Eating What I Like: Salad and Bread
I love salad and bread, and that’s what I get to eat today sitting on the floor of a friend’s house.
I used what I had in the refrigerator to build the salad: arugula, green beans, almonds, baby blue cheese, egg, and my homemade pesto. Everything from the local farmers’ market except the almonds and the baby blue cheese. The basil for the pesto came from the market.
One reason I enjoy salads is the variety of ways to eat them: on a bigger or smaller plate, in a big or small bowl, with my hands, fork, or spoon. Today I’m eating the salad with my Thai spoon.
Adding dressings or dips is another reason I have enjoyed salads. In my youth, I would eat salad with Bob’s Big Boy blue cheese at the restaurant. When the dressing became available to purchase at stores, I bought a lot of it. (I have many wonderful, vivid memories of making my own baked french fries which I would lather with cheese and green onions and dip it in the blue cheese.) Eventually I realized what I actually love is the blue cheese itself. The taste of the blue cheese is delicious to me, and I am aware of the protein and fats my body receives from it. So nowadays, I pile on blue cheese (when I have it) and I no longer use a typical salad dressing. When I have homemade pesto or dip, or a fresh avocado, I can add it and it takes the place of a salad dressing. I can easily eat the salad with no dressing or maybe a little added oil. In today’s salad, I have my homemade pesto, and i can feel the zing of the raw garlic in my head.
Salads are great for adding anything you want. I’ve created a salad using leftover casserole. The bottom layer was a bed of greens. Next I sprinkled in chunks of the casserole, and on top of that I added fresh vegetables for the crunch. Salads are a creative way to pile in the nutrients, and I’m okay with mixing everything together. It’s all going to the same place.
My prep work included boiling six eggs, cutting long green beans into pieces, and smashing a large chunk of blue cheese with my fingers. To pack it, I grabbed handfuls of pre-washed arugula, layered in the green beans, the blue cheese, the sliced eggs, and several handfuls of almonds, poured in a massive amount of my homemade pesto, and closed the lid. The salad was ready for whenever I was.
One of my favorite breads to eat is sourdough, and that is what I have to eat today. I bought the loaf from the farmers market, and sliced it up and froze it. To add it to this meal, I took a slice out, toasted the slice in a toaster, and put it in my bag to eat later. Often I will just take the frozen slice of bread with me and by the time I’m ready to eat it it’s soft. Bread is a great addition with salad because I can load food onto it.
I’m grateful to be sitting on a friend’s floor with a cool breeze and this beautiful meal.
You are welcome to eat salad, the way you like.
Stacy 🌺
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I share my experiences and my perspective. Eating and healing look different for everyone. If you are struggling with food or your relationship with your body, please find support. You don’t have to do this alone.