salad season!!

after a long hiatus (winter, dreary rain, deadlines, etc.), i feel the urge to food blog again. and this time, it's all about the salad!

i love the look of leaves - on the trees, and also neatly washed and packaged on my grocer's shelf. yes, i admit it, i buy greens in a bag. occasionally i'll buy romaine hearts, but that's as au naturel as i go these days. i love to cook, but my time in the kitchen is limited by persistent deadlines (coupled by my unbelievably sloooow writing process, something that is vital to my day job), ergo i take all the help i can get.

so, now, back to leaves, leaves, leaves! spinach, arugula, red lettuce, romaine, butter lettuce, the boston bibb - i love most all leafy greens, with the exception of frisee, which i find to be unnecessary and a waste of salad space.

i came home yesterday and had in my fridge the following:
- arugula mix in a bag (which comes with some mesclun-y additions)
- newman's own lite balsamic dressing (a big ol' bottle that has lasted me lovely long time)
- brown rice tortillas (gluten free, b/c i'm trying yet another digestive experiment)
- 1/2 a red onion

in the pantry:
- roasted pepitas

after an intense 35 minutes on an elliptical-looking machine, i stopped by a couple of grocery stores and picked up the following:
- rice shreds (cheddar flavored)
- a green apple
- ricotta salada (the real kind, b/c it's sheep's milk and does not wreak havoc on my insides!)

i was inspired by the green apple, and by the fact that the tartness of the green apple is simultaneously enhanced and harnessed by the warmth of the flavor of cheddar. i was also inspired conceptually by this hungrygirl recipe: Quesadilla Yee-Haa! i'll call mine: green apple quesadilla 'n greens

first, i made a quesadilla by lightly grilling one of the brown rice tortillas on a skillet on both sides. then i added some of the rice shreds on the bottom, and as the cheese began to warm and melt, i sliced up a quarter of the green apple as thin as i could. i placed the apple slices on top of the cheese, added a bit more cheese on top and then closed up the quesadilla and let it cook through while i prepared the salad.

i thinly sliced up half of the red onion, again into half moons. in a large mixing bowl, i added half of my bag o' greens, the rest of the green apple (roughly chopped), a small handful of pepitas, the onion slices, the ricotta salada (diced), and a capful of dressing. i tossed everything together and plated it in the middle of my dinner plate. i cut the quesadilla into four pieces and arranged them in the center with the tips pointing up.

simply satisfying and DEEElicious!