mom’s salad: take two

I tried Mom’s salad again, this time I sticking to the recipe more closely. I used the canned mandarins and romaine lettuce, and it tasted like I remember! Excitement.

cottage cheese crunch

Yum. I have a new favourite! Joan sent me a long list of salads by email last week, and this was on it! Scott really loved it, and so do I. If you want a light, protein-filled, sweet, crunchy lunch, this is a good one to make!

cottage cheese (plus a tbsp of mayonnaise)

sunflower seeds

pecans

diced granny smith apples

diced cabbage

pepper

 

green monster spinach smoothie

I got my salad today in liquid form! Super yummy. I came across the recipe on Pinterest (who wants an invite?), here’s the link:

http://iowagirleats.com/2012/01/04/my-top-secret-diet-weapon/

caprese salad

Mmmm… this salad was super simple and oh so good. My friend Val made this before, and added chickpeas! They would add another ‘mini’ element to the salad and make it even that much more healthy.

mini bocconcini balls

mini tomatoes, quartered

a whole bunch of fresh basil

olive oil/balsamic vinegar/grainy mustard dressing

salt and peppa!

seaweed salad of champions

Friday! Another exciting day. F and I were looking for an adventure that would fit into an afternoon, that would involve some driving, and just might involve something yummy to eat. Now, when someone says ‘want to go to Red Deer for Sushi?’ your first reaction might be ‘umm, no!” But, if you were to try the amazing (and inexpensive) sushi at Shiso, you might just make the 1.5 hour trek there (or respective plane trip from where you are). Since I hadn’t had a salad yet, I asked for a seaweed salad, thinking they would bring a small one in a miso-soup-sized bowl. To our delight, though, they brought a huge bowl of the most fresh, crunchy, yummy salad you can imagine.

Here are some pics:

So inspirational! I am going to have to try this on my own soon…

nothing beets this salad

Thursday! Beet salad! This was an exciting day. I had the most lovely little beets from the farmer’s market that needed to be eaten so I threw them in the oven for about an hour to roast (at 375). When they were easily pierced with a fork, I pulled them out, peeled them (ouch ouch hot!), sliced them up and threw them in a bowl with:

(sliced roasted beets)

lemon juice

olive oil

green onions

feta cheese.

You need to try this! So good!

balanced meal in a green salad!

Wednesday.

This was a day of quick lunches put together with what I had on hand. It turned out really well though! I would recommend this for anyone who likes the idea of a balanced salad-meal! (I sure do.) If you don’t have leftover chickpea patties, you could always add straight-up chickpeas or another bean or lentil of your choice.

Here’s what I used:

leftover green salad

crumbled chickpea patties

sweet potatoes (cooked in the microwave to save time!)

flax oil vinaigrette

 

a very green salad

Tuesday! I made this salad with every green thing I could find in my fridge:

baby spinach

cucumbers

mixed deli sprouts

snap peas

green onions

chives

apple vinaigrette (OK, not green, but still delish)

Sometime soon I want to make an even more  impressive green salad- add some avocado, other fresh herbs like basil and sage, and some other leafy greens. I really liked the chives and green onions- they made it a very tasty salad!

two salads in one day

Folks, I have a confession. I didn’t make or eat salad yesterday! Well, actually, I did eat a bit of leftover bean salad, but I already had written about it so that was a bit of a fail. Not to fear, however, since today I made TWO salads! First one is a version of a salad my parents used to make a lot when I was growing up. To be honest, I never really liked this salad, but my tastes have changed significantly and I like it a lot more. When I asked my Mom for the recipe, she gave me a list of the following ingredients:

romaine lettuce –> I used spinach 🙂

grated carrots

toasted (unsweetened) coconut

mandarin slices–> I used grapefruit

dressing made of yogurt and a tbsp. or two of mayonnaise

With my little changes, it was great! It didn’t bring me back to my childhood, though, so I think I’ll have to do it again, sticking to the recipe. The part that did remind me of home was the toasting coconut- Mom used to do this in the toaster oven and it always smelled great.

My second salad today (dessert salad?) was another version of Katryna’s yummy salad. This time, instead of grapes, I used banana slices (shout out to Sophie on this one), and added some sunflower seeds and toasted coconut I had left from the other salad. Yum!

dinner party of champions!

I’m going to let this post speak mainly for itself! Basically, I am part of a wonderful dinner club (started by my friend Deanna). We get together about once a month and share food! Basically, whoever hosts is responsible for the main course, and then we others are to bring appetizer, side, and dessert. Saturday night was our fifth (or sixth? anyone remember?) and it was fab! I picked the theme, since I was hosting, and it was Clean Food (vegetarian, whole foods etc etc..). I basically wanted an excuse to serve fresh juice and sprouts on my chickpea burgers ;).

The menu:

Fruits and veggies ready to be juiced:

Fried cheese! It was so freakin’ good. Deanna served it with a lightly-cooked dressing of fennel, onion, and mint.

Deanna and her freshly fried cheese:

The gang: (so sorry I cut you off, Moira!!)

Opened-faced chickpea burgers with quinoa cakes and cabbage salad:

Moira’s wonderful fair-trade chocolate tart (with amaretti-cookie crust!):