Imposing Restraints

Anyone who has watched the Iron Chef (or something like that) knows that to achieve creativity it sometimes is necessary to impose restraints.  Today my restraint was a small bowl of left over lima beans.  Most people would have tossed them.  But the petty moral economy of leftovers can be inspiration for a salad.  I decided to build around their meaty flavor by adding lettuce, green onion, sweet cherry tomatoes, avocado, chopped parsley, and homemade croutons.  You will need to employ positive visualization because it was so good we ate it immediately.  The combination of meaty (beans), fresh (parsley), crunchy (croutons) and lighter than air (red leaf lettuce) was irresistible.
To make the croutons quickly, cut a garlic clove in half and rub over a couple of slices of stale, yet good quality, bread.  Butter, salt, then cube.  Toast in toaster oven in a pan as long as you would a piece of toast.  You can forget about them in the dry hot air while you make the salad.  Use a simple olive old and red wine vinegar dressing.