Crunchy Fall Salad

When it rains, it pours.

This morning I got up, happy to greet a new day.  Birds were singing, mice were sewing a ball gown, chipmunks were washing my breakfast dishes…..Oh, wait.  Wrong story.

This morning I got up and quickly found out we had no water.  Awesome.

One of the neighbor’s texted me to confirm that they were not the only ones.  I, in turn, texted our friends (who live in the house between our two) to see if they knew there was no water.  They texted me back that they had no issues.  Water by the gallon over there. I cannot even imagine how this happens.  But now I know where to find those singing  birds and helpful mice.

We called the water people, and they told us they were on it.  I’m expecting water sometime within the next decade.

About an hour later, we heard an enormous pop!  And now we were out of power.

I began to look around for the evil witch that had cast the spell on us.  At this point, I probably would have eaten the poison apple she offered me.  No water, no power.  There is a reason I don’t go camping, and this was it.

Plus, and this didn’t register for about a half hour, no power means no wi-if.  I’ll pause a moment to let the horror of that sink in.

I also have a washing machine full of water and soggy clothing thinking hard about sprouting some mold, a husband who has no internet and no TV on Election Day, and a yard full of people hacking at my trees (we are the ones with the transformer in our yard…yay us!)  I’ll pause again.

Oh, and I also have you 56 emails from the power company telling me that power will be restored in an hour.  Make that 2 hours.  Okay, maybe 3.  Well, really we won’t have power till tonight.  They are pretty sure.  They hope.

I wonder if I can get some of those chirping birds and chipmunks to help them.  Or maybe they’d like a nice apple pie.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups baby kale (NOT regular kale; there is a difference)
• 2 stalks celery
• 1/4 -1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1 (8oz) package white button or baby bella mushrooms
• 1 apple
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced or shaved carrot
• 1/4 -1/2 cup thinly sliced or shaved raw turnip

Dressing:

• 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
• option to add some honey or agave if you like sweet dressings, but I don’t think it is necessary
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Put the kale on a plate of large bowl.
2. Thinly slice the celery and mushrooms.  Sprinkle them over the kale.  Add the carrots, red onion and turnip.
3. In a small jar with a tight lid or using a small bowl and a whisk, combine all the ingredients for the dressing.  Pour over the salad and serve immediately.

Enjoy!