I am becoming my mother...

That title really might sound more ominous than it should.  Unfortunately most of the time when people make such statements as "I'm becoming my mother!" or "My parents used to do that!" it's in a negative tone.  How unfortunate.  There are of course sins of every father that the child does not wish to repeat themselves.  We are all imperfect.  However, people should focus on the good aspects of being like their parents more than they do.

Soap box aside....

I am in fact becoming my mother.  At least where my salads are concerned.

Notice the stainless steel mixing bowl.  Only a mixing bowl will do for that size salad.  Relax, it's just my medium 2qt bowl, not my large one. :)

My mother is the Queen of "Everything but the kitchen sink" salads.  Seriously.  While I don't particularly care for all the toppings she includes, I am stepping ever closer to the "...but the kitchen sink" part.  In the above salad there is:

Standard Salad fare:
-good old romaine
-carrots
-tomato
-zucchini

Standard Jamie Salad fare:
-black beans
-hummus
-lemon juice
-ACV
-Bragg's Liquid Aminos  (the 3 liquids and the hummus make a killer dressing)
-pepper

New additions today:
-Urad Dal (aka Ivory Lentils I recently picked up at the Indian Market and cooked up a small portion of to see if I liked it enough to go back and buy another 4lb bag before the Diwali sales went off)
-mixture of leftover regular brown lentils and ivory lentils cooked up with my Smoky Autumn Blend seasonings used to make a sandwich spread/filling
-some stray white beans
-green onions

If I had been thinking about it, some pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds would have made a nice addition.  I don't think I'm nearing the number of ingredients that my mother usually puts on a salad, but she is the Queen after all. :)  I'll keep trying Mom. ;-)

And for better or worse, I am one of those people who likes uniform flavor in her food (not dull, just uniform), so once I reach the desired ingredients and flavor, I mix it up like crazy so that every bite is evenly covered with dressing/lentils, and I try and get a small bite of each veggie in every forkful.  Yes, I am I that person, who turns a beautiful bowl of salad into a crazy stirred up mess in order to enjoy the same awesome flavor in every bite.  Don't hate me because I'm a food stirrer.

You should also know that the Ivory Lentils were just one of 4 different types of lentils picked up at the Indian Market the other day.  I can now proudly state that I have 5 different kinds of lentils in my house, several of them in 4lb bags.


Don't kid yourself, 4lb bags of any bean don't last real long in our house, especially if it's a lentil or a chickpea.