Diet - Year 30 and Counting.....

Well today I started "The Diet".....so ominous sounding isn't it? Sighhhhh --- never-ending saga of my life. I've been on a diet for 30 years....seriously!! Anyho....I now digress. So in light of that, I decided I'd have a salad for dinner tonight. Joy. 

About a year ago, I made a fabulous discovery....how to make my own salad dressing!! Once I figured this out, I haven't bought a bottle of the other stuff since!

I've recently moved and have a much bigger patio, so I decided to grow some veggies, including some Bibb lettuce --- so tonight was the inaugural harvesting of the lettuce. Gotta say it was pretty fun. Now, normally I would use Bibb lettuce if I'm having a wrap, or a tuna or chicken salad, but tonight I just decided to rip it up and use it as my greens. (Primarily out of pure laziness)

Hummmm --- what next?....what next? Well I knew I wanted Balsamic Vinaigrette, so I got that going. Pretty easy really, chop up a little clove of garlic -- throw it in a dressing bottle add 1 part olive oil, 1 part balsamic, 1/2 tsp Dijon, 1/4 tsp soy, salt/pepper.....and then shake it like a Polaroid:)

For the extra ingredients.....I thinly sliced some red onions...put 1/2 of them on the salad raw....threw the other 1/2 in a skillet with a little olive oil and a little butter and started to brown them up. After a few minutes, I threw in some good mushrooms (tonight I used Crimini, but any will do)....let them saute a little. Then I threw caution to the wind...I thinly sliced a red pear....pulled a green onion from my patio garden (sliced in long thin strips) ...threw that in. Added a small handful of cranberries, handful of walnuts..... gave it a good few shakes in the pan -- then on a whim squeezed a little bit of orange juice/zest into the pan to give it some liquid.

Next I crumbled up some blue cheese into the greens, tossed it with the skillet mixture "du jour" and voila - Grilled Pear Bibb Salad!

Here's the goofy thing....with my skillett mixture....didn't need the balsamic. Who'da thunk it? :) It was a great salad!

I'm trying to eat my bigger meal at lunch, and saving a smaller meal for the evening so we'll see how this goes. Right now? I'm so hungry I'm pretty sure my keypad would have a lovely, dark "woodsy" taste.

Signing off.....STARVING....but signing off:)