Summer Salads

Summer is all about salads, right?

The key to eating and enjoying salads is keeping it unique and switching it up. No one likes routine in eating. Well, I do, but only for about a solid week and then I crave something different. If you think that salads are LTO (lettuce, tomato, onion) then you have some adventures to embark on! 

For tonight's rabbit treat I started with a bed of bitter, crisp arugula. I then topped it with some chopped potatoes, blanched green beans, heirloom tomatoes, capers and topped it with some fresh avocado. For a dressing I mixed Dill Dijon Aioli with a little vinegar and lemon juice.  Try mixing up your veggies and you'll find salads make the perfect meal all summer long!

Off to the wilderness

I'm off to the wilderness for a few days

Be back soon...

Candwich

Have you all seen this?

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A sandwich in can. What will they come up with next? I don't even want to think about all the preservatives and sugars that must be packed in a Candwich. According to the TODAY Show article, the developer of the Candwich says the product can be used for busy moms that are "running [their] kids between school, piano lessons, soccer. Stopping at a fast-food restaurant takes time. This is something that literally could roll around the car for a few months."

Gross!

It's amazing to think a mother would value the importance of piano lessons or soccer over their childrens health. I have yet to see the nutritional facts or the ingredients list, but I would assume the nutrition of a sandwich in a can is very poor compared to taking 30 seconds to actually make a PB&J sandwich.

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Or whatever happened to good old snacks on the go like bananas or apples?

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Even a granola or energy bar makes a better a better meal then a processed canned sandwich.

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It's very surprising that as we become more aware of nutrition and more informed as consumer then ever before that advertisers are still trying to sell us such unhealthy products. Let's hope the Candwich does not become popular.

Summer Nicoise Salad

I have really been craving a Nicoise salad lately. Fresh summer veggies have been on my mind. Sadly after arming myself with all supplies (including a bottle of sauvignon blanc), I left the grocery store without any lettuce!! What was I thinking?!! I decided to go forward with my Nicoise salad plans - sans lettuce. It was amazing! Took me on a mini France vacay in my box filled-cluttered-mover's paradise apartment. These pictures do my mini vacay meal no justice.

This salad had chopped red potatoes and green beans - both cooked in the microwave (still no gas) and then chilled, tomatoes, kalamata olives, lots and lots of capers and tuna. I topped it off dill Dijon dressing I made out of this.

It was, simply put, AMAZING!

Microwave Cooking

Well friends, I officially moved this past weekend. Let's just say moving mid-summer in Vegas in 115 degree heat is not all that fun. Thankfully to my wonderful mother though, I had movers help with my furniture and a good amount of boxes. I fell off the treadmill 2 weeks ago and have been having a lot of problems with my shoulder so my wonderful mother got me movers to help get me in my new place! Let just say movers are the way to go here on out! I was so impressed with how professionally and quickly they got me moved.

My new place has something that I haven't used in over a year. A microwave. I've found during my time without that you really don't need a microwave oven and that I actually prefer to do things "the old fashion way", ie. stove top and oven. However since my gas has yet to be turned on, it's been all microwave cooking for me the past few days. Here's one of my latest concoctions. Microwave enchiladas!

To make these I started with 3 corn tortillas and topped them with refried beans, chopped tomato and onion, and cojita cheese.

I then topped them with a salsa verde and more cojita cheese and nuked them for about 4-5 minutes until warm throughout.

Pretty tasty for something made in a microwave! Although I'm looking forward to having the gas turned on and being able to cook and take warm showers again. ;-)

In other fun news look at all these fruit and veggies my friend got from BountifulBasket.org

Bountiful Basket is a food co-op with locations in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Arizona and Texas. Basically once a week you go and pick up a great big box of fruit and veggies for only $15!! My friend paid $15 for the fruits and veggies and then another $11 for the 24 pound box of peaches. Can you believe the deal on all that fresh food?!! I signed up and am looking forward to some fresh fruit and veggies of my own!

Pizza Thin

So I got to thinking what else can I use these Flatout Bread for?? How about pizza!

For this pizza I started with a Flatout, topped it with tomato sauce, tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, spinach and a healthy amount of Cotija cheese and baked for about 10 minutes. This was super yummy! I think next time I'll toast the bread in the oven first for couple of minutes so it gets a little crispy and then add the toppings because the middle was a little soggy. But this was super easy and I'll definitely be doing it again!

Wrap It Up

Continuing to empty my freezer, I baked some tofu the other night. I marinated the tofu in some rice wine vinegar, evoo, and chili pepper and then baked it at 375 for 25 minutes till it was crispy on the outside. Then I made this simple wrap with a whole wheat Flatout bread. This wrap had tofu, a Laughing Cow wedge, tomato, avocado and spinach. Yum!

Since I've Been Gone

When I returned home from my trip out of town, I had hoped to returned to vines full of tomatoes like the previous week. Sadly I returned home to a much depressing sight.

My poor plant had dried up while I was away! I have it on an automatic sprinkling system so I'm not sure if there was an error and it didn't get watered or if it was just too hot here in Vegas. Either way, look at all these sad tomatoes.

I did have two survivors though!

And with these tomatoes went into so tacos! I made fish tacos using some frozen ahi tuna I'd defrosted. I'm moving at the end of the week, so I'm trying to use up a lot of what's in my freezer. I marinated the tuna in lime juice with cumin and chili pepper then sauteed it with some cooking spray in a frying pan. Placed the tuna inside two corn tortillas with some pico de gallo, cojita cheese, and fresh avocado. Yum!

Clam Bake!

I've been on blogging hiatus. Partly due to another week of work travel and partly due to laziness upon my return. This week I'm moving, but I'll try to stay more up to date this time.

Yesterday I went to a clam bake. I may be 280 miles to the nearest beach, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy an afternoon seafood fest. While it was not a true "clam bake" as clams were actually boiled Maryland style with Old Bay, red potatoes and corn on the cob, I was the only one who seemed to know the difference. Am I the only person in Vegas who's been to a true legit clam bake? Apparently so. Regardless I had great company and the food was quite tasty too.