Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Obsession of the Month: Salad

Variety is not the spice of my life. I am prone to eating the exact same meal for extended periods of time. Tom loves this.

Following the gluttony of our Mexico trip, my arteries and brain needed something wholesome, light and uh, cleansing. Thus, my salad obsession.

At least once a week, sometimes twice, I hit up the Byerly's salad bar. Oddly enough, the East St. Paul location has a wicked good selection (better than Roseville). And I spend around $4.50 for a filling salad. Not awesome, not terrible.

In the "I'm feeling rich today" category, I have never loved a salad more than I love Erte's Applause Salad. Here's how they describe it on their menu: crisp apple slices, shredded carrots, natural Stickney Hill goat cheese curry crusted croutons, nuts, golden raisins, on top a bed of spring mixed greens dressed with a chutney vinaigrette

Oy. At $14 a pop, though, not exactly the kind of meal you can swing on a regular basis.

Thus, I've been working on my homemade salads and may have finally come up with one I could see myself obsessing over (making for dinner every single night for a month until I move on to the next obsession). Here's what I've got:

Fixins:
spinach
mixed baby greens
sunflower seeds
dried cranberries
goat cheese
Morningstar Farms chik'n strips

Dressing:
olive oil
red wine vinegar
garlic powder
salt
pepper
basil
oregano
dijon mustard
(I don't really measure amounts. Maybe equal parts oil/vinegar? Meh?)

These ingredients are all dependent on what I actually have in the kitchen at the time of creation. If I don't have the fake chicken strips, I'd likely substitute more vegetables and/or edamame or chickpeas to give it some protein.

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