Pity the lowly salad. It’s all the way over there, in a bowl by itself. Kids avoid it, adults ignore it. What to do?

There are lots of ways to perk up that salad, and with the summer season about to kick off, a great salad can be a terrific addition to any menu. Here are a few suggestions to make your salad a menu star:

Use fruit instead of veggies. A summer salad with strawberries and cheese is a great choice, or consider using orange slices, melons and other seasonal fruits. Be inventive with the fruit and with those greens – choose from green beans, kale, Bibb lettuce, spicy arugula – the varieties are endless!

Make a salad pizza! Yes, you read right. The trick is to warm your crust and then top with your fixings. Choose your favorite Rustic Crust pizza crust, bake according to directions and when it’s out of the oven and still warm, top with tomatoes, olives, mushrooms and other veggies, along with a little shredded mozzarella cheese and/or grated fresh parmesan cheese. Anything you can put in a salad, you can put on a pizza. (Okay, we admit croutons would be a little redundant!)

Add new twists to old favorites. Garden salad? Yawn. Serve each guest their garden salad in a parfait glass, a great centerpiece for a place setting. Offer your guests a salad buffet so they can build their own fabulous meal-starter. Serve salad after the main course, which is a common practice in Europe (the theory is the salad cleanses the palate before dessert.)

Who says salad has to have greens? We’ve found this fabulous recipe for Pan-Roasted Salmon-and-Bread Salad, a creation that turns salad theories on their heads (get it?).

No matter the madness to your method (or is it the other way around?), you can make your salads sing, and restore those bowls of green goodness to their rightful place as the star at your table. Here’s to a spectacular summer salad season!