Salad!

The Salinas Valley is often called the "nation's salad bowl" with good reason.  Lots of lettuce and other veggies are grown around here.  You'd think it would be cheaper to buy, but I've found lettuce is about the same price I paid in the Seattle area.

Anyway, we had a lovely fruity salad last night. Mixed greens, with fresh raspberries, mandarin orange segments, very thin slivers of red onion, topped with crumbled pecan pieces. Add some grumbled gorgonzola to make it more substantial.

For the salad shown here, I used a combination of romaine hearts and Trader Joe's Herb Salad blend. I like the crispiness of the romaine with the softer wild greens.

Dress with fresh ground pepper and your favorite balsamic vinaigrette. I like Girard's Light Creamy Balsalmic with this salad, though the only place I've been able to find it around here is SaveMart.