Instead of posting mundane lists of what I've eaten every day, I've decided to post recipes that have potential. I've realized very quickly that I can succeed at this, but only if I'm diligent and slightly creative about preparing foods ahead of time. To that end, I made my second visit to Trader Joe's this week and stocked up on those Snickerdoodles (for my daily treat), some hummus & carrots (for snacking because it seems like eating nuts for a salty fix probably isn't a good idea in large quantities), and quinoa (adding whole grain variety to the brown rice of which I'm bound to quickly tire.) Now onto the good stuff. Recipes!
Breakfast or anytime snack salad (without lettuce!)
-1 cucumber, seeded & chopped
-1/4 cup TJ's rosemary-flavored dried cranberry & pecan mix
-1 can of beans (I used wax beans for variety, but easily black beans, chickpeas, etc. would work)
-1 Bosc pear, chopped
Vinaigrette:
-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1 tsp tarragon mustard (any mustard will work, this is what I had at home)
-salt & pepper to taste
Directions: Whisk the dressing ingredients together, then add all the chopped goodies into it and mix it all up.
Surprisingly, this salad keeps really well. I had it fresh yesterday for breakfast, and then again today. I was expecting a watery mess in the plastic container when I opened it up this morning, but it was all in there, looking pretty and pristine. The pecans got a little soggy, but the rest of the salad actually tasted better today than yesterday! I have a little bit left, and I'll probably eat that tomorrow for breakfast. I should also give a shout-out to my sister-in-law, because she makes delicious, creative salads like this all the time, and yes, I was actually paying attention.
Arugula pesto
-2 bunches fresh Arugula, washed and roughly chopped
-1/2 cup walnuts
-3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
-1/2 lemon
-1/4 cup olive oil
-salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Put the arugula, walnuts, & garlic into a food processor or blender, add the olive oil and whir away. Once it's processed into a coarse paste, add salt, pepper, and lemon juice to your desired taste, and blend together once more to incorporate all the ingredients.
I made a mistake with this one - I didn't want to add too much oil, so I started with some water, but as this particular leafy green is pretty viscous on its own, I realized that I didn't need to add anything at all. Next time. Otherwise, it came out really well, and I am quite happy with the results. This made a big batch of pesto, but I plan to use it pretty much the way I would use regular Genovese pesto. I like to stir it into soups for added flavor, and I'm planning to stir it into some brown rice or quinoa tonight for dinner with some sauteed green beans. Should be pretty tasty. Another word of warning, this pesto may taste a bit raw depending on the greens you use (rocket salad mix uses baby leaves which aren't so pungent - I had grown-up arugula leaves), so it's probably a good plan to put it into something towards the very end of the cooking time to take the edge off.
PS - I'll try to post some pics in the next edition to make this blog a bit more interesting! I just can't believe I've made it to Day 3 without having any major set-backs.
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