Lemon Artichoke Romaine Salad

This salad was decent, although almost missing something in my opinion. It would be a good accompaniment to a meal that already has a lot of flavor components because it's really very mild in and of itself. I think I might add more garlic next time, but that's simply because I'm a garlic freak. Buppy and I enjoyed this on Friday night when we had good friends over for dinner. It accompanied slow cooker Italian beef and an Italian pasta salad. I'd like to think we all enjoyed it!Lemon Artichoke Romaine Salad
Adapted from Taste of Home's Light & Tasty Annual Recipes 2005

10 c. torn romaine
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 can [14 oz.] water packed artichoke heart quarters, drained
3 Tbsp. water
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. minced jarred garlic
1 tsp. salt
Coarsely ground pepper, to taste
1/3 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a bowl, combine the first 3 ingredients. Combine water, lemon juice, oil, garlic, salt & pepper in a small bowl. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.I'm not sure if I really had all 10 cups of romaine in my salad; I didn't measure and used what I had in the fridge. The original recipe called for black olives too [1-2.25 oz. can], but I omitted because a.) we weren't sure how much our guests did or didn't like black olives and b.) I already used a full can in the Italian pasta salad and we didn't want them to overwhelm the meal. Me? I could have done with the addition of the olives, but I really like them. Also, I think next time I'd add a little more tomato. The recipe called for 4 plum tomatoes, but I don't like plum tomatoes so I used regular tomatoes I had on hand. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I didn't have all of the lettuce it suggested using because I had salad dressing left over. I poured on about 3/4 of what I had made and decided that was enough. This, like darn-near all green salads, does not keep once the dressing is poured on. Enjoy!