Salad days

Anyone reading this blog over the last few weeks might wonder if I survive on a steady diet of cake. It would be hard to argue with the evidence. There was the delicious and melancholy applesauce cake; the ill-fated grape cake; and the ever-popular root beer cake, which I am already envisioning in cupcake form, perhaps with a cream center, an homage to the Hostess Cupcake.

Lest any of you think I'm a grown-up, female version of Augustus Gloop, tossing cakes, cookies, and anything else in my path down the hatch, let me set your worries aside. From time to time, I can show restraint. In fact, I'm quite the vegetable-eater.

The other day I composed this lovely salad with peppery arugula, apples, toasted walnuts, chives, and goat cheese.

Dressed in a bright lemon vinaigrette, it provided a much-needed contrast to the decadent sweets I've been enjoying recently. I'll always have a sweet tooth, but nearly as often I do enjoy a good crisp salad, preferably one with something crunchy and something creamy. The many varieties of apples in season right now provide the perfect sweetness and balance. For this particular salad I used Gala apples that arrived with our produce box. In addition to complementing the slightly sharp bite of the greens and the tang of the dressing, their cheery red color elevated the salad from appealing to downright pretty.