Aerogarden green salad

* Aerogarden mixed greens kit. These leaves are incredibly tender. They are so delicate and tender that a beetle could come along and break away leaves and carry them off. They wilt at the first hint of acid, so they must not be dressed before serving or else you'll end up with a wilted mess. They're also delicious. 

* Valencia orange, peeled and segmented but not properly supremed, the centers sliced  out and de-seeded. 

* Haas avocado.

* Roma tomato.

* Flecked Grana Padano cheese

Vinaigrette.  If you get anything from chancing upon this blog I hope it would be that there is no good reason for you to be beholden to commercial bottled salad dressing. That entire industry survives on people believing they can do no better themselves. It is what my whole family thinks. The truth is, you can do much better without introducing a single extraneous chemical into your temple, and if I may say so, that's quite a temple you've got there.  It goes like this: something unctuous, something acidic, something sweet. The rest is a  lifetime of experimentation. This here was an experiment along those reliable lines.

The first time I tried mixing my own dressing it came out way too oily. It took me a moment sitting there analyzing what I didn't like about it. After a moment of pathetic self pity it occurred to me I could correct it by adding more vinegar and to taste as I added in increments. Now I've got the knack like you wouldn't believe. It only took a few tries but then I'm a bit slow on the uptake. 

* 1/2 teaspoon grainy mustard

* 1/2 teaspoon 4-fruit preserves, the French kind because I'm fancy that way

* 2 teaspoons rice vinegar, my favorite. It's a bit sweet. I almost reached for the raspberry vinegar because I noticed it earlier and it would compliment the preserves.

* 2 Tablespoons olive oil. I'm guessing here. Actually, I just poured it out of the bottle without measuring. I didn't want too much oil. 

Whisk.

Salt and pepper directly on the salad, not in the dressing.  My salt and pepper is premixed in a ramekin with my own blend of dried chile flakes. I put it on everything. I'm  thinking about including garlic powder but the thing that is preventing me from adding it is that it seems a bit chemical-y and I usually have fresh garlic around anyway. I don't know. I'm torn. What the hell, I ought to just dump it in. 

Edit: I forgot to mention, this Aerogarden green salad greens seed kit is just three weeks old. The seeds germinated within three days. Within two weeks, the point where additional nutrients are added, the light needed to be extended because the plants grew so fast. It filled out noticeably day to day.