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avocado and spinach salad
Unlike the beef and beans, salad doesn't keep all that well. Here are the approximate quantities I use when I'm cooking for just me and the boy; multiply these quantities accordingly if you're cooking for a crowd.

½ a small ripe avocado
1 small carrot
a dozen slices from a halved small red onion
a few big handfuls baby spinach leaves, about 2 oz.

serves 2

Wash and thoroughly dry the spinach leaves. Halve the avocado by cutting all the way around the pit. Twist one half of the avocado loose; leave the other side with the pit attached (this will help it from turning too brown), wrap with plastic wrap and save in the fridge (it will keep for a couple of days). Now dice up the remaining avocado into ¼" or so chunks. Peel the carrot and chop off the root end. Thinly slice up the remaining carrot, cutting on the diagonal for a nicer look. Slice the red onion as paper-thin as you can without imperiling your fingertips.

Now toss all the ingredients together, along with just enough of the zesty lime vinaigrette (below) to coat the salad without drowning it. Taste; add more salt if it seems too bland, more dressing if things seem too dry.

zesty lime vinaigrette

1½ Tbsp. fresh lime juice
zest from ½ a lime
½ tsp. white sugar
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper, or to taste

yields enough to dress about 4 salads

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl or in a small jar with a secure cap. If you're using the bowl, whisk everything with a fork before dressing your salad; with the jar, just pop on the cap (make sure it's on well) and shake it all up.

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