Three-Green Salad

Week 526. Spring 2026. I am 43 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like fresh herbs and possibility and this is my life. This is the life I built.

The garden is just planted, full of promise, and I stood in it this week and thought about dirt and time and the way both of them turn nothing into something if you're patient enough.

Mason is 15 and navigating high school with the quiet competence that has always been his way — focused, kind, certain of who he is in a way that took me thirty years to achieve.

Lily is 13 and competing in equestrian events and winning with the Dawson stubbornness that I recognize because it's mine.

I made spinach and feta frittata this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

The frittata came together fast that evening — the way the best meals do, the ones you don’t have to think about because your hands already know — and when it was done I pulled together this three-green salad to go alongside it, because spring was right there in the yard and I wanted it on the table too. There’s something about a salad made with fresh greens that feels like a quiet act of faith: that the garden will keep giving, that the season will keep turning, that the table will keep being set. It felt exactly right for a week like this one.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 10 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 cups baby spinach, washed and dried
2 cups arugula
2 cups butter lettuce, torn into pieces
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 tablespoons fresh chives, thinly sliced
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced radishes
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, salt, and pepper until emulsified. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Combine the greens. In a large salad bowl, add the baby spinach, arugula, and butter lettuce. Toss gently to combine the three greens evenly.
Add the fresh herbs. Scatter the parsley leaves and sliced chives over the greens and toss lightly to distribute.
Add toppings. Top the salad with the sliced radishes and crumbled feta cheese.
Dress and serve. Drizzle the dressing over the salad just before serving and toss gently to coat. Serve immediately alongside eggs, grilled protein, or as a light standalone dish.

Nutrition (per serving)

Three-Green Salad — The Thread That Connects Every Table