I spent the better part of the day traveling here and there taking care of multiple errands. Surprisingly, I did very well with having only slept for three hours. Naughty, I know! Late morning, around 10:30A, I had a ’50s Style Strawberry Shake’ (recipe here) that kept me sated and energized for hours. It wasn’t until the early evening, about 5P, that I ate my second meal of the day, a large green salad topped with a simple citrus dressing. You know how I go on and on about salads. Well, this one was another makeshift salad that I’ve categorized as “Recipe FreeStyle”. By the time I returned home, I felt somewhat wiped out and, finally, I was also hungry. So, here’s what I did… I chose whatever ingredients I craved. Simple. I knew that I wanted spinach (I had actually been thinking about spinach late in the day), and I also knew that I wanted to eat it with one of my citrus-based salad dressings. Then I thought about the yummy orange cherry tomatoes that I bought weekend before last. They are amazing, like eating candy! They should named “orange candy tomatoes”.
Next I started to think of cilantro, radicchio, and red bell pepper. I wouldn’t normally pair cilantro with radicchio as both taste rather sharp and can work against each other for some palates, but somehow that’s what my body was asking for so I went with it. I added tons of cilantro, maybe even too much. You could say that my spinach salad was literally bursting with flavor, haaha. I was also craving onion so I topped my salad with a bit of chopped scallion. It was perfect. All it need was the citrus-based dressing that I was thinking of adding.
The dressing I chose was my ‘Ginger-Citrus Salad Dressing’ (recipe here). I wanted a savory version so I added a bit of shaved garlic. Raw garlic is pretty potent, so a little goes a long way. I always start with a small amount and build up to whatever strength I prefer at the time. Today, I loved the addition of garlic. Something Helpful: Did you know that citrus helps increase the absorption of iron found in leafy green vegetables? That’s one reason why it’s good to add to your green leafies things like tomatoes or citrus juice like lemon.
Pretty, yeah?
Ingredient recap:
Recipe FreeStyle: “Ginger-Citrus and Spinach”
Spinach Salad (freely measured)
- spinach
- orange cherry tomato
- cilantro
- radicchio
- red bell pepper
- scallion
Ginger-Citrus Salad Dressing (recipe here)
- shaved garlic, optional savory version (freely measured)
For more salad ideas, check out:
Motley Mix with Creamy-Style Dressing
Apricot-Dressed Anything Salad
And also these posts from the “What I Ate” category:
