A Perfect Salad

Thank you everyone for the well wishes yesterday. I was a bit nervous to say the least. Yesterday went okay, essentially we did a Q&A session to introduce me to the newspaper readers and to just let them know that from time to time I'll be popping in with a recipe. I think I did okay, the only thing I didn't get to talk about and wish I had is how wonderful the food blogging community is! I spent a bit of time yesterday afternoon catching up on my blog reading and "visiting" my friends, and I swear that everyday that circle gets bigger. Hopefully I'll have other opportunities to talk about blogging. The article will be out in the paper soon, when it comes out I'll see what I can do about linking to it for my bloggers to check out...

In the meantime though, it's time to cook! Part of yesterday's Q&A was taking a photo, and I wasn't sure if he was going to want a picture of my doing actual cooking or chopping, so I wanted something for dinner last night that I could do some chopping in the early afternoon if I needed. I wanted a Mexican inspired salad and went on a search. I looked everywhere, and didn't find what I was looking for, so I came up with my own Yucatan Summer Salad. And I don't totally mean to toot my own horn, but this salad is really good! It's bright and fresh and completely satisfying. Bell peppers, cucumbers, radishes, red onions, jalapeno, tomatoes, and avocado are tossed with a chili and lime vinaigrette and topped with queso fresco and cilantro. Yum! I added some shredded turkey for a protein, but it really didn't need it. I think next time I will use a can of black beans instead.
What was new to me for this salad was the queso fresco- oh my is that a delightful cheese! For anyone else not familiar with it, it's essentially a Mexican farmer's cheese. It's light in flavor, mildly salty, and just the perfect accompaniment to a summer salad. It's crumbly like feta, and the kids inhaled it- they loved that cheese! I'll be looking for something else to do with the other half of the wheel soon. My original Yucatan Summer Salad is in the Recipe Trove- trust me when I say you need to make this salad, and you need to make it soon. At 363 calories a serving, it's also very waist friendly. I think I may go assemble the leftovers for breakfast...