Arugula Salad with Baked Feta

Arugula Salad with Baked Feta... So the insanity is officially behind us, for a few brief weeks until the Holiday's kick in. Wedding season 2014 came to a beautiful close with two weddings near and dear to our hearts. They were both extremely different and extremely lovely and while I am sad that they're over it will be nice to settle back into life here in the increasingly chilly Windy city.

After weekends of stuffing my face with local delights and fabulous wedding meals, I am going to attempt to get on a health kick. Although a few special birthdays in the month of October (cough cough mine and the roomie's) are lending to a few more carbo-loaded meals out than are ideal when one is trying to be "good".

In any event, on the off night where we are actually eating at home and not celebrating someone's yearly milestone, we are eating LIGHT! Perhaps to the dismay of the other mouth I feed... but I think I will let that be his problem.. at least I warn him with my handy dandy weekly chalkboard menu on the wall.

Tuesday night was one of those I just got home from yoga at 7PM and am ravenous and must eat NOW sort of nights. So lucky for me the dinner I planned to throw together was quite fast.

A simple Arugula salad with a side of baked Feta.

For the Feta:
Slice a block of feta in half so you get two even, thin squares of cheese. Drizzle liberally with olive oil, a bit of cracked pepper, and a sprinkle of dried oregano. This should be in some sort of pyrex or other baking dish - best too if you can add something else in there like little tomatoes to roast or marinated artichokes, or kalamata  olives (or all three!). I didn't have a ton on hand and went the bare and simple route. Cheese and oil and seasoning. Pop that bad boy in the oven at 350 for 20-30 minutes. It will get lightly gooey but still very much keep it's shape. It is a Dahlicious side, great on some yummy crusty bread, or the most perfect topping ever on a homemade lamb burger. Just sayin.

Pre Bake

Post Bake

For the Arugula Salad:
I made a quick dressing of oil, balsamic, grainy mustard, salt, pepper, and crushed dried oregano. I added that to a big bowl of arugula and then added my toppings. Grilled shrimp which I had marinated in lemon, hunked avocado, and pomegranate seeds.

Super simple but got the job done, plenty of protein, lots of flavor between the salty tang of the feta, the creamy avocado, and the sweet pomegranate, and most importantly that night - FAST!

Enjoy!