Anyone who has eaten dinner with us during past few weeks has likely eaten this salad.

We’ve been making it every night because we are obsessed with it, and we could probably continue to eat it every night until microplaned Parmesan cheese begins to seep from our pores.  That day may arrive sooner than we would like.

We first tasted a salad like this at Craft, and we first attempted to re-create it the following night.  It’s so extremely simple, but devastatingly delicious.  Microplaning the cheese very finely allows it to melt over the argula, coating every piece with a tasty layer of Parmesan.  The pine nuts cut the acidity of the lemon just enough.

If you are lemonaphobic, we can’t say we recommend this.  But for all others, we can’t not.

Ingredients (serves 4-6):
6 cups packed arugula
3 cup Parmesan, grated very, very finely (preferably with a microplane)
3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted

(dressing)
juice of two lemons
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Whisk together dressing ingredients.  Place arugula in a large bowl, and pour dressing over it, tossing to coat.  Add Parmesan cheese, and toss until it melts over the arugula.  Add toasted pine nuts, and serve.

Alex teases me for calling things “trendy.” Things like roller blading (I swear it’s making a comeback), popsicles, and college graduates taking summer-long trips to South America.

He insists that we are unable to identify trends because even if, for example, everyone we know started drinking diet cream soda, we don’t know enough people for it to actually be considered trendy. This may be true.

Regrettably, this salad isn’t green in the trendy sense of the word — to my perpetual dismay, avocados don’t grow in New York. But it is very green in the color green sort of way, which pleases me just as much. Green grapes are my favorite, and we rarely find such a perfect way to incorporate them into a meal. The textures combine wonderfully with the avocado and cashews, and the lime provides a light and fresh flavor. We were discussing over eating how we think this would be ideal for packing for a picnic or serving at a luncheon.

We found the recipe from which we based ours in William Sonoma’s Healthy Main Dishes cookbook (which is now three for three in terms of providing amazing recipes). The original recipe calls for serving the avocado/grape salad with chicken in a pita, but we were so glad we decided to scoop it all over spinach instead for a greener and healthier dinner.

Ingredients (serves 2):
4 cups baby spinach leaves
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 avocado, peeled and cubed
1 cup green grapes, halved
1/2 cup cashews
3 limes
2 tsp olive oil
3 tbsp cilantro leaves
salt and pepper

Instructions:
Heat oil in a pan. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, and place in pan over medium heat. Cook until lightly golden, 1-2 minutes per side, then add 1/4 cup water and juice of 1 lime. Cover, reduce heat to low, and allow chicken to cook through, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool, then cut into 1-inch cubes. In a bowl, gently stir together grapes, cashews and avocados. Squeeze juice of another lime over the mixture, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in chicken. Arrange baby spinach on two plates, then scoop chicken salad on top. Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

I know I said recently that my favorite salad is the chopped salad that we wrote about. That’s true, but not entirely.

See the thing about favorite salads is that one can have a favorite type of salad. For my favorite chopped salad, the precise components don’t matter as much as the idea behind it: some veggies, chicken, balsamic vinaigrette.

This salad is my mom’s favorite. If there’s ever a salad on the menu with seared tuna and lemon vinaigrette, she’s guaranteed to order it. The other ingredients may flux, but the key elements that make it her favorite are there.

This version of that salad happens to be particularly delightful. The green beans lend it a nicoise edge, and the fennel adds a sweet complexity. We love olives so added them, but you can do capers or peppers instead.

Also, feel free to cook the tuna to your preference. My mom would probably prefer it raw completely, so we left the middle very pink, which also makes the salad look just a touch prettier.

Ingredients (serves 4):
8 oz. mixed greens
1 1/2-2 lbs. tuna
1/4 lb. string beans
2 bulbs small fennel, sliced very thinly
1/2 cup olives, pits removed
salt and pepper

(dressing)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Cut the tuna into four pieces, and salt and pepper each of the pieces on both sides. Preheat grill, then place tuna on the grill until cooked to your taste (about three minutes on each side should cook it to rare). Blanch the green beans by placing them in boiling water for about three minutes, then removing them and rinsing. Arrange greens on four plates, then divide green beans, fennel and olives among plates. Let tuna rest for about 5 minutes, then slice it and divide among plates. Whisk together dressing ingredients, then pour dressing over salad.

You know how everyone these days is like: “Oh my God. This is the best [something] EVER”?

I remember first hearing that phrase on The O.C. The episode was called The Best Chrismukkuh Ever. We all watched the O.C., so we all began using the phrase. Unfortunately, though, it’s rendered the word “best” kind of meaningless.

