We have lots of food traditions in our family. I’m not sure why. Maybe because we so deeply value our time together and often those times are centered on a meal, because as you may know, I come from a family of foodies.
Certainly, around all the holiday celebrations that accompany the year-end, our food rituals ramp up exponentially. But we have ongoing traditions, as well. Like Friday night pizza, which my husband and I adhere to rather religiously. Sometimes I make homemade pizza (check my archives: March, 2013) but often we order from our local pizzeria – our mutual reward to celebrate the end of our always jam-packed workweek.
This is how it goes: Michael calls me when he leaves his office, I order the pizza, and he picks it up on his way home. That way we get super hot, fresh pizza rather than brave the barely warm, soggy version that often comes with home delivery. And, while I wait for the arrival of my beloveds (husband and pizza), I prepare a plate of fresh cut vegetables and dip as the “healthy” component to accompany our meal.
When my beloveds arrive, Michael and I immediate open the pizza box and toast each other with a hot, fresh slice. The remainder goes in the warm oven, and we leisurely eat the rest, along with the veggies, and watch a movie or chat about our day.
It’s a wonderful relaxing tradition after a busy week. We’ve tried other things like Chinese take-out or tacos from the Mexican place down the road but nothing is as delicious or comforting to us as “pizza night.”
So this past week I got a bit over zealous with my veggie preparations and ended up with quite the Ziploc full of left overs. Instead of plopping the vegetables back out onto a plate for lunch the next day, I decided to cut them into smaller bite-sized pieces and make a salad. And, just for fun I mixed two bottled dressings I had on hand in the fridge to create a new flavor.
You don’t have to make this salad with left overs, I just get a thrill out of creating something pretty darn delicious out of them. Use whatever veggies you choose and create your own signature chopped salad.
Chopped Vegetable Salad
These are the ingredients I used … this time; the quantities are up to you!
Carrots
Celery
Mushrooms
Radishes
Yellow bell pepper
Cherry tomatoes
English cucumber
Then I cheated on the left over part and added a small avocado and crumbled cotija cheese.
Ranch dressing
Green Goddess dressing
Dashes of garlic and onion powders
Fresh ground pepper
Toss all ingredients together and serve.
How easy is that? And nutritious, too!
Eat well. Be happy.
Plynn Gutman 