Best salad ever

I self-destruct at Christmas. Part of it is due to working retail. Part of it is complex.

But I refuse to shop in December. Even for groceries. I believe my quote was "I'll live off tuna and chocolate chip cookies until January. Or gnaw off my own flesh."

After one annoying mishap after another, I ended up in the grocery store trying to buy the ingredients for a salad. I didn't get my salad until 7 p.m. At that point, my blood sugar was dropping but I managed to do this:

I took some diced chicken, sesame seeds and cashews and sautéed them stir-fry style (high heat, quickly dashing across the pan) in a few drops sesame oil and about a teaspoon or two of teriyaki sauce.

For the salad base I used an iceberg lettuce mix with some endive added, and lots of carrot ribbons. I sprinkled this with Brianna's strawberry champagne vinaigrette dressing. 

Added mandarin oranges, water chestnuts and red raspberries.

Tossed. And topped with generous amounts of the chicken mix.

Ate from a bowl the size of my head.

Today's salad

II love a big crunchy salad, but I like mine with unorthodox items in it. Like this one:

It's mostly normal... Romaine lettuce, organic carrots peeled into ribbons, even my sprouts aren't that weird. I used my homemade sesame peanut dressing and added crispy onion straws, sesame sticks and dried kiwi.

Peanut Sesame dressing

I had a Thai chicken salad from Wawa Friday which inspired me to make my own peanut sesame dressing.

I think I have decided on:

- 1 part extra virgin cold pressed olive oil

- 1 part pure sesame seed oil

- 1/2 part apple cider vinegar

- ginger

- 2 parts peanut butter

- sesame seeds and crushed red pepper for the actual salad

A little bit of everything thing

Last night I walked to the neighborhood "corner store," a place full of candy and oddities.

I got a soursop smoothie that child and I split as part of our massive but healthy breakfast before she heads out to the amusement park with her grandparents.

This coupled with big glasses of water and the following constituted our "this might be all the fruits and veggies you get for the day" breakfast:

- medjool dates 

- half a banana, sliced in banana split fashion to serve as bread for peanut butter and imported Turkish "crushing nuts" with honey (crushed nuts = pistachio, hazelnut, apricot kernel and peanuts)

- salad tacos, both with one six inch flour tortilla and about 1/2 cup of iceberg garden salad mix and 1/2 cup green and crisp salad mix and about 3/4 ounce Bulgarian feta. Hers had Annie's Goddess dressing. Mine had hummus.

Watermelon green salad

I went on a limb with today's salad: spinach, watermelon, sunflower kernels, dried cranberries, golden raisins, cucumbers, and candied pecans.

Target shopping for salad

My husband came to pick me up at Target today so I asked him what he might want for dinner. He suggested salads which is exactly what I was craving.

Now I think I should mention that I had an unexpected doctor's visit one week ago (nothing serious) that revealed weight is now one pound more than it was on the day I brought my daughter home from the hospital ten years ago. 

I have lost and gained-- never on purpose always from bizarre circumstances-- twenty one pounds. This bothers me because of some recent problems with my legs and back, because my mother has gained weight and subsequently now has high blood pressure, and because I had gestational diabetes which puts me at risk for type 2 diabetes.

Confession time: this winter I have eaten a ridiculous amount of unhealthy foods. 

This past week, I have monitored my eating habits and without really dieting I feel like I have cut my calorie intake in half. That's how badly I've been overeating.

So anyway, here's the salad fixings we bought:

- garden salad mix, 1.49

- fresh express Italian salad mix, 2.50

- fresh Green Giant snap peas, 2.99

- shredded carrots, $1.79

- cucumber, 79 cents

- Annie's goddess dressing, 4 @ $2.50 each

- Archer Farms salad toppers crispy onion straws, $1.33 (low sodium, low fat, even low carb)

- Archer Farms salad toppers cranberries & pecans, $2.06

- planters roasted sunflower kernels, $1.89

- Alouette Brie, $3

- small watermelon, $3.31

- small curd cottage cheese, $2.87

- Parmesan cheese, shredded, 2 packages (6 ounce) @ 2.55 each

No tax.

Total: $39.12

Team member discount: -$3.93

Team member appreciation: - 80 cents

Red card: - $1.72

New total: $32.67

Birthday taco mix

For my birthday today, I made a massive taco salad for breakfast. Lots of green, some carrots. Dressing was a 50-50 mix of extra hot roasted habanero salsa and organic peppercorn ranch. Added a big old plop of my taco mix I spent two hours making yesterday and topped it off with organic yellow corn tortilla chips I smashed in my hand.

