Grilled Salad

I have a confession to make.  When I don’t feel well, all of my good eating and budget friendly habits go out the window.  And they go out the window fast.  You’d think it would be the opposite, right?  That I’d realize I need lots of good things to get me healthy again, but not a chance – my appetite screams for comfort and chicken soup does not cut it…I need cheesy, doughy, creamy, heavy – the food equivalent of a heating pad and a cold compress to heal me up.  And that’s exactly what happened this weekend.  The good news?  I feel better!  The bad news?  I need a takeout detox.

This salad does the trick.  It does the trick AND it’s tricky.  With the help of balsamic vinegar in the grilling step, this salad is chock full of good stuff and it tastes good to boot.  Grilling the ingredients is a great way to jazz up a dinner salad, and it helps quell the dissatisfaction a cold salad on a cold night can bring.  Quell – that feels like a word of the day word…anyway, like always, you can substitute any ingredient in here for a comparable one. 

Grilled Salad  serves 2

8 oz (1/2 package) extra firm tofu, sliced and dried off with a paper towel

1/2 bunch asparagus

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 cup cherry tomatoes

6 – 8 leaves romaine lettuce, chopped

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 oz goat cheese, crumbled

4 tablespoons Annie’s Green Goddess Dressing, or dressing of your choosing

Step 1: Heat grill pan to high and spray with cooking spray.  Place tofu slices on one side and vegetables on another. Sprinkle salt and pepper over all ingredients and drizzle balsamic over veggies.

Step 2: Chop the romaine, crumble goat cheese over lettuce, toss (and flip) ingredients on the grill.  Grill for 8 to 10 minutes or until the tofu has good grill marks and the balsamic forms a nice glaze on the veggies. 

Step 3:  Assemble your salad, dress it and eat it. 

Can you even imagine how delicious and cheap a salad like this will be in the summer when the famers markets open again?!  And it’s so easy!  And a one “pot” wonder!  That’s all I can say for now.  If I keep singing its praises, I make it more and more unacceptable to eat this instead of piles of pizza and pasta and thai food (oh my!) next time I’m under the weather…stop judging.