A Green Salad to Make Leftovers More Exciting

As a defiant response to Sad Desk Lunches, the Food52 team works to keep our midday meals both interesting and pretty. Each week, in partnership with Earthbound Farm, we'll be sharing our happiest desk lunches -- and we want to see yours, too.

Today: Food52's Assistant Editor Marian Bull shares an effortless way to make leftover lunches more exciting. 

We all know that leftovers make for great, inexpensive, and healthful work lunches. Invest the time to make yourself dinner, and you don't have to worry about the next day's lunch. Pat yourself on the back as you chassé into work, tupperware tucked slyly into your laptop bag.

More: Carry a grown-up lunch box to work this fall.

But sometimes eating cold leftovers, as tasty as they may be, feels a little lackluster. The thrill of experiencing something new is gone. So I rely on simple side salads to keep the spark alive. 

Here's what you do: bring a big package of greens (like this Spring Mix from Earthbound Farm) and a jar of homemade dressing to work on Monday. Serve alongside yesterday's dinner -- I'm a fan of this quinoa salad. A week's worth of leftover lunches now include a second course, and just a bit more excitement.

We're partnering with Earthbound Farm to bring you always fresh, never sad lunch ideas. Because dinner shouldn't be the only time that you put care into what you're eating.