Tag: Salads

Green Machine

Sadie2 Comments

This Summer I’m surviving largely on salads.  I have extreemly limited cooking capabilities in my kitchen, not even a microwave, combined with zero cooking energy when I get home from work and the gym.  I usually get home around 8pm, so I need something ready to go because I’m not waiting around for a delivery, or trying to prepare anything.  I’m not a fast food burger kind of gal, so my go-to options are usually a pre-made salad, salad bar, or soup from the prepared foods section of a grocery store; or Panera.  Both are quick, easy, delicious, and affordable.

Confession: I suck at buffets.  For three reasons.  1. Sometimes I take the phrase “all you can eat” too seriously.  2. I don’t pick a theme or flavor profile, and while I love a good garbage salad, I manage to pick opposing ingredients.   I usually start in one direction, like greens/craisons/pecans/blue cheese/apples, then I see salsa and I want to turn around and make a southwestern salad so I just add it to the pile.  I have the same problem at fro yo places.  3. I need to remind myself to add nutritional value with a variety of veggies and protein.  Just cheese, nuts, and lettuce does not a healthy salad make.

To trouble shoot my problems, I do my best to take a couple warmup laps around the salad bar to decide the optimal combination based on the ingredients available (this tip is in every healthy eating publication ever).  And I also try to pile on the lettuce so it will fill me up and add negligible calories, making the “all you can eat” a little safer for me.

This summer I also have a decent salad bar at work, which I treat myself to once or twice a week (otherwise I try to bring my lunch).  I feel kind of nerdy though because I love it, and a lot of my co-workers see the salad bar as the boring option for lunch.

My Favorites:

Salad Bar: Whole Foods ( I typically go with, romaine, fresh spinach, pecans, blue cheese, craisons, squash, cucumbers, black beans, red onions, maybe bell peppers, and some oil & vinegar)

Fast Casual Salad: Thai Chopped Chicken Salad at Panera

btw, have you seen the new to-go containers?

Salad ingredients I love: edemame, craisons, salsa, red onions

Salad ingredients I hate: olives, avacado, bacon, egg

Fave Dressing: oil and vinegar or a lite raspberry vinagrette

Least Fave Dressing: french

At the moment I’m favoring the cheese/nut/fruit type of salad, but I’m also a sucker for a good greek or southwestern salad.

What kind of salad are you loving right now?

Don’t get yourself into a fig jam…

CarrieLeave a comment

Fig jam is of my favorite condiments to have on hand is a tiny, treasured jar of fig jam.  In fact in my pantry right now are multiple brands of fig jam.  I think that you really can’t go wrong with fig jam because you can find a use for any variety.  I find that brands of fig jam very on density and sweetness.  Here are three of the varieties that I have in my pantry and their uses are listed below as well.

The Harvest Song fig jam has a loose consistency and is not as sweet as other fig jams.  I like to use it for fig jam vinaigrette.  All you need to do to make this is mix together the following ingredients: 1/2 c fig jam, 3 tbs apple cider vinegar, 1/4 c vegetable oil, and pinch of salt.  Yesterday I tossed this vinaigrette over greens with roasted butternut squash, sweet onion, beets, and goat cheese.  It was delicious.  Another variation is to toss this vinaigrette over arugula, sweet onion, pear slices, and honey goat cheese.

The Dalmatia Fig Jam comes in this orange-infused variety as well as a regular variety.  I think this orange-infused variety is great for spreading on a slice of toast or filling butter cookies.  It is also great for making crostini.  Take a slice of toasted bread or a rustic cracker and spread it with honey goat cheese.  Then top it off with a dab of fig jam and you have a great appetizer that everyone will enjoy!

The Mitica fig jam is a great addition to any cheese plate.  It is great paired with manchego cheese especially.  Of course these are just my suggestions, you might find many other uses for the varieties of fig jam as well.  Don’t be afraid to try them!  I’m watching Martha Stewart right now and she’s finding uses for parmesan cheese.  Now that I bought Silpat sheets I want to make parmesan crisps to go with the fig jam vinaigrette salads that I often make.  You can find inspiration anywhere…just look around and get out of that creative jam you’re in!