right thing to do with everything, including colleges. After our first two weeks of school, my friends and I were all exposed to COVID and were told we had to quarantine off-campus. We decided to all stay at a family-friend’s apartment until we were clear to return. One day, we ordered groceries to be delivered and decided to order a handful of vegetables and salad ingredients. When it came time for dinner, we randomly threw together the ingredients and made one of the yummiest salads ever. From then on, we have made this salad hundreds of times and officially named it Quarantine Salad! While it is nothing out of the ordinary or unique, it is unexpectedly quite addicting and delicious. Give it a try!