Cool Tool--Salad Spinner

I already mentioned the cool green thing my mom got me for Christmas, the Lily Pad Lids.  I forgot to mention the cool green thing my husband/kids got me.  It's a salad spinner, which I know doesn't seem green, but let me explain.  Ellie's new obsession is salad.  She discovered ranch dressing and now wants a salad with ranch all the time.  (I got a Buttermilk Ranch salad dressing mix from Penzey's Spices that I really need to make for her.)  Feeding a family of 6 salad (yes, I'm aware that one doesn't actually chew food yet) uses a lot of lettuce.  It takes a long time to chop and shred all the veggies I put in it and to be honest, I hated making salad because it took so long! 
But now I have my salad spinner and it's cut my time in half!  (I realize this sounds like an infomercial, that's not my intent.)  First, I now can just buy a head (ok 3) of romaine lettuce (Ellie's favorite.  Just because it's salad, did you think she was NOT going to be picky?!)  chop it all and toss it in the basket of the salad spinner, rinse it all then spin it dry.  I dump it into a big serving bowl, shred a few carrots, dice a pepper and add any other veggies that I have.  I can just serve out of the bowl, then top it with my Lily Pad lid and I have salad at the ready!  It usually lasts two dinners and a few lunches.  I save money and waste by not buying prepackages salads.   I can buy fresh, local lettuce in the summer (or from Breezy Hill Farm right now) or just cut some of my own lettuce (or Kale) from my garden, spin it out and it's ready to eat.  It was so convenient to have my own lettuce this summer, but washing it and laying it out to dry took forever! I'm really excited to use it this summer, although today, when it's 10 degrees outside right now, running out to the garden to grab a handful of lettuce seems like a long way off.

My salad spinner.  I think Evan got it at Target.  It's OXO brand.