How'd we do? Plus a big salad.

Last week, we used up the bulk of our veggies one seriously veggie-intensive recipe.  We spent Memorial Day weekend cooking, eating, drinking, and hanging out with my parents in Clear Lake.  What a fabulous way to celebrate California's spring bounty!  The weekend revolved around food and wine, and it was wonderful.

Here's the roundup:

* Asparagus, Sugar Snap Peas, Carrots - Spring vegetable stew.  Everything tastes better at the lake!

* Carrots & Lettuce - Big Salad, served with cheese toast.  See some lovely photos below.

* Strawberries - We ate these for breakfast on Saturday morning, alongside a fried egg and some toast.  May I just say, now that lemon curd is back in my life, I am feeling decadent.

* Dino Kale & Spring Onions - Ohhhh be still my beating heart!  I actually declared affirmatively, out loud, that kale is my new favorite vegetable.  That's right.  Kale.  Eat it like so in a frittata and you may begin to share my passion.  Frittata is also a new obsession, now that I have conquered my fear of melting my pan handles under the broiler.

And here are some pictures of the lovely Big Salad.  This was crisp and satisfying.  The only downside was having to omit the feta since it had gone slightly off after a couple weeks tightly wrapped in the fridge.  But we soldiered on.  I made not-so-light Cooking Light brownies, amped up with THREE TIMES the chocolate called for in the recipe, for dessert.  A wonderful end to the box week!

 Our salad contained box lettuce, carrots, red bell peppers, green onions, apple, dried cranberries, cashews, and chickpeas.  I had mine with my favorite vinaigrette: a dab of dijon mustard, a small pour of olive oil, generous amounts of balsamic vinegar, and a touch of honey.  Plenty of fresh ground pepper and you're in business!