Tossed Green Salad {the Cheesecake Factory copycat}

It’s time that I finally pay homage to the salad that started it all for me, the Tossed Green Salad from The Cheesecake Factory.

This is the first salad that I really took to during a time in my life when I wasn’t really into salads. But most importantly, it was the first time I ate and liked beets. This was a huge feat because I was in my mid to late 20s when I found out I could tolerate them and many vegetables took me throughout my 30s to start enjoying and at nearly 40 I now eat cabbage. (I’m still on the fence with broccoli.)

The Cheesecake Factory Tossed Green Salad is a simple salad of mixed greens topped with cucumber slices, tomato wedges, croutons, julienned carrots, beets and zucchinis and your choice of dressing. (My choice is a homemade ranch!)

This salad is easy to recreate at home (the hardest part is julienning the carrots, beet and zucchini) and totally customizable. Not a fan of beets? No judgment here. Leave them out. Don’t like mixed greens all that much? I’m with you. They tend to get dressing all over your face when you eat because the leaves are so large. Go for some baby arugula or chopped romaine. Trying to eat low-carb? Ditch the croutons and change up your vegetables.

You can have all your vegetables prepped and ready to go in your fridge so by the time you’re ready to throw together your salad it’s really as simple as just throwing together your salad and adding some dressing.

My favorite way to eat it is by adding some shredded red cabbage to the classic salad ingredients listed below (not shown in pictures). I use about the same amount of cut/julienned vegetables in proportion to the lettuce and mix everything around so I have a variety of veggies in every bite. While I don’t drown my dressing in ranch, I do add an ample amount.

I! Could! Eat! This! Every! Day!

ingredients.

Mixed greens (about 3 ounces per person)
cucumber, cleaned and sliced
tomato, cleaned and cut into wedges
carrots, cleaned, peeled and julienned
beets, cleaned, peeled and julienned
zucchini, cleaned and julienned
croutons
your favorite dressing
fresh cracked pepper

directions.

Divide mixed greens amongst serving bowls. Along the sides of the bowl place 3 or four cucumber slices alternating with 3 or 4 wedges of tomatoes. Top with a handful of croutons.
Place a stack of julienned carrots in the middle of each serving bowl and then top with a stack of julienned beets and zucchini.
Serve with fresh cracked black pepper and your favorite dressing.

Recipe rating: 