Super Healthy Salad (with Miso-Ginger Dressing)

vita sana/healthy living

For the most part, I like to think I have a fair amount of energy. While I may not be as openly outgoing as some, my oomph is utilized in various areas in my life like in the my kitchen, when I visit my mother and we venture out into our favorite areas of the City, or while cheering for the teen as he fulfills dreams he didn’t think were possible just a few years ago.  I have also found a new found vitality with the gym.

My revitalization did not come in an instant. Although I have had a strong run (pun intended) with my gym routine throughout the last year, it didn’t take long to vanish. After battling a pneumonia-like flu most of December, the physical action of going to the gym met it’s match with indifference.  As if my indifference wasn’t bad by itself,  the lackadaisical, “who-the-heck-needs-etiquette” attitude at my gym’s particular location didn’t prompt me to get off my ass and back onto the treadmill.

Luckily, sensing my stamina slipping away and fearing my hips spreading wider than a Red Oak, I made the decision to switch gym locations.  The change was probably the best choice I have made in a long time.  The crowd is older, like me, and my new trainer rocks!  I hurt in so many fabulous ways as I quickly get back on track.

But, the gym is not the only path I am repaving.  Lunches.  My lunches needed to get back to healthy, hearty, and balanced…on the regular.  Although time was short a few weeks ago, I grabbed several Trader Joe’s salads to avoid the “unhealthy picking” mode.  One salad, the Super Spinach Salad, made me want to jump up sing and dance!  In fact, I tweeted about my glee. After a short twitversation with Courtney, I decided to recreate the salad at home, at a fraction of the cost.

So, here is my home-version of Trader Joe’s Super Spinach Salad with Mark Bittman’s Miso-Ginger Dressing. I didn’t pay attention to specific measurements for the veggies and beans, other than “handful”. I simply tossed together the ingredients on the label:

• steamed edamame beans
• rinsed canned garbanzo beans (chick peas)
• spinach
• pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• dried cranberries
• quinoa (cooked in mushroom broth)
• grape tomatoes (replacing carrots)

As if I wasn’t addicted enough when I bought the salad, having made it?  It is my new go-to meal. I may need an intervention.

This Super Spinach Salad is my submission for February’s Monthly Mingle, the event started by Meeta and hosted this month by Lady Raven at Add to Taste. I am sorry to admit that it has been too, too long since I have participated in Meeta’s monthly event.  So, it is time to rejoin the party.

Enjoy!

Tagged as: Arpante, bean salad, beans, dinner, dinner salads, Edamame, garbanzo beans, Ginger Dressing, healthy meals, Healthy Salads, healthy_recipes, Italian, legumes, Mele Cotte, Miso-Ginger Dressing, Monthy Mingle, pepitas, pumpkin seeds, recipe, Salads, spinach, Vegan, Vegetarian