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Recently Wendy’s asked me to come in and give my opinion on their fresh salads. As a traveler, I’m constantly on the look-out for good quality food to keep me fueled. So when I think “salad”, I didn’t immediately think “let’s go to Wendy’s” … but now I do!

And now so does my friend Sally who called me right when I got home. Here’s the conversation:

Me: “I just got home from Wendy’s – I was taste testing their salads”
Sally: “Hmm, I would never order salad from fast food place.”
Me: “Ooo, I just learned something new. Fast food is now ‘Quick Service Restaurant’ and their salads are awesome! ”

Boom, Wendy’s has a new customer. But we both agreed that the choice to also add fries to the order is pretty amazing. The staff at the Wendy’s on 6th and Logan in Denver put on a great demo – check it out!

Here’s what I loved:

• The lettuce is washed & chopped (using THE coolest looking ginormous salad choppers) each morning – it takes the prep person about 1.5 hours – that’s some wash & chop time!
• All toppings/ingredients are all prepared fresh in the am (including the chicken). And because the salads aren’t pre-packaged, it’s a nice peace of mind for vegans who truly want a non-vegan salad rather than a “I picked the chicken off” salad.
• The #FruitTea chillers in Strawberry Passionfruit and Mango Peach were a fun new addition – they use #HonestTea (one of my faves) – Both were great (although the Strawberry/Passionfruit was a little too sweet for me)

We tried these three salads:

Strawberry Mango Chicken Salad

This lovely treat is only available until Labor Day so you best head in soon. The combo of the strawberries & mango along with the roasted sunflower seeds, feta and Honey Citrus vinaigrette was perfect- sweet, crunch – all the fun sensations. You’ll see below that I have a thing for the Taco Salad so I was hesitant to cheat on my fave salad but I’m glad I did! (Don’t tell the Taco Salad, ok?)

Fresh Mozzarella Chicken Salad

I’ll be honest, I’m a fresh mozz snob and I not-so-silently judge mozzarella that’s not nice & fresh & sponge-y – this cheese was! Combine that with 3 lettuce mix (spring, romaine, iceberg) and add in the creamy basil pesto – DELISH.

Apple Pecan Chicken Salad

Here’s a quote from my friend Ellen who INSISTED on coming along for my Wendy’s visit due to her long-standing relationship with said APCS:

“I’m just glad I haven’t lived a single day of my 4th decade without the possibilities of the Apple Pecan Chicken Salad from Wendy’s. I could literally eat one every singled day. I’ll stay faithful to the APCS but that mango strawberry salad might have to be my on-the-side Salad”.

I see her point – that salad has the same combo of flavors that compliment each other – it has a super upscale Waldorf salad-esque feel but with pecans, cranberries and blue cheese to pop it off the charts.

Side Note: That Power Mediterranean Salad has its own special place on my faves list- really great for a post workout kick with the quinoa, chick peas, white beans & hummus (among many other ingredients)

My Thrill Moment.

The. Taco. Salad. Is. Back. – BOOM – this made my heart skip. I guess some people are only partial to it in the fall & winter months but, dang, it’s close to my heart and when it went off the menu, I was sad. That is no longer the case.

One more thing – they guarantee that their salads stay fresh for 36 hours (unless you leave them in a hot car then that’s on you!) – they were right. We brought home our leftover salads & were able to get our grub on the following day… yummy!

SOMEONE ate my leftovers (points at Lulu looking guilty)

And then there is the Frosty. Even mini-sized.. you know you want one.