ONE MORE BITE

Salads are great main-dish meals, especially in summer, when we're less eager to turn on the oven. We all have our favorite green salads, but how often do we mix fruit and greens together? The result can be very refreshing.

Here are some ideas for summer salads using berries. You can easily find recipes, but it's also fun to improvise, based on what you and your family like and what ingredients have on hand.

A classic berry salad starts with a bed of greens -- we've seen recipes that use butter lettuce, spinach, arugula or romaine, or a mix of greens -- and includes sliced or whole berries, some kind of nut for crunch (often chopped pecans or walnuts), some chopped fresh herbs -- we like mint or lemon verbena -- and possibly some crumbled cheese, such as feta, blue or goat. Add a little chopped red onion, if you like.

If you're going for a sweeter dish, poppyseed dressing or raspberry vinaigrette are good choices. If you are more partial to a savory salad, balsamic vinaigrette would go well. However you dress your salad, be creative and enjoy it!