Salad in a Pie Plate - again

We had big salads in the pie plates again. This time the ingredients were:

mixed greens
green peppers
cucumbers
carrots
celery
broccoli
crunchy sauteed shallots
candied peanuts
craisins
cheddar/muenster cheese
sunflower seeds
cubed chicken breast

I love cramming salads full of a bunch of different textures, flavors, and food groups. It's such an explosion in your mouth each bite, and it's not hard to find things that all go well in salads. I loved the sauteed shallots and candied nuts that 101 Cookbooks called for in their awesome vegan broccoli crunch, that I incorporated them into this salad, too!

AND to top it off, we tried the new Annie's Goddess dressing and it was delicious! I was expecting something a lot nuttier, thinking it would be more tahini based. But it's a nice mixture between a creamy warm flavor and a bright vinegar pop. Sooo great on top of all of those other flavors. Thanks again, Biz!!

We went to Value City tonight because the company is going bankrupt and all stores will be closing before the end of the year. This is very sad for me because growing up it was a tradition to drive from the coast of North Carolina up to Virginia and literally spend the entire day at Value City, Marshalls and TJ Maxx hitting all the sales and buying new school clothes, new lunch boxes, new backpacks and school supplies. You could leave with an entire cart packed with a new wardrobe and supplies for only a few hundred bucks. There's a lot of memories associated with Value City shopping trips.

I've never paid more than $9.99 for a pair of jeans there and once bought all new bras at .50¢ a piece! It's always great to peruse the housewares and kitchen sections for great, unique finds and gifts, too. Tonight it was pretty empty and sad, so there wasn't much variety. Entire aisles were empty and whole sections completely cleared of any racks or merchandise. I'd say about half of our store is already sold off. If you have a Value City by you, I'd recommend just popping in to see what they have. Nationwide the sales are ranging from 20-40% off all prices, even if they've already been marked down before. Potential for some great bargains!


I ended up with 1 sweater, 3 nice shirts, a bra, hoison sauce, kahlua mix, sprinkles, 2 rolls of wrapping paper, 3 scrapbooks, 2 pliers for Johnny, air purifier filters, and a new suitcase for $76 even. The most expensive item was $11.24 and that was the suitcase!