Diana's Salad

DAY 6: FOODSTUFFS

One of the many things I appreciate about my job is the company's liberal work from home (WFH) policy. While I commute to the office on most days, I try to take one day a week to catch up on writing and editing in the peace and quiet of my home office, where I can focus without people wandering in and interrupting my flow.

Today was one of those WFH days.

I don't usually take much of a lunch break when I WFM. But we had decent weather today, so I ventured down the street and picked up a salad from a local grocer, Foodstuffs.

Foodstuffs has several locations scattered among the northern suburbs of Chicago. They have an extensive selection of prepared foods, baked goods, cheese, fresh seafood, wine and more. They also have lots of specialty items, like salad dressings and marinades made by local restaurants, gourmet potato chips and crisps, pricey pasta and sauces imported from Italy, specialty chocolates spiced with curry powder and other exotic ingredients...it's a fun place to shop if you're in the mood to splurge a bit.

In the back of the store is a counter where you can order salads and sandwiches. Everything is made fresh, and although there are several salads to choose from, customization and even complete deviation from the menu is encouraged.

Foodstuffs Diana's Salad

I was in a spinach mood, so I ordered a customized version of Diana's Salad. It's typically made with baby spinach, edamame, red onions, marinated mushrooms, goat cheese, sugared walnuts, dried cranberries and Foodstuffs balsamic vinaigrette. I omitted the marinated mushrooms and added grilled chicken.

Foodstuffs salads are priced by weight at $8.99/lb., so they will be happy to add more of the ingredients that you really like, or go easy on those that might be a bit indulgent. They'll chop your salad for you and dress it if you like, too, which I do.

My salad weighed in at a hefty 1.1 lbs. even though there was still room in the bowl for more ingredients. Most every salad I've had from Foodstuffs has come in around this weight, so if you go there and want something lighter, you'll have to coach them accordingly. A pound really is a lot of salad, but that meant that I had some left over to nibble when the pre-dinner hunger started to hit.

Speaking of hit, my salad hit the spot. In this arrangement, the fresh, deep-green baby spinach serves as a mild background for the sweet, chewy cranberries and crunchy sugared nuts. The creamy goat cheese delivers smooth saltiness and red onion contributes a sharp bite. The edamame adds a bit of earthy girth. And the grilled chicken provides substance that balances the delicateness of the spinach leaves—although the chicken doesn't seem to be seasoned much or at all. That would be the one thing I'd change, especially after eating chicken yesterday that was so fantastically flavored. But the rich flavor of the homemade balsamic vinaigrette makes up for the lack of pop in the protein department.

Overall, this is a very satisfying lunch even though it pushes past my $10 limit when tax is added. It might push past my 500 calorie limit, too, which I can't confirm with certainty because Foodstuffs doesn't publish calorie counts with their menu. Guessing on portions and using a caloiries calculator, I'd estimate this comes closer to 600 calories. But since I saved some of it to eat later in the day, I think that's ok.



Glencoe Beach on Lake Michigan, about 20 miles north of Chicago

 

By the way, how about the view from my "table" today? I'm lucky to live within walking distance from one of the most beautiful beaches in the Chicago area, and today I ate my lunch on a park bench overlooking Lake Michigan. If only Chicago could have summer year-round, this would be heaven on earth.

ITEM
Diana's Salad

EATERY
Foodstuffs, 338 Park Avenue, Glencoe, IL 60022

MENU DESCRIPTION
Baby spinach, edamame, onions, marinated mushrooms, goat cheese, sugared walnuts, dried cranberries and Foodstuffs balsamic vinaigrette. [Note I customized this by eliminating the marinated mushrooms and adding grilled chicken.]

CALORIES
Not listed; estimating >500

COST
$9.89 without tax

RECOMMEND?
Definitely

Chicken RCO Salad with Arugula

Luncheon starter salad

DAY 3: HOMEMADE

I’m glad my rules give me the flexibility to eat something other than salad for lunch one day per week because I attended a luncheon for work today and entrée salads were not on offer.

There was a starter salad, but it was insignificant. There were just a few dried cranberries, a couple of fresh blackberries and three roasted cashews over a little pile of spinach leaves dressed with light vinaigrette. Although it was fresh, it was neither exciting to look at nor exciting to taste.
To make up for lack of adventure at lunch, I made a salad for dinner.

Since tonight’s salad was spontaneous, I didn’t have a bounty of fresh produce. So I played a game of refrigerator clean-out. Hence the name of my salad: Chicken RCO (refrigerator clean-out) Salad with Arugula.

Arugula is one of my favorite greens. I love the peppery flavor it contributes to salads, sandwiches, chicken Milanese, pizza…the list goes on. It must be a favorite of many others, too, because it’s been really hard to find lately. I can usually get it at Whole Foods or Dominick’s, but I’ve seen barren shelves nearly every time I shopped this past month. Luckily I found some Earthbound Farm organic baby arugula at Whole Foods last weekend, so I had it on hand tonight.


Prepped RCO ingredients

We’re avid grillers in my house. Consequently, there’s usually some sort of grilled leftover in the fridge. Tonight, I found some chicken and asparagus courtesy of Monday’s dinner.

Then I went through the jars that are usually pushed towards the back of the fridge and dug out some Cucina Viva roasted red peppers from Greece and a jar of Pagliacci Greek peperoncini. Opa!

In the produce bin, there was leftover diced onion from the brats we grilled last night along with a fresh orange pepper from last weekend’s farmers’ market.

I chopped the chicken, asparagus, orange pepper, roasted red pepper and peperoncini, then set those ingredients aside with the pre-chopped onion. I put a couple handfuls of arugula in a big bowl and dressed it with Garlic Expressions Classic Vinaigrette from Whole Foods, which is really healthy and flavorful. I plated the dressed arugula, then piled on the chopped chicken and veggies. I added a few cherry tomatoes from the produce bowl that I keep on the counter. And I topped it all off with a few O Organics Cheese & Garlic Croutons to add some extra crunch. (If you like your salad heavily flavored with dressing, you can drizzle some vinaigrette over the veggies and mix it in before you add them to the arugula. I don't mind a lighter flavor so I omitted this step.)

The end result, Chicken RCO Salad with Arugula

With a blend of cooked and raw ingredients, the flavor profile of this salad was fairly complex. The vinegary peperoncini hit me first, with the roasted red peppers following closely behind. These flavors were balanced by the sweetness of the orange pepper, cherry tomatoes and Vidalia onion. The grilled asparagus added an earthy quality, and the chicken provided girth and substance. The peppery arugula held its own against those flavors, as did the garlicky croutons.

Although I would never enter this salad in a contest, it was a success—especially considering it was unplanned and built on the fly.

If I make this again, I’ll probably swap out the the peperoncini and asparagus for avocado and hard-boiled egg, and maybe I’ll add some feta.

Have you ever built an RCO salad? If so, I’d love to hear about it.

ITEM
Homemade Chicken RCO Salad with Arugula

INGREDIENTS
Grilled chicken, chopped
Grilled asparagus, chopped
Roasted red peppers, chopped
Vidalia onion, diced
Orange pepper, diced
Greek peperoncini, sliced
Cherry tomatoes
Baby arugula
Garlic Expressions Classic Vinaigrette
O Organics Cheese & Garlic Croutons

DIRECTIONS
Assemble and chop, slice and dice all ingredients. Mix together. If desired, dress lightly. Set aside. Dress and plate the arugula. Layer all prepped ingredients on the greens. Top with cherry tomatoes and croutons.

PREP TIME
Under 10 minutues