The Veggie-Packed Salad Judy Garland Ate All The Time

The dining habits of the stars provide a fascinating insight into their everyday lives. Broiled red meat and raw carrots were the foods Marilyn Monroe ate every night for dinner, while Elvis Presley's favorite meatloaf contained the rather unusual ingredient wheat germ. And when it comes to "The Wizard Of Oz" star Judy Garland, she loved a rainbow-hued mixed salad, full of crunch and color.

The recipe for Garland's salad was published in the book "What Actors Eat — When They Eat" by Rex Lease and Kenneth Harlan, which came out in 1939. (This was the same year that the hit musical film "Wizard of Oz" was released, making a star of the teenage Garland in her role as Dorothy.) The book's salad description states that the dish featured a precise mixture of vegetables first assembled for Garland by her mom. It became one of her favorite dishes to eat, and she would also often prepare it the exact same way herself.

The recipe includes lettuce hearts, cubed celery, watercress, grated carrots, sliced tomatoes, seeded quartered olives, chopped endive, and cooked and cooled green peas. When mixed with a tasty yet simple salad dressing, the result must have been a flavorful as well as vibrant and colorful combination.

Actress Judy Garland liked to elevate her vegetable salad with a French-style dressing. This was made by mixing together olive oil, vinegar, salt, lots of paprika, minced garlic, and sugar — a set of ingredients packed with sweet, salty, savory, and tangy notes. The dressing was assembled using a bottle, with the sugar added last to give it a nice, thick consistency. Garland believed it should be shaken no less than three times, to encourage all the ingredients to combine well and the flavors to meld. 

The Hollywood star was not a fan of using wooden utensils to mix the salad and dressing together, instead preferring to toss it using her clean hands. She felt that this was the best way to ensure that all the leafy and crunchy chopped vegetables in the bowl were evenly coated with the flavorsome dressing.

While a salad was her to-go, when Garland wanted something heartier, she was also a fan of a hearty shepherd's pie made with lamb, cream of mushroom soup, onion juice, and instant potato flakes.