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Teens Make Greens Fresh, Hot and Cool!

Salad lover, junior chef and soccer enthusiast Tanner Kohn, 10, of Greenville, S.C., shows off his grand prize-winning Shrimpsational Caribbean Salad, which wowed the judges, and earned a scholarship for Tanner and a salad bar makeover for his school. The Teens for Greens Amazing Search for Fresh Salad Recipes was sponsored by Fresh Express, the nation's No. 1 salad maker.

(Family Features) - Got fresh greens? Give kids today a bag of fresh-cut salad greens and stand back. Tossing everything short of their iPods into a salad bowl, the savvy younger generation will create a salad to wow your socks off.

Fresh. Nutritious. Healthy. Delicious: Teens are hip to eating fresh, eating green and eating healthfully and deliciously when creating salads. That's what the No. 1 packaged salad maker, Fresh Express, learned recently.

Hundreds of kid-created recipes poured in from teens and tweens across the country in response to the Fresh Express Teens for Greens Amazing Search for Fresh Salad Recipe Challenge. Creativity, healthy choices and good taste lead kids when tossing a salad.

Fresh Express was surprised and impressed with the nutrition and flavor savvy reflected in the teen recipes - showing that a new generation of salad lovers is clearly setting the pace with good taste, outrageously great flavors and an obvious knowledge of fresh, healthy eating.

Take the grand prize-winning recipe created by 10-year-old Tanner Kohn of Greenville, S.C. - Tanner's Shrimpsational Caribbean Salad wowed the judges with its enticing combination of colors and flavors. Showing his savvy for creating a balanced flavor profile in an irresistible main event salad, Tanner won a Salad Bar Makeover for his school and a scholarship to the culinary school of his choice. Appropriately, Tanner's dream is to become a world-class chef.

Judges said that among the entries overall, a knowledge of nutrition - through healthy ingredients - was evident. They also noted the sophisticated flavors and ingredients added to packages of Fresh Express salad blends. Fresh and dried fruits, toasted nuts, crumbled cheeses, herbs, beans were all popular, as were from-scratch healthy vinaigrettes of citrus juice or vinegar and olive oil.

Leave it to the younger generation to lead us to what's hot and fresh in eating. The next time you're hungry for a salad, call in a teen. They're sure to think fresh, go green and tickle your taste buds.

Shrimpsational Caribbean Salad
Serves: 4

Dressing:
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (1 large lime)
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons Caribbean seasoning
1 pound medium cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 10-ounce package Fresh Express Hearts of Romaine
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup fresh pineapple, cubed (or 1 8-ounce can diced pineapple, drained)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into rings
4 tablespoons sweetened coconut, lightly toasted
Fresh chopped cilantro

Place all dressing ingredients in small bowl of food processor; process until smooth. In medium bowl toss shrimp with half of dressing; set aside. Reserve remaining dressing.

Arrange equal portions of romaine on each of 4 plates; top with shrimp. Arrange beans and pineapple around shrimp on each salad. Top each salad with 2 red pepper rings. Drizzle reserved dressing evenly over each salad and garnish with toasted coconut and cilantro. Serve immediately.

SOURCE: Fresh Express