Last night's creation

As I said, last night I was flying solo on the dinner front, and having just taken a yoga class on top of that, I wanted to make something healthy and simple. Enter, the medium salad.

This is pretty basic, but I do like to get darker greens (they're better for you) in a head of lettuce instead of pre-cut as I'm convinced it lasts longer, AND there are many ways to jazz up a regular salad. My favorite is with homemade croutons and some sort of flavorful cheese. This is also really easy to do though if you just forgot to buy croutons at the store. 

Take whatever loaf of bread you have in the fridge and get out one slice per salad. (This is also a good way to use up the end pieces no one ever eats otherwise.) Pour olive oil onto a small flat plate and put one face of the bread into the olive oil for an even coat across the surface of the bread. It doesn't need to be soaked through, just an even coat. Then season to taste so you don't get plain croutons. I find salt and pepper do the trick, but more pepper than salt and more than you think you will need to really give it good flavor. 

Put the bread into a standard toaster oven - NOT a regular toaster as this will end badly with the oil dripping down into your toaster most likely followed by a foul smell. If you don't have a toaster oven, a regular oven works just as well, it just uses up more energy. Toast on the highest setting to get the bread nice and crispy. This should not burn the bread thanks to the olive oil coating. Once it is well toasted, take it out and cut into crouton sized squares.

Make a salad as you normally would - if you want to add protein, a hard boiled egg or tuna is always a good option - and then sprinkle croutons on top. I also love adding a good feta or blue cheese to my salad, but alas all I had in my fridge last night was Parmesan. Add some balsamic - if it's not vinaigrette style it's not fattening and if it's been aged it's even better - and enjoy!

Seems pretty basic, but I love adding a little something to every dish and these croutons are delicious.


P.S. Mom, I swear I don't make a habit of just having salad for dinner! (They worry I don't eat enough)