Roasted Veggies Day 2: Arugula salad with roasted veggies and nuts

This is a hearty salad that can definitely make up the main course for a light evening meal during the week!

I simply washed some fresh arugula and served some of my roasted veggies over it, adding some walnuts for the crunchy texture and for the protein. I tossed it in a little olive oil and vinegar, since the veggies are already flavored and salted. With a slice of good, whole-grain bread as a side, I went to bed very content!

This easy salad can be ready in minutes once you have your veggies ready!

Fancy a Rugula?

I have been getting home really late. Mostly it's because I have been going to Yoga class in the evenings, and by the time I bike home, sweaty and exhausted, I am really not up for much cooking or much heavy eating for that matter.

Getting creative with salads can help, since they make for light, healthy and quick late-night meals!

Spicy arugula, creamy mozarrella, flavourful tomatoes and the crunch of walnuts! Yum!

The ingredients for this salad included arugula, fresh mozzarella cheese, sundried tomatos and walnuts! These ingredients go so well together, and the gourmet feel of the salad makes the meal and indulgence even though it's very light.

I seasoned mine with salt, ground black pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Yum!

On Hot, Hot Days...

Sometimes you just need to eat something cool, cool, cool. Like a fresh salad :)

My seasonings of choice are always just salt, good olive oil, and lime and/or balsamic vinegar with a dash of ground black pepper!

Lettuce, arugula, tomato, carrot, radish, cucumber and red bell pepper tossed in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper -- yum!

The Avocado Lady

The Avocado Lady is a creature of legend among Shanghai expats, and a not so secret secret that everyone should know. If you live in Shanghai and you don't know the Avocado Lady it can be said that you do not really live in Shanghai, you merely exist here.

From the outside, the Avocado Lady's little produce shop looks like the myriads of other little local businesses!

The Avocado Lady is your one-stop shop for all sorts of produce that is hard to come by here in Shanghai, and China in general. While an increasing number of fancy foreign supermarkets have started supplying a lot of what this magical being has provided for years from her humble little shop, no-one can beat her prices!

It is a mystery to me to this day how and where she manages to source her imported products for so cheap (small, family-owned businesses usually find it hard to compete with the likes of Carrefour and Walmart when it comes to price!), or where this entrepreneurial woman got this wonderful idea in the first place.

She stocks hard to come by produce such as beets, radishes, arugula, nuts, fresh spices and cheeses and, of course, avocados, which she sells at the cheapest price I have ever seen in China.

On top of the produce, she also stocks an ever increasing array of imported goods such as wine, olive oil, jams and marmelades, breakfast cereals, canned goods... and on and on!

Inside the store, the shelves are laden with foreign goodies and fresh produce!

I came home on my bike the other day, my little basket heavy with the delicious things I picked up. I generally buy my regular veggies closer to my house, but for special things I simply cannot find at my regular produce stand, the wonderful Avocado Lady saves my day!

Beets, avocados, almonds, walnuts, arugula, radishes, olive oil, fresh mozzarella, coconut milk, cream and canned tomatos were some of the spoils from my latest visit to the Avocado Lady!

The Avocado Lady's shop is in Shanghai's French Concession at 274 Wulumuqi Rd, near Wuyuan Rd. The closest metro is the Changshu Rd. stop on lines 1 and 7.

In Chinese: 乌鲁木齐中路274号，靠近五原路。