The Best Salad I've Ever Had

Now, before I go tooting my own horn too hard core, I've got to admit that the lunches around my house are usually pretty bland. And repetitive. Brian and I usually eat a sandwich with mayo, some kind of deli cheese, and either Boar's Head turkey or ham of some variety. Some sort of baked chip or cracker and a fruit rounds out the daily ensemble. No fuss, no muss.  As Brian often teases me, if humankind could subsist on some sort of gloop and not even really need to eat, I'd choose gloop most of the time. And, sadly, he is probably right. Most of the time, eating for me is a function of necessity, and I approach it as such.

But not today. Today I was feeling bored and tired of the usual around here. I suggested to the hubster that a nice salad sounded like a good idea for the day, and he began slicing up the red pepper and the carrots, grating some cheese, and divvying up the greens while I finished feeding Brighton her lunch. Little did I know that having slightly different ingredients than usual was about to make for the best salad I have ever had. At home, or in a restaurant. SO good. So I couldn't help but decide to hop on over here and gloat share. ;)

Doesn't this look like the best thing you've seen?! 

Marti's at Midday...you ain't got nothing on me!

I discovered recently that Aldi is carrying even more organic produce than I had even realized. I knew about the apples, bananas, potatoes, and some cereals, pastas, sauces here and there. But I just discovered that they also have organic spring mix and spinach. The most recent time I was at Aldi they were sold out of the spring mix, so I picked up a pack of the spinach. Now I'd like to say I always buy items from the dirty dozen list exclusively organic. But alas, that is not true. With the specials they run at Aldi and the amazing prices they have on produce, I realized that I was starting to just not buy as many fruits and veggies because I was avoiding the frequently excessive costs. I took another look at the handy Dirty Dozen app on my phone and it reminded me that it is better to eat regular fruits and veggies than to eat less or none. My personal solution has been to choose organic for things we eat pretty much everyday, like apples, and not worry as much about the sprinkle of blueberries in my cereal every few days. And then for things, such as potatoes, that are particularly nasty if not organic, I just make sure I've budgeted in the cost of the organic kind if we're going to be cooking with it. Thankfully Aldi always has organic potatoes, and they are usually 1.99 for 3 lb. bag. That's a great price if you ask me, even when they have a5 lb. bag of regular potatoes for .99. I love me some Aldi.

So, dirty dozen/organic food prices tangent aside, here's what went in my salad (and why...because I just can't help myself).

Organic spinach (Aldi 2.50)
Red Pepper (Aldi, weekly special 3/$1)
Baby carrots (Aldi weekly special $1 for 16oz bag)
Boar's Head Tavern Ham (Publix, 9.69/lb. Yay for no preservatives in our lunchmeat!)
Strawberries (Publix .50 per carton with a Green Advantage store flyer coupon for $2 off with the purchase of 2 boxes Cheerios which were on sale and with coupons only $1.39 per box. I bought 10 boxes of Cheerios at this price and got 3 packages of strawberries and 2 packs of blueberries at this price. We can eat some cheerios up in this house, and some fresh fruit too!)
Cabot Seriously Sharp White Cheddar (Publix $2 with sale and manufacturers coupon. This is our FAVORITE cheese and this is my stock up price, so I bought 6 blocks about 2 months ago.)
Annie's Natural Raspberry Vinegarette (Earth Fare $1 during the Food Revolution sale this spring)

An aside: This is how my brain works. Part embarrassing. Part awesome. Don't think for one second I was running around looking for receipts to give you these awesome stats. That would be definitively too much work. That plentiful info is all just taking up space in my brain...

With Brian's help putting it together, I sat down to some crazy yummy food.

Can you tell how thrilled I am about it?! I even convinced Brian to try a "perfect bite" i.e. one with some of everything and just the right amount of dressing.  He ate a modified version of this salad, because he isn't a big fan of strawberries or any kind of dressing, so her prefers to eat his salads plain and fruitless. I know right?! But to each his own.  He eats salads regularly now, and didn't really do that before we got married, so I'm a happy camper.

I recognize that this is not a super out of the ordinary salad. I think it was just the combo of having spinach only instead of a mix, having so many yummy strawberries on hand that need to be eaten, and having run out of pre-shred cheese that made this salad so wonderful. Why oh why haven't I ever done this before?! It is going to have to become a regular occurrence at my house. And if you haven't ever tried Cabot cheese do yourself the favor. Particularly if you like very sharp cheese. The best I've ever had.