Morning After Salad with Dilly Dressing

Listen: I haven't had a hang-over in many years. After realizing that when I ingest alcohol, my body skips the "nice buzz" stage and goes straight to the throwing up stage, I've stayed away. Last night, while others enjoyed IPAs, specialty porters and ales, and vintage red wine, I stuck to a nice rotation of juices -- mango and local apple cider, to be precise.

But somehow, even minus the hang-over, my body feels like it needs a boost the morning after a party. Around these parts, the 25th of December is pretty quiet -- some family time, a movie with my best friend, and an early turn-in. We save the parties for after Christmas, during the painful lull when you're waiting for New Year's to happen and the inevitable return to the normal schedule. 

We had a little gathering last night -- nothing fancy: just four of us, some crazy laughs and catching up, a couple games of cranium and some good food: pasta, turkey meatballs, marinated mushrooms, the fluffiest homemade gingerbread and some good old salad. For lunch today, I ate up the leftover salad of arugula, spinach, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and added a bit of tofu for a boost. I dressed it with a lovely, tangy, dilly dressing, inspired by the delicious salad recipes in Isa Does It -- one of my Christmas gifts. 

Really, you can throw this dressing on anything and it would taste good, but if you're plugging through the morning after and can't handle another piece of chocolate, drizzle this over some veggies and your body will thank you.

Maple Dill Vinaigrette

inspired by Isa Does It

1/4 cup of white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of grainy mustard

1 tablespoon of maple syrup

a good grinding of salt and pepper

1/2 cup of loosely-packed dill, chopped finely

Mix up all the ingredients together. Taste and adjust the seasonings to please your palate. Alternatively, you can blend up all the ingredients for a creamy, bright-green dressing.

Enjoy over your favourite, restorative leafy-greens and protein.

Salty, Crunchy, Sweet

Make these NOW! No, they're not cleansing. No, they're not healthy. No, they're not virtuous. In fact, you should definitely avoid trying to calculate the sodium content of these salty, crunchy, sweet, mustardy bites. Don't even bother. But they. are. so. good. They're just what I needed after a bad beginning to my work week. They have a pleasing, snappy crunch. They're just a little bit sweet and they satisfy every snack craving bone in my body.




And ... AND ... they are soooooooooooooo easy to make. Just four ingredients, a quick twirl in the oven, a toss now and then, and they're done. So easy. So good. Make them. You deserve them. You also deserve chocolate. Yup, that's right. Do it. With these snacks, I'm not even counting the days till Friday. Happy Tuesday.

Honey Mustard Pretzels
adapted from Country Cleaver
makes 5 cups

3 tablespoons of canola oil
2 tablespoons of honey
1/4 cup of honey dijon mustard
5 cups of pretzel twigs

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, honey and mustard. Add the pretzels and toss to evenly coat them in the mustard mixture.

2. Spread the pretzels out on a baking sheet and pop them into a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Toss every 7ish minutes. When they're done, they should be a dark, caramely colour and you should definitely smell them.

3. Let them cool (if you can) and store in an airtight container. Snack away!