I kind of didn’t want to eat my dinner tonight, it looked so pretty. Ah, who am I kidding…I paused for approximately 2 seconds before diving into my party in a bowl – a Grilled Vegetable Salad!

Look at those colors – gawgeous!

Believe it or not, this salad came together in no time, and clean up was nearly nil since I used my grill for the cooking. I started with this mammoth zucchini.

Plucked straight from my Mom’s garden!

I sliced her up about 1 inch wide, along with this sweet candy onion I got from the Farmer’s Market. 

I really wanted to caramelize it for something this week, but decided to spare you all from my manic, increasingly increasing, onion caramelizing charades!

Into the grill basket (no seasoning or oil needed,)

 

on goes the lid,

and to the grill we go!

The veggies took about 3-4 minutes per side, and I let some Farmer’s Market-fresh Iowa Sweet Corn grill away on the side.

Same as the veggies – no oil or seasoning needed. Just the kiss of the grill is all you need to flavor these bad boys up.

The corn only needed ~2 minutes per side so I brought them in, while the veggies finished grilling, to cut the kernels off the cob.

I lay my cobs down on a cutting board and, keeping my knife tip on the board, cut down the length of the cob.

Continue until you’ve gotten all the way around. Easiest way I know!  

Ok, I spared you from seeing those caramelized onions again – but not from reduced balsamic glaze – muwhahaha!

I thought the sweet flavor of the reduced vinegar would taste fantastic when paired with the smoky veggies.

Tip: The balsamic vinegar continues to thicken a little bit after you turn off the heat, so your burner off a bit short of when you think you should!

Finally, the veggies had come off the grill, the corn had been cut off the cob, and the balsamic glaze had cooled.

I divvied out the lettuce from this Dole Perfect Harvest Kit,

complete with Apple Cider Dijon Vinaigrette, dried cranberries, diced almonds and mixed greens,

assembled and DUG IN!

WOW!!!!!!!! Charred zucchini,

sweet corn,

SWEET onion (seriously, candy sweet!)

and fresh tomatoes (also from the Farmer’s Market!)

This salad is the new salad to compare all others to, imo! The thing that took it over the top? The glaze drizzle. The glaze drizzle, I say!

I never understood how people would make a dessert and top it with balsamic vinegar glaze. "It’s not going to be sweet enough!" I’d always say to myself. But it is! Tangy vinegar turns into a syrupy, perfectly sweet glaze! Now if we can just figure out how to turn water into wine…  

Oofta, I am full! I still can’t get over the lingering sweetness in my mouth from all the yummy, caramelized flavahs in this salad. Mmm!!! I shall be savoring all night.

In the meantime, I think I’m going to go bike to the library to pick out a few new books. I finally finished Laura Bush’s memoirs (AWESOME) and Prep (awesome) so I’m ready to start tackling all the suggestions you guys gave me last month!

See ya!

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Do you like salads? Ever eat them for dinner, or just for lunch? What are your favorite combos/toppings?