Spruce up that Basic Salad

When I go out to eat and I order the side salad I'm normally presented with one of two things.
1. A small plate of iceberg lettuce with tomato, red cabbage shreds, and carrot shreds.
2. A spring mix base with onion, tomato, and carrot.
It's no wonder that people don't think of salads as delicious crunchy addicting bowls of beauty!

I love salads. We get along. We normally hang out 4-5 times a week. It's getting pretty serious between us. I'm willing to share though. I think salads could be a good relationship for more people if they were properly understood.

Here are some of my favorite ideas to spruce up your salads!

Add Fresh Herbs
Look at that beauty! Spring greens topped with cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, bean sprouts, fresh herbs & sesame seeds. Don't leave fresh herbs out of your lettuce base. Fresh cilantro, basil, and parsley make great additions to lettuce leaves. They add flavor, freshness, and nutrition. 

more tips after the jump...

Black Bean and Mango Quinoa Salad

Quinoa Salad sounds fancy doesn't it.
It sounds like a recipe.
Like a recipe in a cookbook.

If you make it you'll feel like you made a real dish, not just a bowl of things from the fridge that were about to go bad.

Let's not tell everyone that it's mostly a bowl of items from the fridge.
Let's keep them thinking we're real chefs!

My Delicious Quinoa Salad Recipe: (wink wink)

Fat Free Roux and Étoumbo Recipe

I was reading vegan food blogs, because that's what I do all the time. My favorite thing to read about is how much other people love food.

The Fat Free Vegan posted this post featuring a fat free roux.
A roux, traditionally, is a cooking base of flour and fat, normally butter. It's the base to most soups, cheese sauces, or gumbos.

I learned a lot about traditional roux from my all time favorite Food Network personality Alton Brown. This is the episode where he explains a lot about roux.



Now that you're caught up about roux and we're on the same page; imagine making it FAT FREE.
Keep Going...

New Orleans LA to Orlando FL - Road Trip Part Three

Road Trip Part Three!
We got into New Orleans around 9pm at night but we were hungry!

We found Mia's which was super cute especially for a wednesday night. There were two guys playing live music and we were able to sit on the patio with Piper, there were actually two other doggies on the patio too.

I ordered the Eggplant Steak. How cute is that name?

Keep Reading...

Raw Zucchini Spaghetti with Raw Tomato Sauce

On April 4th I bought this groupon. April 4th may go down in history as best groupon day ever!

Then, the other day look what appeared at my doorstep!

A vegetable spiral slicer. Amazing. I've been wanting one of these babies for a while. You can cut vegetables into spirals. For example, you can cut potatoes into curly fries or zucchini into spaghetti or cucumber into ribbons. It is a little niche-y for a kitchen appliance but raw zucchini noodles are a favorite of mine when we go out to eat, so for me, it worked as an appliance purchase.

Magically, this then appeared in my bowl!

ok... not magically but very very easily :)
Recipe after the jump...

St. Louis MI to New Orleans LA - Road Trip Part Two

Road Trip round Two!

Quick photo of our AMAZING hotel in St. Louis, the Chase Park Plaza.

Nikki actually works for the company that runs the hotel so she spent a little time in the afternoon chatting with her co-workers and "talking shop" so I took the opportunity to have an adult beverage! Delicious.

keep reading...

Denver CO to St. Louis MI - Road Trip Part One

I was afraid my road trip would have a lack of internet access, and I was correct.
I cannot wait to tell you all about it though!

Itinerary:
Denver CO to St. Louis MI  -- 13 hours and 20 min
St. Louis MI to New Orleans LA -- 10 hours and 45 min
New Orleans LA to Orlando FL -- 10 hours and 20 min

I flew into denver after a very early morning flight and treated myself to my favorite mountain man coffee, Caribou! Then met up with Nikki and she whisked me off to lunch.

We went to Watercourse Foods in Denver CO where I heartily consumed the Ruk Kora Salad; fresh arugula, carrots, fresh beets, edamame, cucumber, oranges, red pepper, topped with tamari roasted cashews, black sesame seeds and crispy soba noodles served with yuzu vinaigrette. Check out that beautiful monster.

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Snacks

Road Trips deserve snacks.
I mean, that's a given.
If we don't agree on that statement it's likely we won't agree on anything else so you can probably stop reading now.

