Friday, April 17, 2009

Inspiration Strikes

It could be that I was inspired by the beautiful, spring-like weather. It could be that I was inspired by my good-hair-day. (Which was made possible by the new L'Oreal EverPure Moisture Conditioner) Or most likely I was inspired by Molly Wizenberg's book, "A Homemade Life" (go buy it - now) which waxes poetic about cooking in Paris, cooking in Seattle and making salads and homemade dressing. But I had inspiration to build a salad for dinner. One with lots of veggies and homemade dressing. One with poached chicken. I thought a lot about this salad. So much so, that I told Tommy I had to make it for dinner and I'd make him anything he wanted. (He's not really a salad type of guy.) He said, "I could go for a salad with chicken." "Huh? You want a salad? Okay." So he took Lucas home from our outing so I could hit the supermarket and buy what I needed. I felt so European and Parisian shopping for that evening's dinner right then and there. I purveyed the produce section. This is what my amazing, delicious salad contained:
  • Arugula from Trader Joe's that I've also been layering on sandwiches
  • Radishes that were still on their greens
  • Endive
  • Goat cheese - I forgot just how much I love goat cheese
  • Toasted pine nuts that I happened to have in the pantry
  • Poached chicken breast
  • Avocado
  • Homemade salad dressing which was so simple - dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, salt and olive oil (courtesy of Molly's book)
It was delicious. It was filling. It even made the non-veggie Tommy exclaim "This is delicious!" It even looked a smidge like this:

Ahhhhh....spring time. I can't wait to hit the roadside stands and try more veggie salads.

1 comment:

Mouthy Girl said...

I recently started eating arugula and LOVE it. I'm inspired by your post to try more HOMEMADE dressings as well as buy the book. I'll have to let you know what I end up making. "A Homemade Life" - here I come!