Sunday's Salad/Ancient Grain Power Salad

It has been an interesting week, and I have missed checking in with you :(

You'll never guess what I will be doing bright and early tomorrow morning...I'm taking a hot air balloon ride!!!!!! I'm so excited :)))) 
Since this is the summer of the bucket list, the opportunity came up and I decided not to let it pass me by. I will take lots and lots of pictures, and share them on Tuesday.   

I was once asked what my favorite meal of the day is. Hands down, my favorite meal is lunch. When I was in school, I always ate breakfast before leaving home, but by 10:30 in the morning, my stomach would start to growl. Lunch could not come soon enough. Sometimes I was lucky enough to have a thermos of hot soup and a piece of cornbread in my lunchbox. That first bite was always just the best! All these years later, I still begin to get hungry around 10:30 in the morning, and the first bite of my lunch is still...just the best!

Along with soup, I love sandwiches and salads. At some point, I'll share some of my sandwich concoctions. They're pretty good if I say so myself ;) But today, I want to share a wonderful salad I made this past week. The grain is quinoa, love quinoa! The other ingredients consist of garbanzo beans, feta cheese, radishes, and arugula.   

Here's what really makes it special, the dressing. Fresh lemon juice is mixed with olive oil, oregano, and chopped kalamata olives. All of the ingredients are blended resulting in a lovely, earthy red dressing.

I placed a big scoop of the quinoa mixture on a bed of mixed greens.

Then drizzled the dressing over the salad. Delicious!!!

The quinoa salad mixture will last for a few days in the refrigerator, so great for repeated lunches.

Ancient Grain Power Salad
downloadable recipe

Ingredients

For the salad;
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups canned garbanzo beans rinsed
1 cup slightly chopped arugala
1/2 cup chopped red radishes
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Mixed greens of your choice for serving

For the salad dressing;
6 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons chopped kalamata olives(pits removed of course)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
salt and black pepper to taste

For the salad;
Cook quinoa according to package directions. Allow to cool. Add the remainder of the ingredients, except for the mixed greens. Mix well and set aside.

For the salad dressing;
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust salt a black pepper to taste. 

To serve;
Place mixed greens on a plate. Place a large scoop of the quinoa mixture in the middle of the greens. Drizzle dressing over the quinoa and greens. Serve and enjoy! 

 The salad dressing will keep for at least a week in the refrigerator, so it can be enjoyed on other salads of your choice.

Wishing you many happy lunches!

Rhonda

Sunday's Salad/Goddess of Greens Salad, and a Refreshing Drink

Having a 'coke' was a treat when I was growing up, not something we drank on a daily basis. My fondest memories of drinking a soft drink were after our weekly afternoon of swimming. We were treated to the soft drink of our choice, and a bag of chips. I feel like a stone-age leftover saying this, but when I was growing up, chips did not come in the humongous bags that they do now. What we ate would be considered a very small bag by today's standards. But, after an afternoon of swimming, a soft drink and a bag of chips was such a treat. 

Truth be told, I still enjoy a soft drink from time to time. Yes, I know all about the bad things in a soft drink. I feel this way, everything in moderation. But, my go to drink in the summer time is a refreshing drink made with hibiscus tea. The natural red color of the blossoms is so inviting. 

I really like Mighty Leaf teas, and order the teas I drink directly from the company. You can find their site HERE. Sign up for emails as they have some wonderful specials, like putting their teas on sale for half off.

I brew the tea in a pitcher, usually 6 tea bags. I allow the tea to brew for at least 30 minutes. Once brewed, remove the teabags and allow the tea to cool. Once cooled, I add 1 orange sliced, 1 lemon sliced, and about 2" of fresh peeled and sliced ginger. Store in the refrigerator overnight to allow the juice to infuse the tea. If you would like to sweeten the tea, add stevia to taste. 
Serve in a pretty glass. Garnish with a slice of orange,and enjoy. If you would like some bubbles, add club soda, or sparkling water. For parties, mix the tea with some Prosecco for a refreshing cocktail. 

I can go through an entire pitcher during the course of the day, and to be honest, the thought of a soft drink never crosses my mind. So if you would like to try and cut down on your soft drink consumption, give my Hibiscus Tea recipe a try. I think you'll love it!    

I have been planning to share this salad with you for the last few weeks. If I say so myself, it is OMG good!

