Keepin' my word: Salad day

ust to prove that meant what I said about some leafy greens today, here's my salad post! But I didn't stop with just greens, oh no. This is one of my favorite winter salads. And I swear, there really are greens under all that other stuff, really!

 

One of Sher's favorite winter salads
A couple generous handfuls of greens--I used romaine and arugula
1 red pear, sliced
2 Tbsp. chevre, crumbled
1/2 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
Croutons to taste (you can see from the picture I was in the mood for croutons! Freshly made just yesterday!)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Champagne vinaigrette

Assemble and devour. I did!

We love croutons around here. Our small person can sidle up to a bag of croutons and do serious damage. And I like to make them myself whenever possible, but have neglected that task recently. In my kitchen binge yesterday, I decided to remedy that.

Homemade croutons
2 loaves homestyle bread--one wheat, one sprouted wheat, cut into 3/4 inch dice
Olive oil, rosemary oil, vegetable oil--whatever you have on hand and is your flavor choice
Salt and pepper
Garlic salt

Chop the bread up and toss with the oils in a big bowl. I usually drizzle a little oil, stop and stir, drizzle some more. I used some of the rosemary oil I still have on hand and it made this batch especially lovely. Add salt, pepper and garlic salt (or minced garlic cloves too!) to taste and spread over a couple of baking sheets. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes, then flip the croutons with a spatula and bake for another 10, or until roasty toasty and golden. Cool on the counter before storing in an airtight container. These will get eaten long before they could possibly go stale!

 

And I claim not to like bread. Obviously that's nonsense.