Three Green Salad with Farfalle

This light, flavorful salad is a perfect option for busy weeknights. Warm pasta is tossed with assorted greens and coated in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

As a devout classicalist, and self-described student of Plato, I've long regarded simplicity as its own virtue. The remedy to chaos, a pathway to accessibility, and a balm for frayed nerves, simplicity is often a goal unto itself. In the culinary world, a veritable industry has been formed around the idea of making cooking accessible to those on tight schedules. The idea of putting together weeknight meals in under an hour, or tips and tricks for streamlining the entertainment of guests, are the well-honed ingredients behind the careers of countless celebrity chefs - and for good reason.

After all, tight schedules often do, in fact, result in what I'll coin here as 'culinary masochism.'

Take the current season, for example. In the lead up to the holidays, time becomes an especially rare resource. Between maintaining our work schedules, planning for the big get-togethers, and going through the motions of purposeful memory-making, it can be tempting to cut corners in seemingly innocuous areas - and those areas are usually at one's personal expense. For example, how often during the week is it ever so deliciously tempting to excuse a 'quick bite' in place of a proper meal?

Aside from typically taking the form of the unhealthiest option within reach, these are often devoid of any 'mature' flavors. As a busy full-time food blogger, you would actually be surprised just how often I myself am tempted to give into the 'quick bites' of which I just spoke, and so I do have a number of 'tricks' I use to prevent actually succumbing (too often) to such temptation.

For example, today's Three Green Salad is quick, healthy, absolutely delicious, and is simply perfect for making in a pinch, or making as a takeaway for a lunch at work.

We start out with baby spinach leaves, radicchio, and Belgian endive, each thinly sliced in measurements outlined below. After mixing these together, we add in cooked farfalle, garbanzo beans and toss. After this, we make a quick dressing of balsamic vinegar, chicken broth, lemon juice, and olive oil; pour of the pasta, and gently toss. Then simply garnish with fresh parsley and shavings of Asiago or Parmesan cheese - or both.

The essence of simplicity. Now, there's no excuse for those quick bites.

What are some of your suggestions for saving time, health, and sanity this holiday season? We would love to hear from you.

Enjoy with Love!