Salad ingredient found in the back of the fridge:)

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Did you have a great weekend with your family, especially your mom? Well, if you are like me, my mom doesn't live in the same town so it was a simple phone call (and a card sent earlier in the week) for me! I know she was a bit lonely but I reminded her we would be visiting in 2 weeks and that made her a bit more chipper:) Other than my Sunday call home, my weekend was pretty lazy I must say. I worked both days and after that I had very little motivation or energy! So, it was just the usual - work, grocery shop, clean, coffee. Ry is almost done school which means we are moving back to the coast soon! Right now all I want to do is to move back because we finally get to live in our new house we bought 9 months ago. Yet, I really like the lifestyle and easy vibe that Nelson is all about. I know I'm going to hate the traffic and busyness but I'm planning on spending a lot of time in the woods this summer so I won't go through major withdrawals right away..lol! We have moved so much since we got together 4 years ago its not even funny! So, moving back to OUR house is such a relief because we can finally settle down and make the house a home!

On the Transformation Contest front, I just wanted to thank you all for your loving and supportive comments! Wow, I didn't expect such love in return and I'm feeling truly blessed! So, Thank you from the bottom of my heart:)

Things are going pretty well! I've been making a food journal and have been really conscious about eating. Am I really hungry?, when will I have time to eat next?, can I make it a more healthier choice?..etc! And I've really noticed something...I am a comfort eater and I have these thoughts that I should eat more so that I physically feel stuffed. I've been working on eating until I am satisfied and so far its been okay (I am very determined so that helps). I am not saying it has been easy...no change is easy right away, but I want to train myself to feel comfortable when I am satisfied..not when I'm unbuttoning my pants! So, I'm learning a lot and there is already change in my body, no joke! I don't own a scale, but by the feel of my jeans I'm down some inches which is pretty cool. I even made a fun cover for my workout journal. I got the idea from Shannonmarie who created a notebook to help keep her cupcake recipes handy. Thank you Shannonmarie!

I took a bunch of old magazines I had laying around and cut out inspiring words. I just taped them to the front. Well, the hubby helped tape them to the front. Ever tried doing a craft project with your loved one?....well, let's just say it strengthens the relationship...lol!

As for the food portion of it all, I'm keeping it pretty basic. I eat a lot of veggies and fruit, a small amount of grains ( mainly quinoa), lots of sprouts, Vega, lentils, nuts and seeds, and lots of healthy foods in between! If you want to check out my food journal you can do so by going to fitday.com and I'm under contagioushealth. For workouts, I'm going to be doing bodyweight workouts only for the next 4 weeks because my gym pass expired and I'm not paying $68 for a month. Doesn't that seem like a crazy price to you? To me it's insane for one month at the gym! I'm used to paying between $20-$40 a month so I just couldn't fork over the dough for the last 4 weeks, and besides, its getting so gorgeous out and who wouldn't want to workout with this view?...

The beach...not me..lol!

As I'm always on the hunt for great, nutritious salad ingredients, I couldn't believe that there was a wonderful food hanging out in the back of my fridge. No, its not a new craze to eat moldy kale! It's all about the picked beets!! Have you tried them? like/dislike? I literally grew up with everything pickled -cukes, beans, carrots, beets, cabbage and I'm always raiding my grandma's pantry for something in a jar when I'm there visiting! When I was looking for something else to jazz up my salad yesterday I was so shocked to find the pickled beets shoved to the back of the fridge, how dare me! I immediately brought forth the jars and opened one up! Yumm!! My mom knows how to treat those beets right I tell ya! I began scooping them out of the jar ever so carefully as beets = stains and added them to my salad. Oh yum! These were so delicious mixed with my romaine, carrots, sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, and even the avocado that was hiding in there!

MMMmmm..the taste it brought to this salad was amazing and I loved how it stained my miso dressing pink:)

Oh the goodness! Seriously I could eat salads for every meal..yumm! Oh and here is someone who does actually eat them for breakie!


I know what I'm having for dinner! Have a wonderful rest of your day. I'm off soon to run to the beach and do my workout. It's hard to workout in public but with my tunes on and a lake to look at, I should be okay!

PS the lovely Averie is having a chia seed giveaway! You know you want some! This contest ends tomorrow (May 12th)

Pantry Dinner: two ways!

Happy Sunday!


