Have you ever been to eden? It's probably one of my favorite places in Des Moines. Jen has always been an amazing person to work with when I am looking for the perfect gift for someone. I still remember when I first moved to Des Moines and her cute little boutique was on the corner of E. 5th and & Grand. The new location on E. 6th is gorgeous and as serene as her original home. 

Anyhow, as the years have passed, we have become rather close and I started working for a her little after I had moved back from California, very part-time, of course. It was always the highlight of my week because working with her doesn't feel like working at all!  Here's a little project that we have started last month on Mondays when I work.

eden's impromptu kitchen setup.

I came into work a few Mondays ago and Jen has purchased a bunch of ingredients because she wanted to have a Waldorf Salad for lunch. Not knowing what it was, I kind of hesitated to make one but she had a recipe and I went to work on figuring it out. 

Waldorf Salad ingredients. 

I looked at everything that I had and knew it was  going to take a while to chop everything up. Once I read the recipe over once, I knew exactly what I was making and had a clear vision of what I wanted it to look like.

Three Types of Apples.

I used to not like apples very much but now they are an important part of my breakfast. When I am on the run, I throw one in my bag and snack on it either first thing in the morning or after my lunch. If you didn't know already, I have a super sweet tooth so I always want something sweet after every meal and apples help me cut some calories once in awhile but what I really crave are chocolate chip cookies.

Chopped. Cubed. Ready.

Once I have successfully chopped the apples, celery, and grapes, I made the dressing and threw them all into a bowl. I added the yellow raisins but waited on the walnuts because I thought that they would be a lot more prominent if they were sprinkled over the top of the finished product.

Assembling Process.

Once all of the ingredients were nicely covered in the dressing, I laid out the romaine lettuce leaves on a platter and carefully scooped the mixture of the leaves.

Jen purchased a rotisserie chicken so that we didn't have to cook anything, which we don't have a stove at eden, just a microwave. So I pretty much gutted the chicken for all of its meat and topped our salad with it.

There you go! A pretty fabulous Waldorf Salad, don't you think? I used to not be a huge fan of salad's but recently I just love them. This salad was refreshing and perfect for the Spring-like weather. After this, Jen and I vowed to make something for lunch every Monday with the challenge that we couldn't used a stove but we could bend the rules for some dishes and pre-make some stuff at home first, if needed. Let the challenge begin!