Spring Mix Salad — Something Light for a Table Carrying So Much

Holy Week. The week before Easter. The week the church calls sacred, the week of suffering and waiting and hope that feels impossible until it isn't. I have never understood Holy Week the way I understand it now, sitting in my mother's house, waiting for something I cannot stop and do not want and will survive because I have to.

Mama had a good day Monday. She asked for grits — the first solid food she's requested in a week. I made them fast, heart hammering, and brought them to her bed. She ate four bites. Four. I counted. She said, "Perfect." She said, "Sit with me." I sat. She held my hand and told me about the first Easter she cooked alone — 1983, newly married, Miss Ernestine watching from the doorway like a hawk. "She told me the ham was dry," Mama said. "It was dry. But I learned." She laughed. The laugh turned into a cough and the cough took the moment away and Patricia came with the pain medication and Mama slept.

I am cooking for Easter. The house is filling with the preliminary smells — stock simmering for the collard greens, eggs boiling for deviled eggs, the cornbread batter resting in the refrigerator for tomorrow's dressing. Andre arrived Saturday night. He walked in and went straight to Mama's bed and kissed her forehead and said, "Hey, old lady." She opened her eyes and said, "I am not old. I am experienced." Andre laughed. Then he went to the bathroom and I heard him crying through the door. I didn't follow. Some grief needs a door between it and the world.

Darnell came Friday as planned. He and Denise and the kids are at a hotel nearby. Darnell sat with Mama for an hour and they talked about things I wasn't in the room for — Army things, father things, the things between a mother and her firstborn that don't need witnesses. When he came out, his eyes were dry but his jaw was set in the way Jackson men set their jaws when they're holding something that's too heavy to show.

I prepped the Easter menu all week. The ham is glazed and ready. The potato salad is made — Mama's recipe, mustard-based, no mayo, with sweet pickles and hard-boiled eggs and enough paprika to make it pink. The collard greens are in the pot. The cobbler peaches are sliced. Everything is ready. Everything except me. I am not ready. I will never be ready. But the ham is glazed and the table will be set and Easter will come because it always comes and I will be in the kitchen because that is where I belong.

Every dish on that Easter table is heavy with love and history — the glazed ham, Mama’s mustard potato salad, the collard greens that have been simmering all week. But a table like that needs something light, something green and bright that says spring is here even when your heart feels like winter. This salad is the one I set at the corner of the table, the dish nobody talks about but everybody reaches for between bites of cobbler, because your body knows when it needs a breath of something fresh.

Spring Mix Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 6 cups spring mix greens
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup candied pecans
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 ripe pear, thinly sliced

Dressing

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon honey
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Prepare the greens. Wash and dry the spring mix greens thoroughly. Place them in a large salad bowl.
2. Add the toppings. Arrange the cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, red onion, pear slices, dried cranberries, candied pecans, and crumbled feta over the greens.
3. Make the dressing. In a small jar or bowl, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt, and pepper until emulsified.
4. Dress and serve. Drizzle the dressing over the salad just before serving. Toss gently to coat. Serve immediately alongside your Easter spread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 165 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 15g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 120mg