Ok so last night I tried another recipe. Actually the whole meal was full of new things! But it was planned around another salad. I'm trying to find my inner adult and really love salads. A close friend of ours Brad, came to have dinner with us, so it was perfect to get input from another set of taste buds. This recipe is one I found online. I'm going to put it up how I think it would be best, but don't worry, I'll let you know what changes I made.
Strawberry Pecan Salad
Ingredients:
2 T. white sugar
2 T. olive oil
4 t. honey
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1 t. lemon juice
2 cups torn salad greens
10 Strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Directions
1. In a small bowl whisk together the sugar, olive oil, honey, vinegar and lemon juice. Set aside
2. Toss salad greens, strawberries and pecans. Try to keep the strawberries from settling to the bottom. drizzle dressing throughout and toss again.
Refrigerate for up to 2 hours before serving or serve immediately.
yield: 2 servings
What you're probably wondering is why on earth you should try this salad when you most likely already have a great strawberry salad recipe that gets great reviews. Let me tell you why. I love strawberries. More than most other things. But somehow most strawberry nutty salads I've tried seem to fall flat. I never knew why until I tasted this delight.
I think its the dressings, that always seemed a bit too vinegar-ry for my own taste. It never seemed quite right to have natures sweetest fruit mixed in with a bitter dressing! Because of the generous amount of honey and sugar in this great dressing I felt the sweetness was never compromised. And yet the apple cider vinegar adds a slight punch. Its great!
One additional thing called for in the recipe (which i purposely left out) was one avocado, pitted and sliced. The Three of us (Brent, Brad and myself) unanimously decreed, yes decreed that the avocados were mostly useless here. Their creamy unobtrusive flavor just couldn't hack it when paired with the strawberries and that dressing I've just gushed about. Do what you wish.
Of course I couldn't just feed two big, hungry men just a strawberry salad, and I didn't have much time to plan ahead for this one, so I tried to think of a quick, easy something to complete the meal. I went with Garlic bread (a staple in the Houston home) and decided to try something I learned of on my mission for the main course.
Now don't get too excited its not cow's feet or adobo (a recipe i will share later). Its a simple essential with an extra dose of simple. You may have had it millions of times, but I never have, and lets face it, I'm the one in charge here!
I can't help giggling because I've got you all worked up for this and by now you're thinking "my goodness just spit it out! Alright:
Spaghetti noodles tossed in olive oil and Parmesan cheese.
I told you it was basic.
Brent was a little apprehensive and unbelieving, but after adding some salt and pepper, he really enjoyed it!
To me it was the perfect pasta for this salad. Its best to keep your food from fighting after all and when you've got a salad with some spunk I prefer a pasta without it. Without being too heavy or overloading our taste buds we enjoyed a great meal and had a great time. With such quick preparation time -boil noodles, butter bread and whisk dressing, this is a easy meal I'm going to repeat again soon!
la petite femme
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Autumn Apple and Spinach Salad
This whole blog idea actually started about two weeks ago when my coworker Janeen brought in a salad to work. This wasn't just any salad however. I guess i have to tell you how I feel about salads.
Salads look okay, taste better and are really good for you. But they never induce cravings. A salad is the food version of a good workout. Always a good idea. Rarely a fun idea.
But Janeen's salad not only looked okay, it actually smelled really good! I wanted some, and for a salad with no chicken in it, that's saying something!
So of course I asked for the recipe and she brought it the next day!
Autumn Apple and Spinach Salad
Janeen substituted blue cheese for feta and Brent and I both really liked that. She also suggested adding 1/2 tsp. olive oil and 1/8 tsp. vinegar to the dressing. worked out great for me! And of course I probably doubled the cheese. What? I like cheese!
One note: I used Gala apples and I would not reccomend it. They're a bit too sweet and the flavor didn't flow. I'd stick to the recommended apples in the recipe.
Another note: In case you didn't see it at the bottom a serving of this salad is only a point and a half for weight watchers! I think it makes a tasty, lightweight side, or 2 servings and a small piece of toast is a filling meal!
Final note: Brent really liked this salad, which i was pleasantly surprised because lets face it, its a pretty girly salad! But he has requested that the next time I try chicken instead of apples. Of course that would change the Nutritional info, but i think it would be a fun easy way to mix it up!
So after trying that great recipe I was inspired. (imagine a replay like in the windows seven commercials with a more beautiful version of myself) I wanted to try LOTS of new recipes and test them on my husband! I wanted to learn to make things other than EasyMac and Hamburger Helper! I wanted to BLOG!!
Whew! its still intense just typing about it.
Ok that's it, i officially blogged about something. Maybe next week I'll do it again!
la pettite femme
Salads look okay, taste better and are really good for you. But they never induce cravings. A salad is the food version of a good workout. Always a good idea. Rarely a fun idea.
But Janeen's salad not only looked okay, it actually smelled really good! I wanted some, and for a salad with no chicken in it, that's saying something!
So of course I asked for the recipe and she brought it the next day!
Autumn Apple and Spinach Salad
Janeen substituted blue cheese for feta and Brent and I both really liked that. She also suggested adding 1/2 tsp. olive oil and 1/8 tsp. vinegar to the dressing. worked out great for me! And of course I probably doubled the cheese. What? I like cheese!
One note: I used Gala apples and I would not reccomend it. They're a bit too sweet and the flavor didn't flow. I'd stick to the recommended apples in the recipe.
Another note: In case you didn't see it at the bottom a serving of this salad is only a point and a half for weight watchers! I think it makes a tasty, lightweight side, or 2 servings and a small piece of toast is a filling meal!
Final note: Brent really liked this salad, which i was pleasantly surprised because lets face it, its a pretty girly salad! But he has requested that the next time I try chicken instead of apples. Of course that would change the Nutritional info, but i think it would be a fun easy way to mix it up!
So after trying that great recipe I was inspired. (imagine a replay like in the windows seven commercials with a more beautiful version of myself) I wanted to try LOTS of new recipes and test them on my husband! I wanted to learn to make things other than EasyMac and Hamburger Helper! I wanted to BLOG!!
Whew! its still intense just typing about it.
Ok that's it, i officially blogged about something. Maybe next week I'll do it again!
la pettite femme
What the heck am I doing?!
So I'm not a blogger. I'm not a gardener or a chef or a seamstress.
But then I got married and now i find myself feeling slightly guilty for most of these things. And apparently the solution I've come up with is to blog about all the things I'm trying to figure out how to do.
This may completely bore everyone. It most likely will go unread. But who knows it may turn out to be a fun, constructive way for me to spend time on the computer that doesn't involve "Farmville" :) Honestly I haven't played Farmville in at least 6 months so i think I'm recovering well.
My plan is to post up recipies I try out and mention whether or not it was a complete disaster. And any other homemakery (one of my own words) I attempt. Please share ideas and feedback too, then I'll know someone actually cares.
But then I got married and now i find myself feeling slightly guilty for most of these things. And apparently the solution I've come up with is to blog about all the things I'm trying to figure out how to do.
This may completely bore everyone. It most likely will go unread. But who knows it may turn out to be a fun, constructive way for me to spend time on the computer that doesn't involve "Farmville" :) Honestly I haven't played Farmville in at least 6 months so i think I'm recovering well.
My plan is to post up recipies I try out and mention whether or not it was a complete disaster. And any other homemakery (one of my own words) I attempt. Please share ideas and feedback too, then I'll know someone actually cares.
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