We spent the weekend in Washington DC for a friend’s wedding, and by the time we made it back to Chicago we were exhausted. Late nights with friends and eating out at restaurants for every meal since Friday morning left us feeling lethargic and icky. The perfect solution? A BIG salad for dinner.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, there’s no need to follow a recipe when it comes to fixing a tasty salad. Really, just about any combo will work! I think the key is homemade dressing. Store-bought dressings are expensive and loaded with scary ingredients that I can’t pronounce. Seriously, why would you want to cover your tasty greens with junk like propylene glycol alginate, polysorbate 60, and xanthan gum?! Plus, making your own dressing cuts down on waste in the landfills. The dressing on this recipe is super easy – just a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a nice drizzle of your favorite olive oil!

1 head red leaf or romaine lettuce
2 links turkey sausage, casing removed
1 can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
good handful of fresh green beans, trimmed
1 large tomato, chopped
2 roasted red peppers from a jar, chopped
2 slices of provolone or a ball of fresh mozzarella, diced
1 lemon
olive oil
salt, pepper

Bring about a 1 1/2 cups of water to boil in a small saucepan. Drop in the green beans and cook till bright green – about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a bowl of ice water. Remove beans from pan and immediately drop into the ice water. Once they are chilled, remove from the water and cut into bite-size pieces.

Heat a large pan over medium heat and add in some olive oil. Cook the sausage and stir till crumbly. Once sausage is cooked through, drop in Great Northern beans and turn heat off.

Fill two large bowls with lettuce and top with green beans, tomatoes, red peppers, and cheese. Spoon sausage/bean mixture on top. Squeeze half a lemon over each salad and drizzle with olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.