I love a big salad for lunch, especially in the summertime. It makes me feel Virtuous in several different ways. One is that it’s good for me. I almost always use straight up spinach instead of lettuce, for the greens, unless it’s spring and I have greens in the garden. It’s also cheap, because I can use whatever’s on hand to make it. I also make my own dressing, which makes me feel all snooty and stuff, and I like that.

Here’s my basic dressing. Sometimes I doll it up with herbs, sometimes I don’t.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced not terribly fine
a few grindings of black pepper
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar.
Heat up the olive oil in a teeny pan, and fry the garlic in it. Add the pepper toward the end. Then add the sugar and vinegar and stir well. That’s it. This makes enough for 1 big bowful of salad.

Here’s stuff I like to put in my salad:
toasted almonds or walnuts
crumbled bacon (right, like we ever have leftover bacon…)
boiled egg
tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden
leftover grilled chicken or beef
cheese- any kind
sesame seeds (I’ll put a splosh of sesame oil in the dressing if I’m doing this)
Mandarin oranges are good, especially with almonds and chicken, you might add a bit of soy sauce to the dressing.

If you have nuts and an egg, there’s no need really for meat. If you’re taking it to work, don’t peel the egg until it’s time to eat. If you don’t like spinach, use what you like. I like it particularly because it is a Super Food, slam full of all sorts of good things. It lacks the crunch of some types of lettuces, tho, so use what you like.

Today’s version (I’m on this diet that has me eating a big salad every single day for lunch, soI’m trying to shake things up a bit) involves:
Spinach
toasted almonds
bacon crumbles
boiled egg
cucumber from the garden (I don’t get tired of saying that! I love my teeny garden!)
and the dressing mentioned above. With a big glass of iced tea with mint (from the garden!)I will be set until suppertime. Chicken on the menu, don’t know how I’m going to fix it, but I do know how I’m not going to fix it: fried or Thai with coconut milk. Which I’m fresh out of.