Arugala Apple Salad

It's been one of the hottest weeks of the summer. Well technically its now fall, but it sure doesnt feel like it here in Southern California. It was hot, and I mean, HOT. One day it was around 107 degrees. On these days I don't feel like eating anything but watermelon, cold water and maybe a salad. It also happened to be one of those days where I had absolutely nothing left in the fridge but some greens I bought too much of, and some apples. I searched online to find a recipe for an arugula salad, and of course all I could find was the same salad every restaurant serves with goat cheese, cranberries and walnuts, or some other variation of this. As many of you know, I eat almost always vegan, but I have a deep love for goat cheese. I could eat it literally out of the package. I was thinking to myself today, out of any food, or condiment, I could eat mustard, goat cheese and balsalmic vinegar forever. I just love that sour, taste. Whenever a recipe calls for vinegar I almost double it! So anyway, here is the salad that I came up with, and its so simple its only 3 ingredients. I could eat this everyday! (which I almost have been).

Ingredients (serves 2 or 1 hungry person)

For the Salad:

1 box of baby arugula

1-2 granny smith apples

goat cheese

thinly shaved red onion

For the Dressing:

5 Tbsp olive oil

2-3 Tbsp white wine vinegar

1 Tbsp dijon mustard

salt pepper to taste

I am so used to making huge salads when I eat raw, so its hard to gauge for me what a serving size is. I use about 2 boxes of arugula and I eat the whole thing as a meal, but if you are making other dishes alongside this salad, it could probably serve 4 comfortably. I also made this salad extra fancy by using my spiralizer. I originally bought it to make raw noodles, but I have used it to make curly sweet potato fries, but I never thought to use it for salads. It feels even more special to use the thin blade to make thin curly slices of apple. If you dont have one, just slice your apples super thin.

To make this salad just slice up your apples, onions, and toss them over a bed of arugula. Break up the goat cheese into small bite sized pieces and top off the salad. The dressing I use is the same one I make for a lot of my salads. I love to use this dressing over a Greek salad. Its truly a staple in my kitchen, and its so versatile. Just pour the vinegar into a bowl, add the mustard, while whisking, slowly drizzle olive oil until it begins to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste and pour as much as you like over your salad.

Enjoy!