Food is Joy

Today, I am linking up with one of my very best blogger friends, Sarah from Notice the Dirt. She has started a new “Food is Joy” series that is meant to remind us all that food is not the enemy. In her words “I want women to stop battling their plates over calories and start delighting in the way food fuels us, sates us, comforts us.  And I want all of this because we’ll never be healthy eaters if food is our nemesis.”

I have a volatile love/hate relationship with food. Man, it sure tastes good, but the guilt I often feel after eating is depressing and exhausting. I forget what it’s like to just appreciate food and not over-analyze every bite.

So here goes, my attempt to remember that food is delicious, nourishing, and most definitely a source of joy.

This week’s prompt is your favorite food. As crazy as it sounds for a food lover, my favorite is salad. No, I’m not just saying this to seem “healthy,” I really, truly could eat a great salad every day (during B’s deployments it’s not uncommon for me to make the same salad for dinner 10 days in a row).

When I lived in Rome, there was a little Snack Bar (what they sometimes call a cafe) down the street from where I went to class. They would make the most amazing salads to order. It’s here that I learned the art of mediterranean salad making. A little bit of butter lettuce, some arugula, cucumber, artichoke, and a few chunks of fresh mozzarella. Top it all off with a dash of olive oil, a pinch of salt and perfecto!

These days, I make my salad with whatever I have handy, but my current favorite combination is:

{Spring mix lettuce, arugula, grape tomatoes, and red onion}

{Cucumber and red cabbage}

{Feta cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and it’s ready to go}

Buon appetito!