California Dreaming, Foodstuffs Style

The company that I work for is in Northbrook. It's not far away from the lakefront, and on nice days my coworkers and I often head down to the beach in Glencoe to have lunch. We usually stop off at Foodstuffs, a little gourmet food shop that's on the way, and I almost always get their prepackaged California Dreaming Salad. The salad is a mix of spinach with sugared walnuts, dried cranberries, edamame, tofu, blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. Tonight I decided to make my own version at home, and it turned out pretty well. I threw it together so no measurements, but here's what went into it:

California Dreaming Salad in Bleu

Mixed greens (I had a bag of baby lettuce mix)

Bleu Cheese (I had smoked bleu from Whole Foods, so good!)

Firm Tofu, diced

Edamame, shelled

Pecans, roasted

Red Onion, sliced

Plum Tomatoes, quartered

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Balsamic Vinaigrette

Shallot, minced

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Agave Nectar (you can use honey)

Dijon Mustard

Salt & Pepper

I had picked up a bottle of La Ferme Julien Cotes du Venoux Rose 2007 from Trader Joe's earlier this week. I liked it previously -- it may have been the 2006 -- but found it to be a bit lackluster this time around. It went well enough with the salad, though, and for a $6 wine, I can't complain.