Hope you are enjoying the last of your weekend! I had a great day which started out with some more stair climbing and then a trip to the gym. I was pretty lazy after that workout and so we hung around the house for a bit and then we rushed to Oso Negro for a cup of java as they were closing in an hour. The hubby and I like to sit and talk for at least that long so it was good we got there when we did. Not like its a far walk from our place...ten steps maybe? BONUS! I tried something kind of new this time. I stuck with the dandelion tea but I had steamed rice milk added. I really loved it and the flavors blended really well together. This is definitely a new favorite for me...yum!


I wanted to tell you about this amazing new salad I made. It was inspired by the lentil salad we picked up from the co-op on Friday night. I really wasn't in the mood to prepare anything so off to my favorite store it was! I usually just make your typical salad with greens, maybe some carrot, sprouts, and sometime avocado. Pretty much like this salad....

Yet, after eating the maple balsamic lentil from the coop I decided I needed to try a cooked bean/grain salad. So, as it was the end of the week my fridge and pantry were pretty bare but I gave it shot with what I had on hand. I used a half a cup of quinoa and some left over chickpeas. Then carrots, red cabbage, and broccoli were chopped in the food processor. I added about 2 cups worth of homemade sprouts, a half a cup of raisins, and a handful of nuts and seeds.

Now the dressing was the more experimental part. I went with some sesame oil, tahini, hoisen sauce, mustard, S&P. You are probably thinking that this combo would not go well at all.... I beg to differ:) I learned something from Russell James this week about how to combine flavors. You need sweet, acid, sour, and fat or F.A.S.S. So I went with this new knowledge and tried to make a dressing that would be close to the flavors we loved from the store-bought version. I came pretty close:)


Here it is all ready for the dressing! I used the red quinoa..in case you were wondering what those red, circle things were. I also added turmeric but it was a bit strong so I wouldn't recommend it as the flavors in my dressing were just right and so it threw it off just a touch.


All coated and ready to be devoured! Really loved crunch of all the veggies and how they blended with the soft, cooked grains.


I know this was supposed to be a Saturday pantry dinner but I cheated a little bit:) Because we loved this salad so much, we decided to pick up some maple syrup and balsamic vinegar during our shopping trip today to try the salad with the same ingredients they used in the store! Sunday afternoon I cooked up 1 cup of lentils I had on hand. For the veggies this time I added more greens and different types of veggies than Saturday's version. I added some of my favorite green of the week, swiss chard along with carrots, celery, beets, and green pepper.

Again I had to experiment with the dressing. I came up with something that was AWESOME! It was a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh lemon juice, mustard, S&P, and Italian herbs. We made a huge bowl worth so that Ry could take it to school tomorrow:)


Here is everything ready for some dressing! Sorry the last pict isn't too scrumptious but take a look at the finish product...

This salad needs a close-up!

The hubby loved this salad so much he decided he would help me make it. Yep, I think all this foodie stuff is rubbing off...just a touch...lol! It was really nice having an extra pair of hands in the kitchie:)

I hope you will give this salad a try. I'm sure you and your family will love it!

Chilled bean/grain salad

I Cup (or more) of your favorite beans or grains (lentils, chick peas, quinoa, or you could keep it raw and use the sprouted versions)
Chop up enough veggies and greens that will satisfy the amount you are serving. I used the food processor for the carrots and beets and I just roughly chopped the pepper and celery.
Add in 1/2 Cup raisins, cranberries, or currrents
Handful of pecans or seeds ( we used a handful of trail mix)
Add in your favorite sprouts, the more the better:)

Hoisin tahini dressing

Mix equal portions of the tahini and hoisin sauce. Add in a few tablespoons of oil ( I used sesame) then add some mustard to taste. This is one of those recipes that you will have to adjust the ingredients in order to satisfy your taste. You may like a more sweeter taste ( more hoisen sauce) or maybe a little more tang (more mustard). I found the tahini added some complexity as only tahini can:) Finish it off with some salt and pepper.


Maple balsamic dressing

Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil along with the juice of half a lemon. Then add in equal parts balsamic and maple syrup. Taste the dressing and adjust to your taste. Again, depending on how you like your dressings, you will want to add more of the vinegar or the sweetener. Then add in the mustard slowly, tasting after each addition to get the right taste for you. Add in some italian seasonings and S&P to taste.



Have a great rest of your evening! I'm off to watch some True Blood..quite the crazy show I might add but I'm wondering where its all going??? I'm going to be doing some of this as well....


PS Averie is having a Tazo tea giveaway on her blog:) Go check it out, its an awesome prize:)