Use What You've Got Salad

I have very few cravings as a pregnant mama, but one of the most constant cravings I do have is for fresh crunchy veggies. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to explode if I can't bite into a crispy carrot stick or munch of delicious kale salad! But I've found that it's hard to stay stalked up on these delicious foods while in quarantine. Thankfully my mom lives just a few houses down and has brought me gifts of veggie goodness when the cravings have hit and the fridge has been bare, but to keep from pestering my sweet mother I stalked up on vegetables in a big way on my Walmart pick-up order last week. Broccoli, spinach leaves, red onions, green onions, jalapeno peppers, red, orange and yellow peppers, carrots, asparagus, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, avocados, the list goes on. Yes, last week I was in veggie heaven.
But today a terrible thing happened. I got a salad craving...big time. Like I needed a salad or I was going to die. So I went to the fridge to get out all the salad fixings and discovered I HAVE NO LEAVES!!!! No kale,spinach or spring mix, not even a few limp iceberg shreds. Devastation! A half full bag of half rotten broccoli florets stared me in the face, mocking my pain. As I grabbed it out thinking to choke down the remaining edible crunchy bites, a light bulb went off. I have a cheese grater! I could transform those nasty little trees into a broccoli salad!
So I set to work grabbing out of the fridge all the remains of the glorious salads I had feasted on the previous week: the jalapeno peppers I had chickened out of using, a single green onion, some wrinkly cucumbers, a lone orange pepper with a black spot growing on the top. I grated, chopped, shredded and sliced. Rotten portions were discarded and a beautiful new creation began to take shape! The aroma was delicious, the shades of green and orange, dazzling.

Now to crown it with some bite-sized tortilla chips to add just a little bit more crunch: 

Perfect! To top it all off I decided to add my new Skinny Girl Poppy Seed Dressing. A bit of a splurge, but I felt I was justified in using it since I was about to eat veggies that would have met their destiny in the trash can if I had let them sit another day. And guys, this dressing is SO good! Sweet, creamy, delicious and definitely does not taste fat-free!

So, mouth watering, I drizzled it on, carried it to the couch and snuggled in to indulge my craving. Crunch, crunch, crunch. I felt the crazed feeling begin to leave my body as this Use What You've Got Salad satisfied my desire for a fresh and crispy lunch experience.
So the lesson here friends is this: don't be afraid of those random rotting veggies in your crisper, and don't give up on living your dream salad experience just because you are out of those precious crunchy leaves!