Is this really the best? I’m forced to ask myself. Usually, it isn’t. I feel like the little girl who cried wolf. Who will believe me when I truly do want to say that something is the best ever?

Like this salad. To me, it is the best salad ever. It ranks up there with grapes, turkey wraps and soy lattes — foods that aren’t particularly special, but that I could eat every day of my life (and pretty much do) and never dislike.

Its beauty stems from two sources: its flexibility and its dressing. It doesn’t matter if you use the vegetables we list, or any others that you can imagine. Just throw in whatever you have around, and as long as you make the reduced balsamic vinaigrette, this recipe is no-fail.

Ingredients:
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 head radicchio, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 yellow summer squash, sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 bunch asparagus
1 large portabella mushroom, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tomato, chopped
1 pear, cut into very small cubeS
olive oil
salt and pepper

and/or:
1 cucumber, chopped
1 cup cooked corn, preferably roasted
1 pepper, roasted and chopped
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 carrot, chopped
1 eggplant, roasted and chopped

dressing:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350, and toss vegetables for roasting (zucchini, squash, mushrooms, asparagus) with olive oil to coat, salt and pepper. Place them in a baking dish (or more than one), and cook in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, until cooked and tender. Set aside to cool, then cut into small cubes and combine with other salad ingredients in a large bowl. To make salad dressing, bring balsamic vinegar to a boil in a small saucepan, and simmer until the vinegar has reduced to 1/3 cup. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar. Once cooled, whisk in olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Plate salads, pour dressing over them, and serve.

See? Another blueberry post, as promised.

My father is actually getting antsy about our incorporating his precious blueberries into other dishes. He prefers to eat them plain, and insists that he can finish all remaining 15 lb. before they rot. If this is the last blueberry post we write, you’ll know that he succeeded.

Last night, we went monochrome. Blue berries, cheese, and dressing. It’s funny, because wearing monochrome is one of Alex’s hugest fears. He hates wearing a blue shirt with blue jeans, and always tries to contrast the color of his undershirts and over shirts. Yet once last year, he unknowingly arrived at one of our friends’ houses wearing khaki shorts with a khaki-colored sweatshirt. The teasing he received that night only exacerbated his strange fear of color uniformity.

It’s therefore surprising that Alex let this salad even come into existence, but it’s a good thing that he did. The salad is basic — a fruit, a nut, a cheese — but it somehow seems so interesting and sophisticated because the fruit is blueberries and not cranberries or pears. The dressing is simple, and works with the salad perfectly.

If we can sneak more blueberries away from my dad, we’ll definitely be eating this for many lunches in days to come.

Ingredients (serves 4-6):
1 bag mixed greens
1 head romaine lettuce
2 cups walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
3 oz. Gorgonzola cheese
2 cups blueberries

(vinaigrette)
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2/3 cup olive oil
1 cup blueberries
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl or on a platter. To make dressing, pulse blueberries in a food processor for about 10 seconds, then whisk them together with the oil and vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Our blueberries were very sweet, but you can add sugar if necessary.

One of the best parts about becoming grown ups (that happened already, right?), is that we love more foods.

When I was younger, I gagged over asparagus, brussel sprouts or beets. Now, I adore all three. And whenever I gravitate toward beets in the grocery store, I imagine my 11-year old self casting me a scornful glare. If she were here, we would NOT be allowed to make this dish. Eye roll.

But grown up me loves beets, and really loves this salad — in which they play a starring role. Supporting actors include radishes (it’s their debut into our cooking repertoire) and cucumbers (type cast as the mild-mannered salad ingredient). We sought inspiration from this salad on Serious Eats.

Pretty as an appetizer or very light main course salad, you can serve this over lettuce as we did, or on its own.

Ingredients:
1 bunch beets
1 English cucumber
1 bunch radishes
1/2 red onion
salt to taste
pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil (plus more for roasting beets)
1-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint (or more or less to taste)
1 head romaine lettuce

(balsamic vinaigrette)
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2/3 cups olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Wash beets, and place them in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and olive oil. Add a little water to the pan to prevent beets from sticking. Roast in the oven at 350 until beets are easily pierced with a knife, about an hour. Let cool, then peel off the skins and slice into quarter-inch slices. Prepare cucumber salad by removing seeds from cucumber, then cutting the cucumber into very thin slices. Place cucumber in a bowl, then thinly slice radishes (you can use a peeler for this) and red onion, and add to the bowl. Add mint, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. Make the balsamic vinaigrette by whisking together ingredients. Divide romaine among four plates, top with beets, then cucumber and radish salad. Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette over top, and serve.