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A winter twist on an inspired salad.

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I mentioned awhile back that I wasn't cooking much these days. In fact, I have cooked only a handful of times over the last ten weeks. This is not to say that I haven't been eating, in fact, I've already managed to squeeze a trip to the culinary-centric city of Paris into my 2011. Commingling with these fond food memories was a recent conversation I had with a friend who brought up her lack of interest in salad during the winter months, I let the two ideas dance around in my head for a bit and they ended up on my dinner plate. Details below! Tonight's dinner: a hearty entrée salad made up of baby spinach topped with shrimp, walnuts, crumbled goat cheese, balsamic roasted peppers, onions & potatoes, dressed with a Parisian-inspired Mustard Vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

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  • 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1/4 cup, red wine vinegar
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 2 teaspoons of spicy mustard
  • 2 teaspoons of honey mustard
  • 1 tablespoon of honey
  • garlic powder, to taste
  • black pepper, to taste

Steps:

  1. Add the shallots to a small bowl and cover with olive oil and red wine vinegar. Combine.
  2. Whisk in both mustards and honey.
  3. Sprinkle in spices and whisk until thoroughly combined.
  4. Chill for an hour or more before using.

Depending on your dressing preference, this should make enough to coat up to 3 servings of salad.

Note: My salad contained about a cup and a half of baby spinach, six cooked shrimp, half a cup of balsamic roasted peppers, onions & potatoes, one serving of goat cheese, ten walnuts broken into pieces and around a quarter cup of dressing mixed in thoroughly. I entered the details into a calorie counter and it broke down to roughly 420 calories with 7 grams of fiber and 28 grams of protein -- a very satisfying supper.

Presidential partying.

Sixteen candles.