Greens are so healthy, we should be eating them at every meal. Well, no. But if you’re like me and eat a lot of salad, you don’t want to ruin a perfectly good greens habit with boredom. Just like an ice cream sundae, it’s all about the toppings, all the crunchy, tasty bits that bring the salad into a new realm of goodness. 

I don’t like all the weird chemical ingredients in packaged salad toppings, so I make my own. But I only thought to do it when I tried my sister-in-law’s nappa cabbage salad with this topping. It’s good on everything. It’s good spooned right from the pan. I’ve got the burns to prove it!

I love butter, and it seems to get along with me just fine. I love carbs, but carbs are apparently mad at me. I don’t know what I said, carbs, to make you punch me in the stomach every time. You’re like some playground bully who acts like my friend and then … but anyway.

So this salad topping the way I make it doesn’t have many carbs. The recipe calls for packaged ramen noodles, which are quite delicious, but a no-no for me (but maybe not for you, so I included them anyway). Otherwise, just simple, low-carb crunchy things that butter makes even better. Just about any nut or seed will work. You could do a sweet version, too, though I haven’t tried that yet. Maybe with shredded coconut and dark chocolate chunks. 

Loraine Fick is a writer and low-carb food experimenter with a love for animals and cake. Her greatest challenge is a short attention span, and her greatest strength, at least foodwise, is a desire to share recipes that are good and good for you. Follow Loraine’s blog at Spoonfully – Adventures in Low-Carb Cooking & Baking.