Confessions...

Ok y'all, let me just get something off my chest...today I ate my dinner in a mixing bowl, on the floor of my new apartment, in partial darkness. Sad? Perhaps...but I had a great time. Because my salad was delish and I made it in all of about 5 minutes.

Here's what I did (literally)

1. Ripped open a carton of pre-washed salad leaves. I used those mixed greens - and I buy them in a tub from Kroger (because there is no Meijer in the south).


2. Threw in 4-5 vine-ripened cherry tomatoes


3. Drained and added 1/2 can Northern Beans (organic and on sale, a wonderful combo)


4. Sprinkled over garlic powder, black pepper, and salt


5. Crushed in a few pecans and added 2 pinches of dried cranberries


6. And here's the good stuff - I added a splash of olive oil I bought in Italy and a some pomegranate balsamic vinegar from a specialty store in Kerrytown, Ann Arbor called Fustini's

And that is how to spruce up a salad with the stuff you have on-hand. Pretty cool, huh?

Why am I writing about this? Because I realized something very important today: food should make you feel good. It doesn't have to be "gourmet." It doesn't have to sit on the stove for hours. At the end of the day, when you realize you're in a new city far from those you love, and somehow shoving your face into a mixing bowl full of salad makes you FEEL GOOD, then do it. And don't be embarrassed - someone, somewhere, is probably doing the same.