No End In Sight…

For salad season, that is.  Here we were, having a cooler than normal, mild summer, and now that we’re in the last few weeks of it, it’s letting loose like you wouldn’t believe.  Hot and exceptionally sticky makes for a really cranky me when it comes to cooking.  And not just the actual cooking, but the planning.  I must have stared at that piece of paper this morning for two hours, trying to simply come up with three days worth of dinner ideas so I could pick up a few things at the store.

A few cups of coffee later, my brain woke up and I jotted down a few notes, and then headed off to the store.  I had a spinach salad in mind for dinner tonight, and when I saw that the cucumbers at the grocery store were actually homegrown (and only 39 cents a piece!) I finally got excited and assembled a rather perfect salad, if I say so myself.

I started with several handfuls of baby spinach, followed by a grated carrot.  Across the way from those beautiful cucumbers were also homegrown green peppers, so one of those went into the salad along with one rather large specimen of a cucumber.  One carton of grape tomatoes went in, and then one can of drained and rinsed chickpeas.  Next, I took half a block of mozzarella and cubed that up, and then I took a package of hard salami and cut the slices into fourths.  The piece de resistance though was the package of frozen tortellini that I quickly boiled up.  A little Italian salad dressing and some homemade croutons and I had an amazing spinach salad that not only tickled the taste-buds, but also satisfied.

I’ve had tortellini as the base for a pasta salad before, but as an addition to a basic spinach salad?  Oh, it was so, so good.  I can’t wait for leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  The only thing that would have been better would have been if the salad contents themselves came from my own garden.  Alas, the tomatoes are not ready yet, and, well, everything else… I’ve already shared my sad story over in the Garden Notes, if you’re curious, make your way over there.

But definitely make this salad.  Or a variation of it.  And add whatever vegetables you would like-  I was wishing I had a fresh bulb of fennel to add.  Easy, quick, and delicious.  It doesn’t get any better than that.