We'll begin with the salad dressing;

Begin by roasting 2 poblano peppers. It can be done in the oven with the broiler, or outside on a grill. Roast until blackened. Once roasted, place the peppers in a plastic bag for 15 minutes to steam. Remove and pull off the blackened skin, and seeds.    

Place the skinned peppers in a blender along with 1/2 an avocado, 1 clove of garlic, 1 egg yolk, Dijon mustard, buttermilk, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and olive oil.  Blend to form a green cloud of deliciousness. 
    

Chop or tear up 4 cups of kale and place in a salad bowl. Top the kale with 4 sliced radishes, 1/2 cup of cooked red quinoa, and 1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds. This can be done ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator for a few hours until ready to serve.

 

 Pour 1/3 of the salad dressing over the salad, and mix well. Top the salad with 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese, and mix into the salad.
  

Serve the salad with extra dressing on the side. Believe me, it's so good, you'll want to add a little more. A friend of mine said that she could eat the dressing like soup!
  

Since kale holds up in the refrigerator, the leftovers are wonderful the following day for lunch. 

Goddess of Greens Salad
printable recipe

dressing;
2 Poblano peppers
1 egg yolk
1/2 avocado
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard
1/3 to 1/2 cup buttermilk
3 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups olive oil

Roast poblano peppers in the broiler or on the grill until skin is blackened, about 10 minutes. Place in plastic bag and allow to steam for 15 minutes. Remove from bag, remove blackened skin and seeds. Place in blender along with egg yolk, garlic, mustard, buttermilk, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. Blend. While blender is running, slowly pour in the olive oil. If a thinner consistency is desired, add more buttermilk. 

Salad;
4 cups kale chopped or torn
4  red radishes sliced
1/2 cup cooked red quinoa
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Place kale, radishes, red quinoa, and pumpkin seeds in a large salad bowl. Pour 1/3rd of the dressing over the salad, and toss well to mix. Top with the feta cheese, toss once again, and serve. 

The leftover dressing will last refrigerated for at least 3 days. It's good as a dip for carrot and celery sticks, too! 

Enjoy!

Rhonda

Sunday's Salad/Vegetable Slaw with Blackeyed Peas and Roasted Sunflower Seeds

A friend of mine will come for lunch or dinner, sit down to eat, and more often than not ask, "Is this recipe on your blog?" My response will typically be, "No." And then she'll ask rather emphatically, "And why not???

So today, in honor of my friend :), you are getting a very simple recipe that I love, but would typically think it to be too mundane to post.

Here in the U.S., we have a store called Trader Joe's. The environment is kinda happy hippy for lack of a better description. What I especially like is that a healthy lunch can be had with just the combination of a few ingredients, and even easier, because all the preparation has been taken care of. With that said, everything for this salad can easily be prepared as well.

I purchase a bag of broccoli slaw, pretty easy to find these days. A container of chopped vegetables. This is a combination of chopped broccoli, carrots, jicama, green and purple cabbage, radishes, celery, and green bell pepper. Of course, you can add or delete depending upon your taste if you are chopping your own vegetables.

I love Melissa's steamed blackeyed peas, but a 14 oz. can of blackeyed peas that have been rinsed and drained will work just fine. 

And finally the dressing. I like the Asian Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette, but any dressing would actually work, depending upon your taste.

Not pictured above is 1 last ingredient, 1/2 cup of toasted sunflower seeds. With the combination of the peas and the seeds, the salad is chock full of protein. If you would like, 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa would make a nice addition and add more protein.   

Couldn't be easier, just dump everything in a bowl, stir and enjoy. With a lot of salads like this, it's advised to allow the salad to sit so the flavors can intermingle. I never wait, I dump, stir, and serve!
If you would like a printable recipe, you can find it HERE.

Last winter, I tried out a cottage cheese pancake recipe that I found at A Garden For the House. These pancakes have become an absolute favorite in my house. I made a batch this morning, and my husband literally stood over the stove waiting with anticipation!!!

Rather than strawberries, I did a mixture of peaches and blueberries. My husband said that he thought he liked the mixture better than the plain strawberries. I had 6 peaches and about 2 cups of blueberries. Added 1/2 cup of sugar and then poured the fruit and sugar mixture into a baking dish and roasted at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

A note on skinning the peaches...
I boiled a pot of water and then placed the peaches in the boiling water for just about a minute or so. The skins are then quite easy to remove. 

