Thursday, April 16, 2015

Spring Salad

Recently we were invited to dinner at our friends house. They were making steaks and I offered to bring some potatoes and salad. I wanted to make a fancy salad with lots of different fresh ingredients. We have a local grocery store that carries a wide variety of produce so I decided to start there. 
I picked up a bunch of kale, fresh radishes, red leaf lettuce, bulk spinach, green onions, avocado, and strawberries.  I had some dried cranberries and walnuts in the cupboard and threw them in.  I made sure to cut the cut the kale away from the spines because kale can sometimes be a little bitter. 

 
A friend of ours fishes up in Northern Wisconsin and my husband always orders a wheel of Blue Cheese. It sits in our refrigerator and eventually becomes Gorgonzola.  Either way it is amazing and tastes great on just about anything.  So I decided to add it to our salad.
 
 
We picked up a bottle of Brianna's Blush Wine Salad Dressing.  It paired well with the strawberries and cranberries.  That salad was amazing!
 
I'm looking forward to the spring and summer produce.  The warm spring and summer weather make me crave fresh cool salads with lots of different ingredients. It's easy to find new things to try but you do have to be brave on some of the ethnic items.  I'm amazed at how grocery stores have evolved since I was young.  I can remember when my Mother had difficulty finding leeks.  We lived on the Southside of Chicago so leeks probably weren't in high demand in our neighborhood.  They probably aren't today either but I can't be sure since I don't shop there.  Today in the burbs the gourmet grocery stores have everything.  It's a culinary trip around the world in those stores.  Things like Malanga, Chinese Eggplant or Karela (which I will NEVER try again after a recent taste test) and so many other exotic fruits and vegetables available from all over the world at reasonable prices are available.  Sometimes my daughter and I Google a recipe just to know what it is used for. Sometimes we buy it and try it which is how we figured out we will NEVER buy Karela again.   
 
Who would have guessed a trip to the grocery store could be so exciting! Oh, and what makes it even more of an experience?  Some even sell wine and beer along with a full service restaurant.  Saturday morning grocery shopping is the new Happy Hour!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1 comment:

  1. Hi Debbie,
    Thanks for leaving your comment on my blog now I have found you.
    Kris

    ReplyDelete