Today was an unusually beautiful day for this time of year. It was 60° and gorgeous, or so I was told. I spent most of the day trapped in my office, buried under a avalanche of paperwork. But when five o’clock finally came, boy did that warm spring breeze feel good. So good, it changed my dinner plans. I wanted something to match the summer mood I was in and I immediately thought burgers. But then decided I shouldn’t completely throw away that half ass work out I did this morning, so I decided on lame-o standard chicken. Until…
I’ve mentioned before I love a good sale. Nothing brings me more joy than feeling like I stuck it to the grocery store man, just a little bit, and came out on top for once. On my way to the lame-o chicken, I started to see yellow tags. My heart racing I shuffled over to the seafood case. Being allergic to shrimp, something that is frequently on sale, I tried to not get my hopes up. But low and behold it was fish. Not frozen, but nicely packaged, name brand, marinated fish! Could this be? Was it a mistake? I decided to load up and argue my way into that price at the register if I had to.
So now that I had the star of my meal, what was going to go with it? I meandered around the store gathering various other items, when I got a wild hair to peruse the fancy cheese. I usually can’t afford anything in this case, but I still like to look. And there too was a rare treasure, a Managers Special tag. I love these, I’ll challenge an expiration date for a couple of dollars off, and this was on one of my favorites, fresh Mozzarella cheese. So now with Salmon and Mozzarella, where in the hell was I going with this? Some discount cherry tomatoes on the vine, and a few items later we arrived at this. And even though I can’t take credit for the Salmon recipe, I can take pride in making my own homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette for the first time, DELICIOUS.
The Balsamic Vinaigrette was so easy. I happened to have bought some good vinegar last weekend on my girls trip, and all I did was:
-Whisk lemon juice, salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoons basil squeeze (fresh basil was not available) into 3 tablespoons of good Balsamic Vinegar, and slowly pour in the olive oil while whisking like a maniac.
I have tried this before with cheaper vinegar and it has not turned out well. This higher quality of vinegar, that was not that expensive at an Oil and Vinegar store really made the difference.
A simple meal inspired by serendipitous weather and pricing. My budget and I couldn’t be happier. Comment below with some of your favorite summer meals or inspiring sales stories! I’d love to hear them!
savorthesimple.com 