Last night I grilled some chicken and made my new favorite salad: Arugula, sliced almonds, blue cheese and my all-time favorite dressing. I’ve made it with fresh grated parmesan in place of blue cheese, too. Just as good. I’ve also made it with some halved grape tomatoes and avacado thrown in. Just as good. Something about that arugula. Yum!

According to MedicalNewsToday.com, studies have suggested that eating arugula “decreases the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and overall mortality while promoting a healthy complexion, increased energy, and overall lower weight.” Plus it’s wicked good.

My friend Sue Witt says (referring to desserts, but really applies to everything I eat) that whatever I’m eating at the time is my favorite. What can I say. I love good food.

Anyway, I’m glad dinner was good because the rest of the night was miserable. One of those nights I tossed and turned before finally getting to sleep around midnight. About an hour later I got a charlie horse in my calf. Felt like someone was plunging a screwdriver into my leg. I came right up out of the bed. I fell asleep again, finally, only to have it happen again, in the same spot. Then again …

Then, around 3:00 – thunder! That went on for a good hour. Elliot was shaking, and then Ruby decided to dig her way under the covers, and settle between my ankles. Of course I couldn’t move. That would have made her mad, and you know what cats do when they’re mad.

Ugh. So I woke up for good around 5:45. And an hour later the alarm went off, mocking me.

Okay, back to salads.

Salads needn’t be boring, like the humdrum “Fresh Garden Salad” on so many menus. Does “fresh garden” mean the chef just ran outside to pick the lettuce, tomatoes and whatever other veggie is in the salad? I don’t think so, so please, just call it a salad.

Unless of course it’s a Caesar salad, whipped up fresh right in front of you! According to epicurious.com, romaine is the lettuce that was originally used when the Caesar was created.

Try a Caesar salad with roasted romaine: Cut a head of romaine in half, lengthwise, dribble each half with some olive oil and sprinkle some salt, and roast at a high temperature for a few minutes, till it starts getting a nice golden brown color, or throw on a grill for a few minutes. That, with some Caesar dressing and white anchovies is absolutely gorgeous, and toothsome. I like that word: toothsome.

Really you can roast or grill romaine and throw pretty much anything you like on it. Or eat it naked. Seriously.

One of my favorite meals is a big beautiful bowlful of salad consisting of good greens mixed with some radicchio, halved grape tomatoes, avocado, and fresh mozzarella, pecans, and quickly sautéed slices of a good steak thrown on top while hot. It is my go to meal and I have that at least twice a week. Oddly I haven’t gotten sick of it yet.

So I mentioned my all-time favorite salad dressing. I’ve used it for around 25 years, and I still haven’t been brave enough to look at the ingredients. It’s Good Seasons Italian. It comes dry in a packet and you add oil, vinegar and water.

I make salads with sliced red pears that go nicely with blue cheese. I make salads with sliced hard salami and dried sweetened cranberries and grated Parmesan. I make salads with roasted asparagus thrown on top, with feta cheese crumbled over it. And have you tried those multi-colored tortilla strips? Yikes. Haven’t checked the ingredients in them, either.

I make a salad with capellini, fresh ricotta, lemon juice and roasted corn. I got that recipe from a Bon Appétit magazine in a doctor’s waiting room. That’s what happens when they make you wait too long. :-)

This is a good one when you have some leftover corn on the cob. It’s ridiculous. Ready?

Sautée some garlic, then mix several tblsp. lemon juice with it. Rub the leftover ears of corn with olive oil and throw on a grill, or roast till it starts turning brown. Cut the corn off the cob and throw in with garlic/lemon juice. Add a little olive oil.

Cook a box of pasta, al dente, and rinse with cold water. Throw it in a big bowl, and cut it up some. Mix with the garlic/lemon stuff. Throw in some greens, with some radicchio mixed in (or not - but it has a nice sweet/bitter taste, and it’s wicked pretty). Stir in around a cup of ricotta and some grated or shaved Parmesan cheese. And of course I enhance it with salt and fresh ground pepper.

I’m tellin’ ya - it’s impressive-looking, and oh so delicious!!

And for god sake don’t forget to have a manhattan while you’re throwing a salad together. Or a martini. I love them too :-)

Feel free to email me (suzithayer@boothbayregister.com) with praise, or criticisms. I’m a big girl.

See ya next week.