Gym For The Jaw

Limp salad just doesn't do it for me. One of my pet peeves is salad that has clearly spent too much time getting to know its dressing. Limp and soggy, they hang from the fork and simply are not worth the calories to eat them. For example, wilted salads, even when they are made limp on purpose, always make me think, "Why?"

I like salads that are crisp and crunchy, a workout for the teeth and jaw muscles.

Last night, surveying the contents of the fridge and trying to come up with something a little different to round out our dinner, I decided to put together a simple, crunch-filled salad. I had some small, fresh carrots and a sparkling head of broccoli fresh from the farmer's market, half an onion and that jar of pickled cauliflower that my friend Carla gave me last week. They seemed like the makings for a fun dish, so I pulled them out. I peeled and sliced the carrots in thick diagonals. Beheaded the broccoli and cut it into small florets, peeling and cutting up the stem as well. Minced the onion since I can't eat much raw onion before revolution happens in my stomach but I love the flavor. Chopped a generous handful of fresh Italian parsley. Diced the pickled cauliflower and tossed all those ingredients together.

The dressing was a very strange combination, I'll admit it. I whisked together a quick balsamic vinaigrette, then gentled it with just a teaspoon of mayo. Tossed with the salad stuff, it was creamy without being heavy and tasty, tasty, tasty. We munched our way through all that health food, relishing the exercise and the tangy flavors.