Why do I say "taco mix?" I didn't use all meat, nor did I go with vegetarian. I used a two pound container of ground beef with a bag of frozen corn, a can of spinach and two cans of black beans to make a massive pot of taco filling.

I didn't measure my seasoning. Keep pouring it in as everything simmered under water:

- chili powder

- cumin

- garlic pepper

- paprika

- hot paprika 

Brussel sprout taco

I've been on a taco salad kick the last few days because my mother in law brought taco fixings and I find this far more fun than hard shells. Iceberg lettuce, extra hot salsa, cheese, Goddess dressing (I don't have ranch, blue cheese or even sour cream), taco meat and the best part-- my home canned sweet and spicy corn salsa.

Tonight after work, I had the munchies and thought I'd have these leftover Brussel sprouts in a wrap with salsa and cheese. It hit the spot, though my husband thinks I'm nuts.

Christmas sandwich

While driving home from work last night, I dreamed up this sandwich. I love salad but I love it a lot more when I don't have to eat it with a fork. 

- one pita

- greens, stuffing that pita full (I used arugula, spinach and spring mix leftover from Christmas dinner)

- my homemade berry vinaigrette dressing 

- my home canned cranberry orange relish

- turkey 

Food blues

We're struggling with a very tight budget and trying to get daughter through a long morning at school with no snack.

I haven't cooked much lately. 

So today, since I went shopping yesterday at Wegmans, I tried to make up for my recent string of pasta and hamburger.

Breakfast was half a peanut butter sandwich, papaya fruit salad (from a can, in juice), and Yummy Mummy monster cereal with protein fortified almond milk. (Did I mention daughter is having ear issues again so we've gone dairy free for her?)

I had a smoothie mid-morning of frozen strawberries, almond milk, vanilla yogurt and carnation breakfast essentials powder.

For lunch, I experimented with wedge salads for husband and I: wedges of iceberg lettuce, with Annie's lemon-chive dressing, sliced almonds, golden raisins and mandarin orange slices, accompanied by carrot sticks, a taste of tuna and a few bites of ham.

Another cucumber salad

I'm not eating the homegrown cucumbers nearly fast enough. I'm worried I'll lose them to the ravages of time. 

But seriously, cucumbers are one of my favorite summer foods. They don't provide nearly the same feeling in winter. The cool flavor, the burst of water in each bite... They provide relief in summer.

Since a friend was kind enough to share her garden bounty, I have three large cucumbers. I've grown cucumbers, but this year my tortoise ate all the plants. She likes cucumber, too.

So to make sure we eat these beautiful vegetables, I made a cucumber salad. And it's vegan!

Ingredients:

- 3 large cucumbers, diced

- 4 slices vegetarian bacon-style strips, cut into tiny bits

- about 3/4 cup black olives, sliced (i used canned whole olives and sliced them myself but I *really* wish I had good olives on hand)

- about 1/2 cup flax seed

- garlic pepper to taste

- Annie's lemon chive dressing, to taste 

(I kept both the dressing and the garlic pepper to a minimum since I want the cucumbers to keep their clean, fresh taste.)

Mix. Chill. Serve.

Peanut butter protein snack

I started this morning with almost two cups of coffee, two blueberry pancakes and maple syrup. I cleaned the kitchen, fed and cleaned up after the cats, weeded the jungle... I mean garden... and then I carted clothes up and down from the attic.

I started to get shaky, even though I wasn't remotely hungry. I hopped in the shower while husband made huge salads of iceberg lettuce, shredded cabbage, carrots, a pinch of Parmesan cheese, sliced almonds, whole almonds, a couple of cranberries, and Annie's Goddess dressing. Beverage was a few ounces of Welch's white grape peach something 100% juice diluted with carbonated water  made in our SodaStream.

It was delicious.

But about 45 minutes later I didn't feel better. I needed more protein. I wanted to keep it healthy. So I asked husband to get a square of ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate, layer some commercial peanut butter on it, and then he sprinkled our thick and somewhat dry homemade peanut butter on it.

Scrumptious.

Grocery trip on the bike

This morning my daughter and I took our first bike ride of the season, after pumping my two flat tires and discovering after a block that my gears were on the highest settings... That was a rough block. 

Then we got rolling through the city streets and we ended up at the grocery store. We locked up our bikes and went in to surprise Daddy with the half and half we needed for coffee.

We spent $11.01. We bought a quart of half and half, a bottle of organic unsweetened real cranberry juice and two Dole salad kits. I had a coupon for $1.25 off one, and they were $3.99 each... I plan on having them for lunch, so when I saw they had two kits $1 off each because they were "use today." I jumped on it.

I poured myself a heavily iced glass of cranberry juice when we got home-- gave my daughter a sip and she made the funniest face at how sour it was.

