Kitchen Sink Salad

Get ready to make friends with your fridge

You only need to buy two ingredients for Kitchen Sink Salad, that's why I love it so much. Everything else you need is hopefully in your pantry or in a fridge that might need to be cleaned out. You can handle all of that, right? Start with your choice of salad green. For this one I used fresh spinach. I know the ready to eat triple washed spinach is really easy, but when I am having a fresh salad, I love fresh spinach. It has a flavor and texture that you can't get from the packaged stuff. But moving on....

The next thing you need is a protein. You don't really NEED a protein, but with Kitchen Sink Salad, I think it's important to have two things as your salad base. What else is in your salad? Whatever you want. Basically everything but the kitchen sink... get it? Whatever, you try and come up with a more amazing name. Not possible. 

Here we go....

Here is my base: Spinach and Chicken Breasts

 Now I get another chance to tell you how much I love my salad spinner. I chopped off the stems of the spinach and tore the leaves, then put them in the salad spinner.

Next I put the entire bowl in the sink and filled it with water to wash the spinach. Once the bowl is filled just put your hands in and wash it as if it was a delicate clothing item.

Then you lift out the colander and throw out the liquid. Next you spin and you spin and you spin and you spin, dump the water that is spun off and spin once more. Magically washed and dried spinach leaves. 

I prefer to pound my chicken breasts before cooking them. I use a zip lock bag to keep the splatter of raw chicken juice off of things. Leave a corner of the zipper undone so the air has a space to escape when you are pounding.

Prepounded

Post Pounded

 I did a simple marinade with EV Olive Oil, Kosher Sea Salt, and fresh cracked pepper. 

Then we went outside. The weather is gorgeous right now. Lots of grilling to come...

Step One

Step Two

Ready to go

Since we were already grilling chicken we added two additional for lunches or leftovers. Now it's time to raid the pantry and the fridge... Here are some things that I found: Cherry Craisins, Organic Apple Slices, Cherry Tomatoes, Sliced Mushrooms, Queso Fresco, Avocado, Strawberries, Blueberries, Parmesan Cheese, Walnuts, and then I stopped. I grabbed a few of the items to contemplate my next move.

Things that make you go HMMMMMM

 I used the apples, mushrooms, and craisins initially. I chopped all of it into bite sized pieces. Then I made the dressing. I did my standard dressing with EV Olive Oil, White Wine Vinegar, Rooster Sauce, Honey, and a crushed garlic clove. 

Dressing Ingredients

 I made the dressing in the salad bowl and then covered it with the spinach. I added the chopped apples and mushrooms on top. 

We chopped the chicken breasts and the craisins and put it in the bowl. Small sprinkle of salt and pepper, then tossed it all in the dressing. 

After it was tossed I crumbled the queso fresco on top. It has a bit of a salty taste so it went nicely with the sweet of the apples and cranberries. 

The big reveal: Kitchen Sink Chicken and Spinach Salad for Two

Kitchen Sink Salad can be whatever you want it to be. What it has always been for me is an opportunity to get creative with my ingredients and try new flavor combinations in the kitchen. It also comes in handy when I need to clean some things out of the refrigerator. 

Hey guys... I just wrote a focused post about food and cooking with no side remarks on reality tv, or pervs, or making the "drop the bomb" sound effect. Someone owes me some cash $$!!

Not really. I just like to rub it in when I win a bet.

Do you have a standby meal that you can always count on to be in your fridge? Something like breakfast for dinner (love a good scrambled egg sandwich) or a favorite marinade you always have on hand? 

Today's post featured what we actually ate for dinner tonight. That might be a first. I'm on a roll.

-RT