A Blueberry Tossed Salad (to make before blueberry season is over!)

August 16th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (Comments Off on A Blueberry Tossed Salad (to make before blueberry season is over!))

I am a salad lover and I love to make awesome salads – but when I’m going to make a salad, any “plan” I have usually consists of:

Step 1: rummage through the fridge for vegetables

Step 2: throw it all together

Step 3: eat

Some plan, eh?  Salads (and smoothies) are just not something I think to use a recipe for – but this also means I often make the same thing over and over again.

Orange Juice in Salad Dressing

January 14th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (8 Comments)

Oranges show up on the list of 44 affordable healthy food under $1 and I have to agree.  When it comes to saving money on produce, the best (and sort of obvious) tip I have is to buy what’s in season.  Oranges are showing up front and center in the produce section right now, coming in by the truck load from California and Florida (as there are no oranges trees in upstate NY, also sort of obvious).

Shrimp Ceviche on Salad

October 22nd, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (4 Comments)

“Ceviche” is a relatively new word to me.  Wikipedia says ceviche is a seafood dish marinaded in citrus juices – and I’m with ya so far.

But Google Chrome and it’s squiggly red line under the word Ceviche is suggesting I use the word “Crevice”, which is not especially helpful because until just a few moments ago, I wasn’t even sure how to pronounce “ceviche”.  Now I’m going to go to a fancy party some day and say “May I please have the Shrimp Crevice?” and people are going choke on their caviar and/or snort Cristal out their nose.  Thanks for nothing, Google Chrome.

I’ve had a number of conversations with some friends and family about breakfast recently, and so I decided to put together a collection of morning food photos from the past few months.  Once upon a time I ate overnight oats for breakfast every day!  As I’ve mentioned more than once lately, I’m going the grain free route most of the time and don’t even miss my beloved oats, cold cereal or cinnamon raisin Ezekiel toast with almond butter and banana.

(This [sorta scary] blog post is a good but lengthy explanation of why I’ve chosen to follow a mostly grain free lifestyle.  The Paleo Solution, Wheat Belly and The Primal Blueprint are loaded with convincing info and studies too.)

Sardine Salad (Be Not Afraid!)

June 3rd, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (9 Comments)

There’s been a lot of talk about juicing around here lately.  I think it’s time we veer wildly off the juice beaten path to talk about sardines.  Sardines!  Aren’t you excited?  Well get excited!  Sardines make a fanastic salad!  So fantastic that I’m going to keep increasing the amount of exclamation marks I use when I talk about them throughout this entire post!!  See!!!  Isn’t this getting exciting?!!!!

Sardine Salad with Olive Oil and Lime

No?  I suppose that was getting a little out of hand.  But I am still excited about the sardine salad I made for lunch yesterday, it was surprisingly good!

“More Greens” Doesn’t Have to Mean “More Salad”

March 30th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (Comments Off on “More Greens” Doesn’t Have to Mean “More Salad”)

We just said goodbye to the last of our friends from a good sized potluck dinner gathering here tonight.  Lots of good food with good friends – the only green leafy food in sight tonight came from the Spinach Artichoke Dip that I made, but it was devoured before I even remembered to get out my camera for the picture I’d planned to take.

Before there were friends and food tonight, there was lunch this afternoon.  Knowing we had a big dinner party ahead of us, I kept lunch on lighter and greener side.  I’ve got a long run on the agenda for tomorrow for half marathon training, and so my favorite day-before-a-long-run salad was in order!

Taco Salad

March 21st, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (1 Comments)

I made beef chili this morning.  It smelled so good that I decided to throw together an impromptu taco salad for breakfast.

Yes, taco salad for breakfast.  Stop looking at me like that.  You don’t have to eat this for breakfast if non-standard breakfast foods aren’t your thing.  We can still be friends.

Taco Salad

I made chili with grass-fed ground beef, carrots, onions and that leftover jar of Garlic Roasted Garlic sauce in my fridge from Naan pizza night.  Piled this morning on to a bed of mixed greens, some shredded colby jack cheese and avocado with a few tortilla chips on the side.  It’s likely (OK, a certainty) that a few more tortilla chips were snagged from the bag before I put it away.

What a Salad Mess Can Teach Us

March 19th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (8 Comments)

I love eating salad out of this big blue bowl.

Blue Salad Bowl

It was a GO! GO! GO! kind of day, one of those days that I was very appreciative of the stock pile of greens prepped and ready to go because it made a green lunch really easy.

My salad might not be very pretty, and it certainly wasn’t anything new or exciting.  So let’s dig for a deeper message in the bottom of that salad bowl today. Like a fortune cook or one of those thought provoking messages on a Yogi tea bag.  Except we’re going to read lettuce leaves instead of tea leaves.

Pizza Night

March 15th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (5 Comments)

It’s homemade pizza night!

Wait, scratch that.  It’s EASY homemade pizza night.

Nann Pizza Fixing Overview

A couple packages of Naan (Indian flat bread) for some fast, deliciously soft pizza crusts, veggie toppings, tomato sauce, shredded mozzerella cheese, and a glass of Cabernet in the corner up there. (For me, not for the pizza.)

Muir Glen Pasta Sauce

Pasta sauce, pizza sauce. Tomato, tomato. Garlic roasted garlic sauce? That sounds like it belongs on pizza to me.

Diced peppers and mushrooms for a couple of grown up veggie pizzas.

Veggie Prep Sauteed Peppers and Mushrooms

Green Today, Green Tomorrow

March 11th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (4 Comments)

Greens To Go. Thank you Daylight Savings Time for NOT SAVING ME ANY TIME AT ALL.

Green Smoothie to Go

OK, that’s not true. I had plenty of time for breakfast this morning, I just ran out of time. This is why God invented Travel Mugs. For people like me who continue to underestimate how long it will take to get all of the children out the door on time.

Today’s green goodness was a blend of orange juice, spinach, cottage cheese, broccoli and frozen strawberries.  Much like this smoothie, except without the banana – only because I forgot it, not because I’m holding a grudge against bananas or anything.