Salad no longer means merely iceberg lettuce and tomatoes. When you’re entertaining, salads can be one of the highlights of your menu— adding color, texture and interest to the table.

With no hard and fast rules about ingredients, salads can be as creative as you are. And the tremendous variety of lettuce available today — including Bibb, Boston, red leaf, green leaf and romaine — gives you plenty of room to experiment.

No matter which type you use, lettuce is low in calories and provides plenty of vitamins A and C, plus calcium and iron. For maximum nutrition — and an appealing color palette — choose dark-colored lettuces and mix them with grated red cabbage, carrots and radicchio.

Then you can really turn on the creativity. Here are just a few ideas for additions that are sure to dress up your salads:

• Seasoned, grilled chicken
• Grilled fish and shrimp
• Deli ham, turkey or roast beef
• Sliced or cut-up fruits such as oranges, bananas, apples, grapes, pineapple, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries
• Hard-cooked eggs
• Mushrooms
• Cold, cooked pasta or crushed ramen noodles
• Nuts of all kinds and sesame seeds
• Crunchy vegetables such as sugar snap peas

One of the best ways to enhance a salad is to add grated cheese. The variety of tastes and textures is endless. Here’s a quick guide to some of today’s most popular table cheeses:

• Feta — A fresh, unripened cheese with tart, salty taste and crumbly texture
• Gorgonzola — A creamy blue cheese with a sharp, spicy flavor
• Havarti — A mild, semi-soft cheese with irregular holes; often flavored with herbs, spices or peppers
• Gruyère — A hard cheese with sweet, fruity flavor
• Parmigiano-Reggiano — A hard, dry cheese with a rich, sharp flavor; serve grated or slivered

When you create a salad rich in flavors and textures, you hardly need to add a dressing — especially since some are high in fat.

However, if you want to provide one or two dressings for your guests, choose a low-fat version or make your own low-fat vinaigrette at home with a mixture of olive oil, red wine vinegar and the herbs of your choice.

Another tip for cutting calories is to serve dressings on the side so everyone can use as much or as little as they want.