If you follow me on Facebook then you have seen (too many) picture of my favorite lunchtime salad.  I love this salad, in all of this variations, more than life itself— okay, ALMOST more than life but I would DIE for this salad…or would I? Hmm…

Okay, anyway, last night Brett and I had a junk-food, geek-fest where we stayed up till the wee hours of the morning working on site changes for IPL all while flying our wanna-be geek-flags staying awake while eating Doritos and drinking Coke Zero.  (True geeks eat Cheetos and drink Mountain Dew)

Wait, what?!  Andrea!  You ate Doritos and drank SUGAR FREE COKE?

Yes, yes I did.  That’s part of living an I’mperfect Life. Remember?  Now I do see the irony in working on a healthy lifestyle change website while eating total crap but life IS ironic– just ask Alanis Morissette.

If you follow me on Facebook you may have seen the post I wrote about an hour ago saying that Brett was sitting next to me eating the remainder of Doritos leftover from last night and that I was determined NOT to eat any.  Since junk food is not a part of my regular diet I tend to feel the affects of it pretty badly when I do partake.  When  woke up this morning I feel “tight”.   My skin felt warm and swollen and my knees ached.  I felt tired and hungover even though I hadn’t had any alcohol.  Did you know the main reason we feel like crap the day after an alcohol binge is because we are dehydrated?  Well, that’s sort of how I felt this morning.  That being said, I vowed to wake up today and eat my normal foods instead of eating what was left in the packages of crap.

Sorry, rambling…

When I saw Brett eating (hearing and smelling) the Doritos my mouth began to water.  I could almost taste the tangy, cheesy (albeit fake) nacho flavor.  I could feel the crunch in my mouth and I wanted so badly to reach over and just grab one  (which always turns into more) but I didn’t.  I made a promise to myself…  I bought fresh salad at the store last night so I’d be sure to have a good healthy choice today.  I got up and put my meat for the week in the crockpot so it’d be ready to go for the rest of the week.  So instead of reaching over and grabbing a chip…or 12, I got up and made myself one of my favorite salads and you know what?  I enjoyed it far more than I would have those few bites of empty calories.

As I was preparing the salad I thought about the ingredients as I was adding them.  The mixed greens are just a base for the good stuff that goes on top so I didn’t give them much thought- but as I added the nuts I thought, “ooh crunch!”  the goat cheese, “ooh cheese!” and the vinaigrette, “ooh tang!”  It was like I had prepared a Dorito salad!  (that actually sounds totally disgusting)

So here it is…my favorite salad that (for only today) will be known as Dorito Salad!

2 Cups Mixed Greens

1 ounce Goat Cheese (I love Honey Goat cheese best)

1 ounce nuts (I typically use almonds or pecans- chopped, sliced or slivered)

1 tbs dried fruit (Cranberries, Raisins or Figs)

1 tbs Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette (Fig or Pomegranate)

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