Summer Salad with Artichoke Hearts

This is such a delicious salad!!  In fact, it was so good, I made it again and I'm eating it right now :)

For one salad, you will need:

• 3-4 romaine leaves, rinsed and torn
• 5-6 grape tomatoes, halved
• 3 romaine hearts, halved
• 5-6 asparagus stalks, blanched and chopped
• 1/3 cup cannellini beans (or great white beans)
• Red wine vinagrette

Blanching asparagus is such a tasty way to prepare it.  The color is great, it's crisp, and it's cold so it is perfect for salads in the summer time.  Bring a pot of water to boil and have a large bowl of ice water set aside.  Once the water is boiling, add the asparagus (with the ends trimmed) and let boil for 3-5 minutes.

Remove them from the water with tongs and submerge in the ice bath.  Let sit until cool.  

Then, chop the asparagus and add it to your salad!

What I love about this salad is that there are lots of great flavors and the protein from the beans makes it nice and filling.  To make the salad even better, you can add some crumbled feta.  Cheese makes everything better, right?