So, I think my friend will be happy ;) And hopefully you as well! The salad is really quite nice and makes a great lunch during the week. 
Enjoy!
Rhonda

Sunday's Salad/Fennel, Apple and Blue Cheese Salad

What a week, a week filled with good things, bad things, sad things, and very little blogging things. But, the good out weighs the bad, and the bad is behind me, so happily, I move on! 

This time of year is such a joy for me, my tomatoes are coming in and I have tons of basil, so tons of pesto. Nothing better than an open face pesto sandwich. Makes my mouth water just to think about it. All I do is toast a great piece of bread, spread it with a mound of pesto, and then add a layer of my fresh tomatoes. A little salt and pepper, and it's luncheon heaven :)

Another favorite item, other than soups, are fun salads. I have fallen in love with fennel! Earlier this past week, I had purchased fresh fennel. As I was looking in my refrigerator, thinking about what I might like to make, the thought of pairing an apple with the fennel and then tossing it all with mixed greens sounded perfect.  

I placed about 3 heaping cups of mixed greens in my salad bowl, and topped them with a thinly sliced red delicious apple. 

I then added 1 bulb of  fennel which I sliced. Please do not follow my lead, chop the fennel, it'll be easier to eat and much more enjoyable.

I then added 1/2 cup of crumbled blue cheese, and 1/2 cup of toasted chopped pecans.

Now, the dressing I made, was simple and fabulous. A friend gave me a bottle of blood orange olive oil, and a bottle of tangerine balsamic vinegar.
   

I used 1/3 cup of the oil and 2 tablespoons of the balsamic vinegar, whipped it together and then poured it over the salad. 

HEAVEN!!!

The nice thing about the oil and vinegar is that they are available to order. For those of you who live in or near Chicago, they have stores on Wells St. here in Chicago, and another in Evanston. 

If you would like to order the oil and vinegar, you can find them HERE, and HERE. Well worth the investment. 

Fennel, Apple, and Blue Cheese Salad
printable recipe

3 heaping cups fresh mixed salad greens
1 red delicious apple thinly sliced
1 bulb of fennel chopped
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

For the dressing:

1/3 cup blood orange olive oil
2 tablespoons tangerine balsamic vinegar

Whip together, pour over salad, toss and serve.    

Sunday's Salad/Mediterranean Summer Salad

I haven't posted a recipe in quite a while, but this one, at least in my opinion :), is well worth the wait. I originally made the salad during the winter, but for lack of a better name, I'm calling it a Mediterranean Summer Salad. It's light, and yet hearty enough for a main entree when you would like a lighter meal. For those of you who are vegan, it's perfect as it's full of protein.

Easy, easy to put together, just begin with mixed greens, about 3 cups. I like to tear them up a bit before I add the rest of the ingredients.

Top with 1/2 cup of cooked and cooled quinoa.

Next, 4 large, or 6 small radishes thinly sliced.

Chop 1/2 of a fennel bulb. The spicy aspect of the radishes mixes perfectly with the slightly sweet taste of the fennel.

Now add 1/4 cup of toasted and cooled chopped walnuts. If you are in a hurry, delete the toasting, but if you have time, the toasting of the walnuts adds a nice flavor. 

Chop 1 small avocado.
 

Toss the salad and set aside.

The dressing is so, so good. By all means, don't skip this step!
You'll need;
1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/3 cup of good olive oil
1 clove of garlic smashed and finely chopped
juice of 3 fresh lemons
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Mix well. 

Dish up the salad, be sure to dig to the bottom as the good bits always fall to the bottom of the bowl. Drizzle the salad dressing over, dig in and enjoy! A warning, the dressing is so good that you'll want to eat it right out of the bowl!!!

The salad will make 2 large entree servings, or 4 side servings. Just increase ingredients for a larger crowd.
 

Mediterranean Summer Salad

Yield: 2 Entrée servings, or 4 side servings

Ingredients:

3 cups of mixed greens

¼ cup cooked and cooled quinoa

4 large, or 6 small sliced radishes

½ bulb fennel chopped

¼ cup chopped and toasted walnuts

1 small avocado chopped

Salad Dressing

1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 clove garlic smashed and finely chopped

Juice of 3 lemons

Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Directions

Mix all salad ingredients.

