Salad days

The meal that I eat most in summer is a big salad. With the hot weather and all the fresh vegetables around, salads are a natural. Unfortunately, I do tend to get in a salad rut, where my salads are usually made up of the same, rather boring ingredients: lettuce mix, fresh herbs, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese and croutons. How I tend to mix it up is by using different dressings. I've mentioned before that I have a "cookbook problem." Well, I also have a "salad-dressing problem." Right now, I have eight bottles of dressing opened in my fridge and no fewer than 15 (!!) unopened in my cupboard.

I've been trying to diversify and be more creative with what I throw into the salad bowl. At various times, I've added almonds, pecans, soy nuts, dried cranberries, broccoli or cauliflower. One of my favorite new salad ideas I've come up with is to add pieces of Yves' Lemon-Herb "chicken" skewers and slices of avocado. That's proven to be very yummy and filling.

Still, I'd like some more fresh ideas. What are some things that you like to add to your salads to make them more interesting?