"Chopped Italian Salad"

This salad was very enjoyable...your typical, "Antipasto" ingredients, with olive oil and red wine vinegar as the dressing:  It is the Italian way!  Obviously very easy to make, I probably don't even need to post the recipe as most have had this type of salad before.  I found the recipe in a  "FOOD & WINE" magazine-book that I had purchased one random day at "Barnes and Noble" because the title caught my eye:  "quick from scratch italian cookbook" (lower-case letters are intentional, as that is how the title is written on the book).  As Moms, many of us are searching for good-tasting, quick and somewhat healthy recipes to make for our family...which is why this magazine ended up in my basket:  A big bold circle on the front states:  "FAST RECIPES FOR GREAT FOOD EVERY DAY".  That's what I'm talking about!!!

With every recipe I follow, I am aware and grateful that I have the ability not only to purchase the ingredients required, but also the good fortune of being able to ingest it.  With every chop and every measure of ingredient, I have a vision of feeding many!  I hope to make a difference...starting of course with my children's awareness, but also in the real lives of real, deserving human beings.  We all have a duty to give back to others if we have the means to.  I may not yet be making a huge difference or impact on these precious people, but God knows my heart and God is bigger than any earthly challenge, so I look forward to watching His miracles unfold.

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow."--Orison Swett Marden

Chopped Italian Salad

1 head romaine lettuce (about 1 1/4 pounds), cut into 1-inch squares (about 3 quarts)

1/4 pound sliced pepperoni, chopped

1/3 cup drained sliced pimientos (one 4-ounce jar)

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1 1/2 cups drained, rinsed and chopped canned artichoke hearts (one 15-ounce can), or 1 1/2 cups pitted and chopped green or black olives

3 tablespoons red- or-white-wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1.  In a large glass or stainless-steel bowl, combine the romaine, pepperoni, pimientos, onion and the artichoke hearts or olives.  Toss to combine.

2.  Add the vinegar, oil, salt, pepper and Parmesan to the bowl.  Toss thoroughly to combine the ingredients. 

~Serves 4~