Perfect Salmon Salad

Well people, it happened. We cleaned out our cabinet. Let me tell you, I was really thankful for my awesome husband then. Mostly because he could reach the back of the cabinets. But also because he made me laugh and distracted me as I was giving away more food than I'd care to admit. Luckily, our apartment complex is having a food drive, so we just walked all of the wheat and potato-filled foods down to our office and were done with it.

My baking shelf looks a little bare now... Time to fill it up with other yummy goodness!

This past week I went to a conference in Phoenix on teaching math. We made rulers. For three hours. And talked about time. For three more hours. Man, teachers like to talk. One thing I really took away from this dumb. is how much people with food allergies have to plan in advance! I thought I was being a little crazy when I packed my snacks, but I sure was glad I did. Especially when they brought out all of the candy bars and I couldn't eat any. Dang Twix has to have wafers. I'm also especially glad I decided to pack a lunch. Who would have thought everything served would have either wheat or potatoes in it?!

Food allergies are the woooooorst. The worst.

Thankfully I brought this lovely salad for lunch the first day. Let me tell you, this is amazing. Ah-maze-ing. And filling. And not rabbit-food like at all.

To start, take some salmon filets and coat in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Here is the perfect part. The easy part. The part I learned from the one and only Pioneer Woman. Place the salmon tray in a cold oven. Then turn it to 400. In 20 minutes, these were done! That's it! When this is done with a large piece of salmon, do it for 25 minutes. And this was perfect, not dry at all.

The salmon on the right looks like Nevada, and home means Nevada. You knew that right? The Killers say so, so it must be true.

For the salad, you need flavor. Remember, no more boring foods! I used a 50/50 mixture of arugula and spinach as a base for the salad. I sliced up a cucumber, green onions, cherry tomatoes, and olives and added them on top of the salad base.

Veggies. And cheese. Always cheese.

This is what it looks like after you add some goat cheese. You like it. It is deliciously tangy and goes so well with the other flavors in the salad. But if you're boring or afraid of flavor, some feta would work quite well.

I used this dressing for this. Mostly because I bought it earlier that day and couldn't wait to try it, but also because it has a milder flavor that I thought would go well with the salmon. Its from Trader Joe's, but you didn't need me to tell you that.

When your salmon is done, take that perfectly roasted piece of meat and throw it on top of the salad. You'll probably want to just place it on top, salmon is kind of delicate and throwing may not work too well. You could throw some avocado on it like I did. We're in an avocado phase right now and I will not apologize. Eat asap. And take one for lunch - people may be jealous! (They also may not be, and I will not take responsibility for that.)