Stir to combine salad dressing ingredients.

To serve, drizzle salad dressing over salad and enjoy! 

Eating For Your Future/Massaged Kale Salad with Quinoa and Pomegranate

For those of you who have become accustomed to seeing a daily post from me, you may be thinking that you'll need to put out a missing persons alert ;) All is well, I've just been super busy in my garden, in fact, all of my spare time has been spent in the garden. Later this summer, we are hosting 2 rather large parties and my garden really needs some attention. By the end of this upcoming week, I should be in pretty good shape, fingers crossed. Between the garden, trying to get ready for the marathon in October, as well as other activities, something had to give, and sadly, it has been the blog. So hopefully one more week and life will begin to get back to normal, at least my normal :) 

On a fun note...

I went to the drug store a few days ago and basically bought out the Epsom salts. My husband picked up the bag of salts that I had in the car and without hesitation exclaimed, "how many pounds of Epsom salt did you buy?!!! My muscles are screaming and I need all the help I can get!

So now for a really good salad. Hey, who doesn't like a massage?!! Well, I guess there are a few people in this world, I'm not one of them. As it turns out, even kale likes a little massage ;)

With most green type salads, they really need to be made and eaten the same day. Not so with this salad. The kale really holds up, so the salad can be made the day before, and leftovers can be eaten even a few days later.

Massaged Kale Salad with Quinoa and Pomegranate 

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of kale

1 large clove of garlic

1 teaspoon of salt

juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 purple onion sliced into strips

5 radishes sliced

1 cup cooked quinoa(I like to use red quinoa as it stands out against the green kale)

seeds of 1 pomegranate

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

extra salt and black pepper to taste

The key to this salad is the dressing that is massaged into the kale.

Begin by chopping the garlic clove. 

Then mash the garlic to form a bit of a paste, but not a complete paste, you want there to still be bits of the garlic.  

Combine the garlic with the lemon, salt, and olive oil. Set aside.

Remove the stems from the kale and then roughly chop. Place kale in a large mixing bowl.

Pour the dressing over the kale and then start massaging. Be sure your hands are clean!!!

Massage until the kale begins to wilt. This will only take a few minutes. The kale will soften slightly, but will retain its crunch.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

The result is a hearty, yet light salad that is full of protein. And it's pretty too!!! The lemon juice gives the salad just a bit of a tang and the pomegranate offsets the tang with a touch of sweet.

If you give it a try, I hope you enjoy it!
Rhonda

Eating For Your Future/The Secret Is In The Sauce!

Why is it that we eat hearty meals when it's cold out, and light meals when it's warm? Especially when the result of eating hearty meals in the winter means that we spend the summer trying to get off the extra pounds that we put on while eating the hearty food??? Just a funny thought that popped in my head :) 

So, if you are trying to eat a little lighter, or you just like eating a lighter meal during the warm summer months, this salad is delicious, but the secret is truly in the sauce. I found it on Design Sponge, such a great resource. The original recipe includes chicken, so if you enjoy chicken, by all meals add it in. You can find the recipe for Christina Ha's Vietnamese Chicken Salad HERE.  

This is not a vegetarian dish, even if you leave out the chicken as the dressing includes fish sauce. If you do follow a vegetarian diet, but don't mind a little fish from time to time, this dish is a must try. I made the salad without the chicken, but of course included the fish sauce for the ginger vinaigrette dressing. 

When I stopped at the store, they had just gotten in the most beautiful fresh cabbages. I was SO happy!

The recipe calls for fresh basil, mint and cilantro. I wish you could have been in my kitchen when I cut up the herbs. The fragrance was intoxicating! 

So as I said, the salad is quite light. After making the salad the first time, I have decided that the next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I am going to boil rice noodles, allow them to cool and then add them to the salad. The addition of the rice noodles will make the salad a little heartier and more satisfying as a main dish.

The only changes I made to the recipe were of course, the deletion of the chicken. I toasted slivered almonds rather than peanuts, and I did not top the salad with the fried shallots. Didn't really need them, but if you really like fried shallots, by all means add away! Personally, I felt that the fried shallots would take away from the fresh aromatic aspect of the herbs. But, my opinion :)

Hope you enjoy the salad if you give it a try.
Happy Eating Light!
Rhonda

Eating For Your Future/Spring Salad With Grilled Scallops

I love the produce section of any supermarket, and a farmer's market lures me in like the song of the siren ;) There's an incredible farmer's market in Madison, Wisconsin. Every Saturday morning the capitol square is surrounded by the most beautiful produce. Whenever I can, I love to go as I always find something new that I can't wait to try. 