Clearance Indian

I bought Chicken Tikka Masala on clearance on Target. $2.48 for 2 servings. Archer Farms. To offset the processed food, I made a nice plate of fresh spinach and spring mix, which we'll put the chicken and rice on top of it. Then we'll have non-dairy fruit smoothies-- my new recipe of coconut milk, pomegranate juice, strawberries, peaches, pineapple, mango, banana and local raw honey.

Fat Tuesday

I had no idea what to make for dinner so I swung through Target after a long shift...

I grabbed steaks, vegetables, strawberries and creme brûlée for my Fat Tuesday celebration.

My total bill came to $25.92.

- 4 small Angus steaks, $10, regularly $15.98
- fresh express iceberg garden salad, $1.47
- Green Giant fresh asparagus $2.49, regularly $3.49 (and was not in as good of condition as I thought when I bought it... Sad face)
- fresh strawberries, 1 quart, on sale for $2.49
- archer farm steam-in-bag broccoli, on sale for $1.89
- 2 boxes of Archer Farm creme brûlée (each with two servings), $5.99 each

Subtotal: $30.32
Team member discount: - 3.04
REDcard savings: - 1.36

What did I do with it?

When I got home, I touched off my enormous pépé mug with chai, and washed the asparagus. While my husband cooked the steaks with just a little garlic pepper and Italian seasoning, I cut some slits into the asparagus and spread some extra virgin olive oil and garlic pepper on them on the cookie sheet. I preheated the oven to 450 and really roasted that asparagus to a golden brown.

Then I split two raspberry Chobani "bites" with dark chocolate into three bowls and garnished with fresh strawberry slices.

That was the first course. The second course was a big old plate of salad. Third course was the asparagus.

Husband prepared the fourth course, the steam-in-bag broccoli drizzled with sesame oil and the steaks.

Dessert is the creme brûlée prepared by the child.

The wine is local apple wine from Stroudsburg.

Blizzard of 2013 "Nemo"

So, it's snowing but we haven't hit "blizzard" yet and Nemo is kicking my tush.

I'm PMSing, daughter had big projects due at school, I think I have a cold, and this storm is making my leg hurt so bad I can hardly stand.

So, I took a Zyrtec, a half dose of DayQuil, 2 Aleve, an echinacea capsule, and 500 mg of vitamin C while drinking 32 ounces of earl grey with local raw honey.

I'm making Campbell's 100% Natural Italian Wedding soup with leftover snow peas and a garden salad wrap for lunch.

Dinner will be pizza. I coped with the blizzard by ordering 3 large pizzas but 2 orders of dessert sticks from Pizza Hut last night.

Comfort food.

Today's salad

- arugula
- spring mix
- Annie's organic cowgirl ranch dressing
- Bulgarian feta
- calamata olives
- dried cherries
- sesame sticks

Make your own salad

Asian flavored salads tonight.

Mine consisted of:
- organic baby leaf lettuce
- unsalted cashews
- dried peas
- sesame sticks
- mandarin oranges
- Archer Farm lemon ginger sesame dressing

Cute lunch

Another variation of my salad wrap:

- small tortilla shell
- Italian salad green blend from wegmans
- Bulgarian feta
- olives
(No dressing)

And a homemade strawberry soda:
- strawberry syrup imported from Beirut
- carbonated tap water via my SodaStream

Random updates

School lunch today was "chicken rings" and school lunch yesterday was pork sausage on a whole wheat roll so my daughter packed.

Yesterday it was the last of the vegetarian baked beans and vegetarian hot dogs, applesauce with cinnamon, and broccoli with ranch to dip and carrot sticks.

Today I had a small flour tortilla and some organic corn chips packed with raspberry salsa, the leftover taco beans-meat-corn-garden peppers mixture in her thermal bowl, and fruit cocktail. Then she asked for carrot sticks.

How can you say no?

Meanwhile, I took a piece of lebanon bologna and put some horseradish on it and piled it high with fresh spinach. I rolled it like a wrap and ate it for breakfast because I was starving.

Daughter saw this and responded with "that looks good." I have promised to make her one (without horseradish) after school.

I have an appt with the periodontist today to see if my dental implant had properly matured. Not that it matters to me, since I can't afford the tooth for it.

I made myself a gorgeous taco salad for lunch: a bed of fresh spinach, a little white rice, the taco mix child took for lunch, raspberry salsa and then a few crumbs from the bottom of the bag of organic blue corn chips with flax seed.

Now I can brave the 20+ miles to the dentist. In the new-to-us car. On the highway. In a storm that may include high winds, torrential downpours and tornados.

Goody.

To have someone poke around at my gums.