Classic road trip snacks at my house were pringles, grapes, chicken salad, and maybe cheese-its. My dad always wanted my mom to make tuna salad but she hates the smell of tuna, so we had chicken.

What do you take on your road trips? I'm normally a huge blueberry fan on road trips since there is no mess, but I had to take all my snacks on the airplane before our road trip even began so fruits and vegetables were out.

Re-vamped vegan snacks look a little different. Plus my favorite friend is gluten-free!
Here is what I found!

Organic Dried Apricots
Organic Dried Mango
Organic Cinnamon Rice Cakes
Organic Pistachios
2 Primal GMO-free Seitan Jerkeys
1 Vegan Candy Bar

Happy (road-trip) Eating!

ROAD TRIP

Setting the scene:
I Fly into Denver at 9am Monday morning. Then we drive back to Florida before Saturday afternoon. What's in-between? Pretty flexible. Definitely a stop in New Orleans.

Characters:
Me. My Best Friend. Piper (her long haired mini blonde dachshund.) and a Mazda sedan. 

Taco Pizza

My husband and I have pretty different backgrounds when it comes to food.
When Chris and I first met he mentioned this thing called a taco pizza. The Pizza Hut by his house in Wyoming made it. He said it was like a taco on a pizza.

I'm not sure what kind of Pizza Hut they have in Wyoming but our Pizza Hut in Maryland didn't have any crazy taco pizza. Just a fire in the middle of the restaurant, do you remember that??

Even though taco pizza was a stupid idea...

I've not really been able to stop thinking about it these last three years. Taco Pizza... so crazy it might just work.

Cinnamon Walnuts on Toast with Pear

Pinterest is always featuring pictures of food on bread. You know what I mean, little morsels of fruit or vegetables sitting in oil and cheese on top of crusty toasted bread. Normally with wine or coffee in the background slightly out of focus.

these photos get me EVERY time.

I think to myself... I need oil and animal cheese on nutritionally stripped bread and a tiny piece of real food for color with caffeine or alcohol on the side.
I don't think that, but I should.
What I actually think is... Sigh, if I lived in Paris and had a lover that spoke only french we would eat that meal for breakfast after making love under twinkle lights all night long.
That's true. no judgement.

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Summer Treats

The very best thing to happen to me over the past two week was finding this company; Peak Season Pops.
I don't say that lightly, a lot of good things have happened to me lately.
Like...
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Juice Fast: Recap

Overall I think our juice fast was a success!
We ended up going three and half days until I ate this for lunch. Tijuana Flats.

Let me tell you, that was the best black bean salad I've maybe ever had. haha. It was great to eat greens instead of drink them.

Thoughts:
I didn't really experience a "cleansing" effect that I had heard I may.
I felt nourished physically but not as much emotionally.
I would definitely do it again for 3 days. I think the 3 day fast was a good length, it is the recommended starter length.
I hated throwing out all the leftover pulp in the juicer. All those poor carrot leftovers wasted. I hate wasting food.
I will continue to juice in addition to food, I did like some of the flavors.

My new idea: I might like to go raw for 10 days. A 10 Day Raw Challenge!
hahaha. What do you think? Terrible Idea?

Happy Eating!

Juice Fast: Day 3

We made it this far!
I'm ashamed to admit I'm a little surprised I've made it. Something you may know about me is how much I love food! I mean, I LOVE food. Sure, I don't eat anything to do with animals but I love the food I eat.

Juice... isn't food.
It's good, or I should say, it can be good.
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Juice Feast: Day 2

Menu:

Breakfast Juice - Blueberries, Spinach, Cucumber, Parsley
Lunch Juice - Tomato, Carrot, Celery, Avocado

Afternoon Snack Juice - Apple, Orange
Dinner Juice - Cabbage, Zucchini, Apple

Evening Green Tea with Mint
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Juice Fast: Day 1

Chris and I watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead the other night. The romance in our movie date nights is palpable. It's a good film and I recommend you check it out. It's a documentary about a man that heals himself of an autoimmune disease using juice. He does a juice fast for 60 days. 

Chris was inspired.
You read that right! Not me, Chris! Chris decided he'd like to do a juice fast. I'm weary but I'm down. So at 12:30am that night we ordered a juicer online and here we are... Juice Fast Day One.
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