My Sweetheart Salad

Manfriend woke up at 5 a.m. on a rainy Sunday yesterday morning to run a 10-miler, and I wanted to do something nice for him, since I knew he had been training pretty relentlessly for this race and deserved a little extra TLC.

He has been waiting very patiently for me to cook something for him for a while now, and I decided that this past weekend was going to be the weekend I finally surprised him with something homemade by yours truly.

Except, after being on a strict no-carbs diet for the past few weeks, Manfriend already had his stomach set on pizza, and between my non-existent culinary skills and Pizza Hut's any size, any topping, any crust, any pizza for only $10 (which you can order online and have it delivered to your door in less than 30 mins), guess what we ended up having for dinner last night?

That didn't stop me from feeding him a healthy (and savory!) appetizer, though. I call it, "My Sweetheart Salad":

Ingredients:

spring mix of arugula, spinach, baby lettuces
(I picked up Nature's Promise Organic Spring Mix)
grape tomatoes
seedless red grapes
clementine
strawberries
slivered almonds
crumbled feta cheese
raspberry vinaigrette

Directions:

1. Peel clementine. 2. Wash all fruits and vegetables. 3. Slice clementine, strawberries, and grapes in halves or quarters.

6. In a mixing bowl, combine the spring mix, fruits, and grape tomatoes. 7. Lightly sprinkle the slivered almonds and feta cheese. 8. Top it all off with the raspberry vinaigrette according to taste!

Tip: This salad went wonderfully well with a glass of chilled pinot grigio, and you can have the leftover fruits for dessert. (I'll admit, it was a little strange pairing this all with pizza...but it definitely gave our taste buds an unpredictable little kick!)



And, despite the fact that making a salad doesn't technically count as "cooking", the main point is that Manfriend absolutely loved it, and that's all that matters!

Happy Monday!