Spinach Salad

Well, I guess if you know how to make a salad dressing, then you should know the basics to make salad. Something that goes beyond the bag o' salad at the grocery store (which in a pinch are perfectly fine.)

A spinach salad is an easy way to go since you can either get a "bunch" of spinach leaves or a bag of "triple washed" spinach from the grocery. Here's the recipe:

Simple Spinach Salad

Fresh Spinach cut into fork size pieces
Purple Onion Sliced
Walnuts
Craisins
Avocado slices (about 1/4 to 1/6 of an avocado)
Shredded Parmesan cheese

Put the desired amount of spinach in a bowl. Add the desired amount of purple onion, walnuts, Craisins, avocado, and Parmesan cheese. Top with the Balsamic Vinaigrette from the previous post and there you go, "Anymonkeycan" make a Simple Spinach Salad!

Tips:

1. For the onion I will cut the onion in half and remove the dry, outer layer. Then I will use a vegetable peeler to "peel" the onion directly onto the salad.

2. For the walnuts I will take a few in my hand and squeeze to break them down a little bit more and then throw them on the salad.

3. Avocados are easy to peel. Google or search youtube.com for an easy way to slice the avocado.

4. Avoid at all cost the Parmesan cheese that is ground into a powder that does not have to be refrigerated!!

Once you have made this a few times, be sure to experiment with substitutions, omissions, additions, etc.

Instead of spinach use arugula. Add a hard boiled egg. Drop the Craisins and use fresh berries. Ignore the Parmesan and go with Gorgonzola or Bleu Cheese. Pine nuts or Sunflower seeds or Cashews can all be used instead of the Walnuts.

Here's an example made with Arugula, fresh berries, and Gorgonzola cheese:
See, "anymonkeycan" cook! Enjoy!

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Salad Dressings (Balsamic Vinaigrette)

Sure, the grocery store has about one side of an entire aisle devoted to salad dressing. Why should one bother learning how to make a Balsamic Vinaigrette then?

Making a Vinaigrette is easy and can easily impress those who don't cook. It's almost like a magician performing a card trick. Those who don't know the sleight of hand are often amazed and delighted!

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/4 cup of Olive Oil

1/4 cup of Balsamic Vinegar

2 Teaspoons of Honey

2 Teaspoons of Spicy Mustard

Add all of the ingredients into a bowl and whisk until fully blended. That's it!

You can get as complicated or as simple as you want with the vinaigrette. You can change up the type of vinegar (Raspberry, Apple Cider, etc,) or add different herbs or different spices or different ratios of the above ingredients.

I've actually become quite lazy and normally just drizzle Oil and Vinegar straight onto my salad with a dash of Kosher salt!

See, "anymonkeycan" make a Vinaigrette! Enjoy!

anymonkeycan.com

I have been a slacker, plain and simple. I wanted to have a website/blog so that I could post culinary adventures I was on in my kitchen. So far I have posted...ZERO!! Blah!

So here it is. I am throwing it out there and ready to run the gauntlet of accountability. I will begin to post thoughts, comments, and recipes to prove that "anymonkeycan" cook! Seriously...cooking does not have to be hard, but it certainly can be.

I enjoy cooking, but I have spoiled myself. That is the one caveat of learning to cook. You will probably learn how to make something REALLY well that you REALLY like. This is a double-edged sword. Sure, you cook it, eat it, share it, and enjoy it.

BUT, you start to realize that you cannot order it at restaurants anymore because you know that you will be disappointed. If that is a risk you are willing to take, then I hope you enjoy future postings.

In the words of the Swedish Chef: "bork, bork, bork!"