Super Salad

Jon and I currently are on a mission to develop a weekly dinner plan that: a) is simple and tasty for adults and kids; b) takes the ambiguity out of who’s doing what (we recently discovered I was assuming full responsibility for – and withholding bitterness over – meal prep on top of work and juggling Laurel at the end of the day); and c) gets more vegetables into us. If we get a good plan sorted out, we’ll be sure to share it; meanwhile, we have discovered how effective an excellent, simple vinaigrette is to inspiring salad consumption.

One batch of Martha’s Favorite Vinaigrette and many salads later, we're still in awe of this beautiful and easy steak Cobb salad (click thumbnail to enlarge image), in which we tossed chopped iceberg lettuce with vinaigrette, then layered cherry tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, seared steak strips, cashews, bleu cheese, and avocado over the top (dried cranberries also would make for a nice color and flavor contrast). The steak – and a side dish of pomme frites – warmed up the salad for winter (chicken or marinated tofu also would sub in well), and the presentation projected a culinary mindfulness that largely has been dormant since we embarked on the parenting journey.