Dani Wednesdays: Sharpening My Knife Skills - Salad

Hello, Ladies and Gents. I am excited to announce I am now part of the working class. This job completely fell into my lap and I could be happier. A few days a week, I will be a personal chef and companion to an older lady. She is in her eighties and has stage 2-3 kidney failure. Living alone in her home is the main goal and my job is to fill in the gaps when other friends and family are not there, as well as, make sure she has meal specific to her specialized diet.

Those who have kidney disease need to watch their potassium and phosphorus, but most importantly… NO SALT. This will be a wonderful challenge. I will share some of my recipes in later posts. Since I will be cooking many meals at one time, I needed to work on my knife skills to improve my efficiency and organization. Today, I wish to reveal the salad I made which working on my knife skills. Waste no, want not.

Sharpening My Knife Skills Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients
-Salad

• 3 c. spinach (roughly chopped)
• 2 green onions (thinly sliced)
• ½ sm zucchini (diced)
• ¼ red bell pepper (chopped)
• ½ carrot (diced)
• ¼ c poblano/pasilla pepper
• 1 stalks celery
• 2 tbsp red onion (finely diced)
• 4 basil leaves (thinly sliced)
• 3 mint leaves (thinly sliced)

-Dressing

• ½ c light olive oil
• ½ c balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 sm clove garlic (pressed)
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• ½ tsp pepper
• Pinch of sugar

1. Combine all dressing ingredients in a container with lid and shake to emulsify.
2. Toss all salad ingredients in a bowl.
3. Coat with desired amount of dressing.
4. Enjoy!

As I always say, you can really use what ever ingredients you desire and still have a great salad. Often I like to add the sweetness of fruit to balance out the savory, but I did not have any on this day. If you want more of a dinner meal, simply add any left over meat you have from earlier in the week. Cheers!