Blackout Night: Scattered

Yet another Wednesday passed and as I looked forward to the evening - to Blackout Night - I smiled smugly and decided I'd title my blog post "Routine" just as I'd planned to do last week when plans went awry. And yet another Blackout Night failed to be routine.
Oh well.
I should probably look into giving up my need to control my life.
It was a pleasant evening nonetheless.
Chris got home a little later than usual, but I had everyone dressed and ready for our walk. And as I was thinking about the salad I was going to make later, I thought about the fact that Publix has their rotisserie chickens on sale this week. And I thought how nice a bit of protein in the form of meat would be with that there salad. Meat protein has been a little sparse around here as we tighten up our financial belts a bit. And I asked Chris if he wanted to walk around the lake or the neighborhood, because if we drove to the lake for our walk, we'd be close to a Publix and after all...I know how much he, my big, strapping hero-of-a-man liked to have a little bit of roasted meat. And it wasn't like I was going to cook it or anything. That would break Blackout Night rules, I know. But Publix already cooked them. The energy was expended well before 6:00 PM.
Chris thought that it sounded good. He was impressed with my altruism.
Just kidding.
He said it would be convenient because we had to get my brother's truck back to his driveway tonight anyway. So we'd do that while we were out.
Then I looked at the clock and it was already 6:00. How would we drive to the lake, walk for 30 minutes, drop off the truck, get to the grocery store, drive home and make dinner before the kids' bedtime?
Eh. We skipped the walk.
It's okay, because we walked yesterday and I think we'll shoot for Friday too.
But the salad? It was great. You will all want to try it, I'm sure. So, it's not really original, but I'm going to post the recipe anyway. Besides, the strawberry vinaigrette was a big hit.

Strawberry Spinach Salad
1 bag baby spinach
1 quart strawberries
1 cup sugared pecans (remember these from Christmas? I made 'em yesterday in anticipation of this salad)
Gorgonzola cheese (only if you like. my body and dairy don't get along, so if Mama ain't gettin' cheese, ain't nobody gettin' cheese, so we didn't put any cheese in ours. i just thought you might like it.)

Of course, you know how to put together a salad. We cut up about four or five strawberries per person and this served the four of us amply, with a nice salad left over for my lunch tomorrow.

Top it off with:
Strawberry Vinaigrette
(I adapted my own based on this recipe for raspberry vinaigrette)
1/3 cup strawberry all-fruit jelly
1/4 cup light salad/vegetable oil (don't use EVOO - the taste will be too strong)
4 t. rice vinegar
4 t. cider vinegar
1-2 t. dijon mustard

Whisk together carefully - that oil will splash up at ya.

The kids were absolutely quiet as they ate. By candle light, of course. I asked them why and honestly, they both said they were too into the salad to talk right at the moment!
We continued on with reading The Hobbit. I am surprised by how much they are enjoying the book. Emma is following the story remarkably well, considering the unfamiliar (but beautiful) language usage and such. We read the chapter with Gollum in it the other day. My kids have been hissing out phrases like, "What's it got in its pocketses?" and "nasty hobbitses," day in and day out.
I love it.
We've left the candles lit and the kids are in their quiet time now. I'm hoping that the settling-in that finally occurred will stay with me for the rest of the night.

DAILY BLISS: smelling the orange blossoms on my very own tree!