Green Salad with Lemony Dressing

Ingredients

• 1 oz cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 dried apricot halves
• 1/3 lemon yields lemon juice
• 1/2 clove garlic
• 1/4 head red lettuce
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 tbsp pine nuts

Directions

1. Thoroughly wash lettuce and tear into desired size, pat dry with paper towels.
2. Mix olive oil, most (but not all) of the juice from 1/2 a lemon, 1/2 clove of garlic (minced), and a pinch of red pepper flakes, and whisk together in a large bowl.
3. Cut cherry tomatoes in half, and place into bowl with dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste and mix ingredients together so tomatoes are covered in dressing, and let it sit.
4. While dressing is sitting, toast pine nuts for 1-2 minutes in a skillet over medium heat. As pine nuts are toasting, chop 3 dried apricots and place lettuce and apricots into bowl with cherry tomatoes and dressing.
5. After salad mixture is coated with dressing, plate salad mixture and top with toasted pine nuts and crumble bits of cheddar cheese (or gorgonzola, blue, parmesan, etc) on top of salad.
6. Enjoy!