PinterestInspiration: Autumn Chopped Salad
Thursday, August 18, 2011I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself for actually trying some of the onemillion things I've recently pinned to Pinterest. Most of the inspirations have been food for dinners, as that seems to be the area where I most fall short of creativity and variety. This week I made the Autumn Chopped Salad I pinned here:
Source: espressoandcream.com via Sheyenne on Pinterest
So here's my verdict. Overall, its a yummy, crunchy salad. However, I found it to be quite expensive. I didn't have any of the "ingredients" on hand, so I had to buy everything. I'm cheap these days, so I went to Aldi's and much to my pleasant surprise, I found everything I needed (including the bacon!) except for the pears and feta cheese. The pecans and craisins were more than $3 each, and had I not been shopping at Aldi's, the poppyseed and balsalmic vinaigrette would have been expensive too. (Woot woot to Aldi's for $1.50 salad dressings! Great for marinades, BTW.) The bacon was also more than $3. Which already brings this meal-- a SALAD-- to over $9. I'd rather go to Chili's and pay for a crunchy asian chicken salad. (Which, again, BTW, the bacon was ok in this salad... i would have preferred chunks of chicken instead.)
Of course, we still have some dressing & craisins & pecans leftover for future meals, but overall, I don't think I'd run out and buy these ingredients all over again just for this particular salad. Perhaps with a better (more expensive) poppy seed dressing it would be tastier, too.
So there's my first assessment of a PinterstInspiration Meal! Tomorrow night, I am trying these:
Source: sweettreatsandmore.blogspot.com via Sheyenne on Pinterest
1 Lovely Words
Unsolicited advice from a fellow “cheapie”—did you make this recipe verbatim? It looks like it makes a ton! Sometimes I half recipes for just me and Mike. I don’t always get leftover but it is always cheap.
ReplyDeleteIf I made this for us I’d do one head romaine, plenty for 2+(usually 99 cents to $1.30 at our store)
1 pear (out of season so expensive ($1)
dried cranberries will cost you—but leftovers as snack!
½ cup chopped pecans in bakers aisle ($2).
We love bacon but my trick is to go to the butcher counter at the grocery and buy, say, just 2 slices of bacon instead of the whole pack we might not eat. Don’t have leftovers but saved $$!
Smallest thing of feta (again, leftovers for something else!)
and just pick one dressing. Sounds like you found a bargain!
I play around with recipes all time to save $$. Instead of a $9 salad think of it as an opportunity to use leftover ingredients to another good use---like you said, a marinade or a tasty bfast. Feta in scrambled eggs or cranberries in oatmeal sounds delish!
Hope that helps….I love food talk :) -Leah
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'd love to hear from you!