Oh Yum!

It's SPRING! Have I mentioned that? As soon as the sun comes out and the weather turns warm, I start craving fresh veggies and big salads. Unfortunately, around here, the Farmer's Market doesn't open for another month and Kroger's produce section is still pretty pitiful looking.

So, for dinner last night I made this Pioneer Woman dish, which isn't very springlike at all. But it was a big hit with the kids (and Davis, who when it comes to food gets lumped in with "the kids").

I was much more excited about the salad, which was awesome.

I got this recipe out of Taste of Home magazine:

Marinated Cheese Salad

1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. minced Italian parsley
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. minced fresh oregano (oops forgot that part, it was still good!)
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp. salt (I used sea salt)
1/8 tsp. pepper (I used freshly ground)
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese
4 cups torn romaine lettuce
2 cups fresh arugula or baby spinach
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved (oops forgot to halve them!)
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1/2 cup medium pitted green olives

For the dressing, in a small bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Cut the cheese into 1/2 inch cubes, toss with half the dressing, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the romaine, arugula, tomatoes, shallots and olives. Toss with the remaining dressing, top with the marinated cheese, serve immediately.

And for dessert, we had strawberry shortcake.



I didn't adjust the saturation on that picture - those beauties really were that red!