I’ve grown to love vegetables. It’s been a long, arduous road, but finally I actually crave them. I’ve come a long way from craving a very diverse diet of different shades of white. My old cravings could have been compared to those never ending track home communities, with differing shades of beige stretching on forever. Mint Milanos, Lays potato chips, and sourdough bread were my go to snack foods. Now, my refrigerator commonly looks like the colorful rainbow leading to the pot of gold.

Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that when traveling it’s hard to get a variety of good fresh veggies. Living in California, I’ve become so accustomed to an abundance of incredible fresh produce that I forget how spoiled we are out here. Even traveling to Europe was a bit of a challenge. However, I noticed that there are a few veggies that can be found just about everywhere, making it possible to have a balanced diet, just nothing exciting. After exhausting soup after soup and stir fry after stir fry, I thought surely there would be another way to eat vegetables. I’m not one to follow strict rules, especially in cooking. It sucks all the fun out of it. After all, every budding chef has seen the cooking shows where chefs are tossing in herbs, salt or ingredients with such vigor and spontaneity that they surely can’t be exact measurements. This dish is no exception to that rule. It’s basically just a mishmash of veggies and protein, like a glorified tuna salad. Take the veggies that you can find or that are in season (cabbage, onion, red onion, cucumber, celery, carrots, radishes, etc) and add a few of them in with your protein source and dressing choice.

This can be made either chicken, tuna, or tofu (and be totally vegan).

1 chicken breast (or 1 can of tuna or 1 16 oz block of tofu)

1 medium carrot

4 radishes

1 small cucumber

1 stalk celery

4 dill pickles

2 tablespoons mayonaise (or tofu substitute)

1/2 pear or apple

1/4 cup arugula or spinach or cabbage

Sautee the chicken or tofu with a little oil. Dice carrots, radishes, cucumber, celery and pickles into small cubes. Mix in the meat or tofu. Add mayonaise or substitute. Add a pinch of salt and a pepper. Add mixture to top of arugula or spinach or cabbage. Top with fruit, enjoy!