I stopped by a Whole Foods store here in Chicago  and found this beautiful pepper. It's actually a striped variety of a bell pepper. Again, lure of the sirens, I just had to give it a try. To my delight, the flavor was so rich and good. So if you see them in a market, by all means give them a try. You'll be happy that you did.

  

This salad is so easy to throw together. I like the addition of a little grated Romano cheese and grilled scallops, but you can also make it a vegan version by eliminating the cheese and the fish. Below is before the cheese and scallops. Isn't it pretty?!!

And then with the addition of the cheese and scallops.

For this salad you will need;

*salad greens of your choice

*purple onion slices

*bell pepper slices

*small heirloom tomatoes(I like the green, orange and yellow varieties) 

*avocado sliced

*pomegranate seeds

*Fresh scallops

*grated Romano Cheese

Salt and black pepper to taste

What I like to do is layer the salad ingredients.

Begin by placing a layer of salad greens in your serving dish. The amount that you use will depend on how many you will be serving.

Next, slice rings of the purple onion. Separate rings and place over greens. Slice the bell pepper of your choice into strips and layer over onions. Quarter the tomatoes and layer over bell pepper strips. Slice the avocado and arrange over all ingredients. Finally, sprinkle pomegranate seeds over avocado slices. At this point, the salad is beautiful and if you wish, you may stop there. But if you would like to make it a little more special...

Pat fresh scallops dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle with freshly ground salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Heat olive oil in pan. Add scallops and allow to brown on each side for about 3 minutes. Remove to a plate and allow to cool for a few minutes before placing on salad. 

Before adding scallops to the salad, grate Romano cheese and layer over all other ingredients. Add scallops.

For the salad dressing, I really like to keep it simple. I simply drizzle a little olive oil over the salad and then squeeze a fresh lemon. But you can always use your favorite salad dressing if you prefer. I just like the light and fresh taste of the oil and lemon.

Serve and amaze your taste buds!

What I especially enjoy about this salad is the mix of flavors. The sweetness of the pomegranate seeds is the perfect compliment to the spiciness of the purple onion. 

If you give the salad a try, let me know. I would love to hear what you think.

Happy Eating!

Rhonda

Eating For Your Future/Spicy Vegetable Dump Slaw

Sometimes I cheat! 

Now that I have your attention :), I'll explain. I love a good salad, but we all know that at times, putting the whole thing together can seem like such an effort. So when I'm feeling quite lazy, I like to pull open a package and dump away!

The items that I use come from a store here in America called Trader Joe's. Although the chain has expanded, they aren't everywhere, but I do know that many grocery stores carry packages of broccoli slaw and chopped Brussels sprouts.

The sauce or dressing is Trader Joe's Island Soyaki. You could easily make your own, with soy sauce, roasted sesame oil, and garlic powder. The sauce is a little sweet as it does contain sugar, but it's not a necessary ingredient. So look around, you may find a similar sauce in your grocery store.

Spicy Vegetable Dump Slaw

Ingredients;

1 Bag of Broccoli Slaw

1 Bag Shaved Brussels Sprouts

1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds

1 small onion chopped

1/2 green bell pepper chopped

1 cup finely chopped parsley

1 jalapeno pepper seeded(or not!)and chopped

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

1 cup water

1/2 cup Island Soyaki

salt and black pepper to taste

Begin by cooking 1/2 cup of quinoa in 1 cup of water. Follow package instructions.

While quinoa cooks, chop the onion, green bell pepper, parsley and jalapeno pepper. I like a bit of spice, so I usually leave at least half of the seeds in my jalapeno. 

Dump all ingredients in a bowl. Add sauce and stir well to coat all vegetables. Add quinoa, stir again and serve. I do not allow my quinoa to cool.

My lunch with a couple of stuffed grape leaves on the side. Heaven :) 

The salad has the zing of the jalapeno and the fresh taste of the parsley. The addition of the sunflower seeds and quinoa adds protein, making this a well balance salad. Allowing the salad to sit over night makes it even better, so great for an easy dinner and perfect for lunch the next day.  

Enjoy!

Rhonda