Fresh Greek Veggie Salad & Ginger/Cherry/Almond Chocolate

One of my favorite lunches is a simple, fresh diced veggie salad drizzled with lemon/lime, grapeseed/olive oil. You can really play around with the veggie combos and spices. For valentines, my mother in law sent us a set of different artisan oils and vinegars. One of which is an awesome arbequina, which I've only had in restaurants. I love to invents salad dressings, and this gave me even more ideas. There is an amazing blueberry balsamic in the set, and I just use it alone, too perfect to add anything to! Anyway.. if you love to play around too, you may like this salad (or have already invented it on your own)! The recipe itself is from a moosewood (the cafe not mollie katzen) cookbook... the Cook at Home one I believe. I've made it so many times, I just throw it together now. This might now be the exact recipe, but this is how I make it:

Fresh Greek Veggie Salad
1/2 cucumber (scrape out insides) dice
1 tomato dice
1/2 red onion dice
3-4 cloves garlic crushed (I love garlic- this may be strong)
1/2 red pepper dice
1 full cup diced parsley ( I love parsley.. may be a lot for some)
1 avocado dice
1/2 cup olives (kalamata/black) quartered
Mix together

Dressing:
I drizzle over:
1 tsp of arbequina
1 tsp lemon or lime juice
1 tsp good dried oregano
a couple grinds of sweet long black pepper
a pinch or two of salt

Mix again and Enjoy! You could also add in feta cheese (I believe the original recipe does)

I usually eat this entire thing for lunch. Double if serving for more than 1 person...

Cherry/Almond/Candied Ginger

Oh my... I got to talking about making homemade chocolate yesterday with someone and just had to make some today. Today I made chocolate with dried cherries, almonds, and chunks of homemade candied ginger! Delicious! But a bit rich for me right now (as eating a piece quickly told).
Here's the link for homemade chocolate: http://runhardeatclean.blogspot.com/2011/01/raw-chocolate.html