News Taffy

I’m still in New Year’s mode and hoping you haven’t given up on your resolution to eat better this year. Actually, I’m hoping that eating a more nutritious diet was one of your resolutions! One of our failings as a society is that we don’t eat enough vegetables and fruits. Why is that such a hard task? The main reason is that we don’t like to cook in the first place and just getting the main dish on the table is a Herculean effort. While I like to cook, I suffer from the same problem: appetizing and easy vegetable or fruit sides.

I really like vegetables but I agree that all that peeling and chopping can seem like too much work at the end of a long day. Therefore, I either make the whole dinner vegetarian, work the vegetables into the main dish such as a soup or I use one of my really simple, go to recipes. It really is perfectly acceptable and even desirable to just put a handful of raw carrot sticks or a chunk of fruit on everyone’s plate. My family will be getting a nice ripe pear tonight with their meatloaf. It will not be poached, cut up, peeled or covered in salad dressing but it will be washed.

The other day I was making my grocery list/menu for the week and I was trying to think of something interesting to go with fish. I already had an avocado and some grapefruit on hand and an idea suddenly hit me. Omar’s Uptown is one of my all time favorite restaurants and my favorite salad is the avocado salad. I am looking at a picture of the salad as I write. Anyway, besides the obvious sliced avocado, the salad has some grapefruit and mandarin orange sections, a dab of Boursin cheese and a sprinkling of bee pollen, all beautifully arranged on a plate. There are some sliced strawberries and a light drizzle of dressing. To be honest, I’ve never been sure exactly what kind of dressing it is, but the result is heavenly. Now I’m sure some of you are thinking it sounds odd or even horrid but trust me, the combination of flavors is a treat for your tastebuds.

Back to my own humble dinner preparations. I decided to try a knock off of Omar’s creation. I got some mandarin oranges and made my own version. Let me hasten to say that it was no where near as good as Omar’s but it was satisfying and just what we needed on one of those cloudy, dreary days we’ve been having lately. And did I mention how easy it was to throw together? And that it is chock full of vitamins A, C, B-6 and fiber? If the winter doldrums have got you down, try this salad on your family tonight. Thanks Omar, for the inspiration!

Avocado Salad

1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut into large chunks

1/2 of a 19 oz. jar of Del Monte red grapefruit segments, well drained

1/2 of a 19 0z. jar of Del Monte mandarin oranges, or a small can, well drained

a few crumbles of goat cheese or Boursin cheese, optional

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and give a very light drizzle of Brianna’s Blush Wine vinaigrette dressing. Toss gently.