Tuesday Tastings :: Crunchy Chopped Salad

Whew, boy. We stumbled in the door at 9 o’clock this morning after 12 hours of flying home from Buenos Aires. Although I’m feeling a bit wacky, I’m determined to power through and attack several items on the day’s to-do list (including make a dent in the mountain of laundry on my bedroom floor!) After a week of eating Argentinian steak, crispy empanadas and drinking way too much Malbec, I’m ready for some clean, healthy flavors. Enter my go-to chopped salad, incredibly nutritious and thrown together with any combination of veggies hiding in the fridge. I’ll be eating this for lunch with a piece of grilled salmon today…and maybe tomorrow…and probably Thursday, too. Follow the jump for the recipe!

Crunchy Chopped Salad

*You can use any or all of these ingredients, depending on preference and whatever veggies are lurking in your vegetable drawer.

• carrots, chopped
• celery, chopped
• red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
• cherry tomatoes, halved
• cucumber, chopped
• red grapes, halved
• basil, chiffonade
• blue cheese, crumbled
• maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• good quality balsamic vinegar

** I didn’t list any amounts – if you’re making this for yourself, just eyeball it. If you’re serving a group, make a huge bowl, because this salad is awesome the next day. It’s really that simple!