Goat cheese, pistachio, and date salad

My daily meals fall into two categories, 1) dishes I cook or prepare in bulk, then eat leftovers throughout the week, and 2) dishes that can be quickly prepared from a stock (i.e. grilled cheese & soup from a carton, leafy salads, sandwiches and wraps). Most of the meals featured here so far are in the #1 category, but I really enjoy the #2 list when I can remember to keep the right ingredients in stock. For example, when I was in high school, I kept a stock of wraps, hummus, cherry/grape tomatoes, feta cheese, and other mediterranean-style accouterments for a tasty wrap (I didn't know how to cook back then- so go figure!). When I lived in a co-op with 30 people and didn't keep much food for myself, I ate a lot of bagel-egg-cheese sandwiches that I could quickly prepare for lunch.

It's nice that my schedule as a graduate student allows my time to enjoy lunch at home (and that I live close to school!). So today for lunch I enjoyed some leftover Middle Eastern appetizers and made a salad from some ingredients I had purposely stocked this week (otherwise I seldom remember to buy greens or toppings). It's one of my favorite flavor combinations: dates, goat cheese, with various nuts, and tangy red wine vinegar all on a baby spinach and mixed baby spring greens bed.

It's quite a healthy salad, as long as you keep the toppings to small amounts. The goat cheese gets a bit muddled with the vinegar, so it's a great dressing. And the dates and pistachios were just fantastic. I should eat more salads!

[UPDATE]

I have been eating more salads! For this salad, I used almost the same recipe as above, but added some canned white beans, and a side of whole wheat bread.