Impromptu food prep...

I was too hungry to bother with getting a beautiful photo, but this salad was delicious!  I'm trying not to grocery shop while waiting for new designated food-expense credit card to arrive.  And besides, I had perfectly edible and combinable things in the fridge.

I started with the bundle of kale I had left in fridge.  I washed it and removed stems, then rolled the leaves and cut the roll into narrow strips and placed those into a large bowl.  I made a dressing by combining 1/4 c apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp honey, 1 Tbsp Teriyaki marinade, and 1 tsp red pepper flakes in a saucepan and heated over medium heat for a few minutes.  I poured the hot dressing over the kale and mixed thoroughly.

I had cooked quinoa that needed to be used up, some hard-boiled eggs, one very small sweet potato, one avocado, a few mushrooms that didn't get used in roasted veg earlier in week, and pecans in the freezer.  

I didn't want to take the time or trouble to roast the sweet potato (though that would have been very yummy), so I just popped it in the microwave for a couple of minutes.  I let it cool just enough to handle, and then peeled and diced it into bite-sized pieces.  I divided the kale onto two plates and topped each with half of the quinoa, and then divvied up everything else pretty evenly on top.  I poured the small amount of dressing left in pan over the top of the added toppings.

The improvised part was the hodge-podge of lonely ingredients I had, but also the dressing.  I had intended to use a dressing recipe from a favorite restaurant, the ingredients for which were apple cider vinegar, canola oil, brown sugar, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes.  I knew olive oil would be fine.  I was out of brown sugar, so thought I'd use regular sugar and a little molasses...but I was out of molasses so I used honey.  I was, quite shockingly, also out of soy sauce, so used the closest thing I had...some teriyaki marinade from a bottle in the fridge.  

My point is, that I am never afraid to play fast and loose with ingredients.  I try to keep close to the intended flavors, and it almost always works out.  Don't be afraid to improvise!