A colorful colossal salad

Moving day. Exhilarating! A big Budget truck. Whoo-hoo! A new house. Thrilling! But… all those plain vanilla walls. Not so exciting. And a lot of work.  😯

My daughter and son-in-law recently moved into their first house. The kids were overwhelmed at times, but excited. I was excited too because they got all of their stuff out of our house and garage. Yay!

Paint first

But, it wouldn’t have been so exciting if we hadn’t orchestrated a paint fest before move-in day.

Since the house is brand new, Chelsea and Jacob wanted to paint most of the rooms before they moved in…. enter dear old dad, the great painter.  😉

Dog on the counter

While Rick, Jacob, Chelsea, Dave, and Lacey applied varied color to the walls, I staked out a position at the kitchen sink and scoured paint brushes, rags, and rollers.

I had a companion to keep me company, though. Annie was there. We couldn’t leave her home alone for the expected long hours, so we carted her along.

She caused no trouble on top of the counter! In fact, most of the time she snored quietly.

Dog on counter

Annie’s “day” bed

Painting and looking forward to a colossal salad

High-vaulted ceilings make it a bit more challenging

…Eventually, hunger raised its demanding head and muscles begged for relief.

I can attest to the fact that painting for 24 hours in one weekend builds up an appetite (and a few sore muscles)!

I decided to make a large salad. Hunger defeated!

My concoction turned out to be a colorful, colossal, 11-ingredient salad.

I like to add this and that, whatever I have on hand. The more tasty morsels, the better.

The ingredients I used (serves 6):

  • 5 (4 oz) frozen chicken breasts
  • 6 eggs
  • 2 hearts Romaine lettuce
  • 4 oz spinach leaves
  • 1 Red bell pepper
  • 1/2 red onion
  • Baby carrots
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 can of diced mango
  • Dried cranberries–not a lot
  • Queso Fresco (crumbling Mexican cheese)

Step by step directions

  1. Place 5 frozen chicken breasts in a skillet with a small amount of avocado oil. Cover them and cook on medium.
  2. Boil eggs. I used 6. Cool the eggs when they’re done.
  3. While the chicken and eggs cook, chop all ingredients.
  4. Mix all greens, veggies, fruit, eggs, and cheese in a large pretty bowl.
  5. Cut breasts into bite sizes. This can be added to the large bowl or added to each person’s plate individually.
  6. Any fruity vinaigrette goes nicely with this salad.

Optional: add something crunchy such as sunflowers seeds. (I didn’t think of it at the time.)

Girl on counter

Chelsea had to get on the counter to tape off under the cabinets

11-ingredient salad

My beautiful colossal salad

Ready, set, paint!

Painting together

We made some memories, devoured the colorful, colossal salad, and obliterated many “vanilla” walls.

As I write this, it is beautiful and sunshiny outside. (Remember keyword “sunshiny” as you listen to the awesome oldie, but goody below!)

I wish you many memory-making adventures and perhaps an 11-ingredient salad or two along the way.  🙂

Enjoy your Spring day! Blessings and blooms,

Pam

Pink Spring flowers

Author: Pam

Glad you’re here!