Recipe | Insalata Mista (Mixed Salad)

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I HAVE A DREAM... that, one day, this country will rise up and rise up and live out the true meaning of this creed: "We hold that this truth should be made more evident: That NOT ALL SALADS ARE CREATED EQUAL!"

• Your regular restaurant-ordered salad has a bed of huge, dry, leafy greens that are too big to fit in your mouth without successfully smothering your cheeks in dressing.
• Your regular restaurant-ordered salad has a few festive bits and pieces thrown over that bed of leafy greens.
• Your regular restaurant-ordered salad's "festive bits and pieces" are comprised of baked, battered, and/or fried crud like croutons, fried tortilla strips, or breaded chicken, which add heaps of calories and saturated fat for your net intake for the day.

The solution? This salad.

• This salad has no bed of huge, leafy, too-big-for-your-mouth greens. Instead, you've got bite size pieces of nutrition-packed spinach.
• This salad has far more than "a few" festive bits and pieces. Instead, you've got a bowl full of delicious festivity, interspersed by the occasional spinach loveliness.
• This salad's festivity is neither baked, battered, nor fried. Instead, the festivity includes chick peas and black beans, which are full of protein and fiber, and tomatoes, which add important nutrients (like phosphorous, calcium, iron, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C) to your diet.

Nutritional Information for Main Course*

Nutritional Information for Side Dish*

Last week, Justin and I were thinking about dinner. We were hungry - hungry enough for more than just a leafy salad - but not willing to throw lifestyle to the wind and pig out. We came (to Jewel). We saw (the veggies). We conquered (...the world?). Here's the recipe...

Ingredients (for 4 side servings or 2 main servings):

• 4 oz Mozzarella Cheese (Part Skim)
• ½ can Chick Peas (about 6 oz after draining)
• ½ can black beans (about 6 oz after draining)
• 2 tomatoes, cubed and de-seeded
• 1 cup Spinach, chopped

For Seasoning:

• 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon chopped basil

 Directions:

1. Drain canned ingredients (Chick Peas, Beans)
2. Chop Mozzarella Cheese into small cubes, about ½ inch by ½ inch (doesn’t need to be exact).
3. Chop and de-seed tomatoes.
4. Chop Spinach.
5. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with seasoning and toss.

Tip: Try packing it into a whole grain Pita for an even more filling meal! :)

P.S. Want to know something awesome? Try placing your curser on the images above. See the rollover effect? K, now take your curser off of those beautiful, edible images... see how the rollover goes away?! Oh my.

*Nutritional information compiled using CalorieCount