Pour Olive & Summer Salads

So this post is really kind of two parts.  One part how much we love our neighborhood shop Pour Olive, and the other part how we're trying to clean up our lunch around here and eat more greens. :)  I feel like there are so many specialty olive oil shops these days (all the sudden!) but we're VERY partial to Dilworth's Pour Olive and really do think they may be the best.  They treat everyone like family and every time we go they act so happy to see us and ask us how Virginia's doing.  (They remember her name!  that's crazy, we don't go that often!)  But also, their branding!  How genius is their name and logo, and I love that their name and branding isn't a rustic Italian name like so many olive oil places I see.

Okay, onto part two.  I've been really trying to eat really healthy weekday breakfasts and lunches these days.  Those meals aren't meals where I'd prefer to waste my splurges.  I've been trying to get a big serving of greens for lunch because otherwise it may not happen.  I was home during lunch the other day and threw together a few random ingredients in my fridge for a quick salad - leftover arugula, handful of blueberries, a few chopped nuts and feta, and then I just topped it with a drizzle of Pour Olive's Mission Fig Balsamic.  That's it.  No fancy dressing, just their balsamic and it was SO good.  I've decided it's my new lunch formula.  Big plate of greens, few random toppings, and then just a good flavored balsamic or olive oil.  I'd like to even talk J.D. into grilling me a few chicken breasts every Sunday to throw on top all week. 

A few salad combos that are sounding pretty good:

Romaine with diced apple, blue cheese, walnut & Red Apple Balsamic

Arugula with blueberries, feta, almonds and Mission Fig Balsamic (my fave!)

Arugula with watermelon, feta, mint and Grapefruit Balsamic



Romaine with roasted corn, tomatoes, avocado, black beans and Chipotle Olive Oil

Arugula with roasted potato, capers, parmesan cheese and Lemon Olive Oil

I know balsamic vinegar isn't the cheapest stuff in the world, but it's less than making a homemade dressing and you use so little that a bottle lasts us forever, and it's super healthy too.  The little size we get is $10 and we have a nice little collection going because salads don't require much.  They recommended their Thai Lemongrass Mint to use as a mixer for cocktails.  Mmm...doesn't that sound good?  Sounds much better than a salad!

~Mary Keller