Baby Boy's newest craving

I've never had the "typical" pregnancy related cravings (pickles and ice cream, etc).  I've never sent my husband to the store at midnight to get a must-have snack (and for the record, I think he would think I was crazy, and roll over and go back to sleep).  The only true craving I've ever really had was when I was pregnant with Maggie.  Every morning for breakfast I fixed hashbrown potatoes (from scratch).  My in-laws frequently saw me sitting outside on the porch peeling potatoes in the morning as they drove off to work.  Considering that I rarely cook a hot breakfast unless it is the weekend, this was quite impressive.  I actually broke the attachment on my food processor to shred the potatoes near the end of the pregnancy, resulting in buying Ore Ida's shredded hashbrowns for the remainder of the pregnancy.  Although hashbrowns are still one of my favorites, you won't see me cooking them from scratch (the food processor never got fixed) and we probably only have them once or twice a month now. 

Fast forward to current pregnancy.  We frequently eat salad around here, but it is typically Caesar salad (a favorite among the kids).  However, a few weeks ago, I had a craving for a more traditional "salad bar" type salad.  I made a chef salad for lunch with ingredients I had at home and I was immediately hooked.  I went to the grocery store the next week with salad on my mind.  I loaded up on my favorite toppings and continued to eat salads for lunch frequently.  After a week of washing, chopping and dicing almost everyday, I wised up and decided to do all the prep work in one day, storing veggies and such already washed and chopped.  Now, creating my chef salad is just about as easy as going to a salad bar.

My salad of choice includes:
Green leaf (or Romaine) lettuce
Spinach leaves
carrots
boiled egg
cucumber
onion
bacon
croutons
Ham and Turkey
Broccoli (not pictured above)
Thousand Island dressing

I have discovered that the key to a good salad (in addition to yummy ingredients) is to chop everything into bite-size pieces.  Instead of having to use your fork to cut as you're eating or end up with all carrot in one bite, the salad is much better blended and easier to eat.

So there you have it, one pregnant lady's guide to a great salad!