Recipe: Spinach Salad with Chicken and Avocado

Savor the end of summer with this quick and easy salad that is perfect for any weeknight (or, weekend).  We serve it as a main course all year round.  Omit the chicken for a vegetarian version, and the cheese for vegan style.

Click HERE for Printable version 

SPINACH SALAD:

8 cups chopped spinach (1 bag)
2 large tomatoes, diced
½ cup corn (frozen, canned or cut off the cob)
1½ cups chopped cooked chicken (a Costco or grocery store rotisserie chicken is the easiest way to go)
1 or 2 avocados, sliced (we looove avocado so I usually use two)

⅓ cup crumbled goat or feta cheese (personal preference or whichever you have on hand)
¼ cup toasted pine nuts

DRESSING:

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place all salad ingredients in large bowl.  Toss.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour over individual plates of salad (that way, if there is any salad leftover, it will keep until the next day.  Not so if the dressing is added to the entire bowl).

Serve.  Enjoy!

~Merrill ♥ 

Not So Scary Halloween Pumpkin Party Crayon Favors

We harvested the pumpkins from our garden so it must be time for Halloween!  I love the way these Jack-O'-Lantern pumpkin crayons turned out, available in my Ivy Lane Designs Etsy shop on Etsy.  They are colorful and not at all scary.

Each party pack set comes with 24 smiling pumpkin crayons in a variety of colors.  A super fun addition to any trick-or-treat bag, or cover a table with butcher block paper and let your Halloween party guests' imaginations fly!

Check out all of the nifty eco-friendly recycled crayons at Ivy Lane Designs HERE.

Happy Halloween!

~Merrill ♥

Happy Birthday to Me!

After a weeklong birthday celebration, it was off to New York City for lunch, shopping and a matinee of The Book of Mormon.

When in Rome, I mean New York, eat as a New Yawkah so we had lunch at Carnegie Deli ...

... which meant matzoh ball soup for me.  Yum!

After lunch we cruised the aisles of a huge street fair on Broadway.

My beloved chose a new pair of specs for me, bedazzled with hot pink rhinestones.  Nice!

Coolest backpack.

Interesting choice of shoes to wear to a street fair.  Ouch!

We stopped for a bit of belt shopping in front of the famous Ed Sullivan Theater, home to the Late Show with David Letterman Show.  We went to a taping when Pierce Brosnan was the guest.  Tip:  If you go to see Letterman bring a jacket or, better yet, a down parka as it's freezing in the theater. 

Then it was on to the Eugene O'Neill Theater for The Book of Mormon.

The show was fun but totally irreverent.  Do not bring your kids.  Really.

There were birthday flowers purchased and arranged by my lovely daughter.

I had not one but TWO birthday cakes which is super duper as birthday cake is my favorite guilty pleasure food.  The first was a Minnie Mouse cake created by our neighbor, Chef Lily.

... and the second was from my beloved.

Food, fun and family.  The perfect birthday celebration.

~Merrill ♥