Super Foods....Smoothies and Spinach Salads

After running this weekend, I decided to make some healthy lunch/snack items to eat so I will get strong and awesome.

Ever since my first job as a smoothie maker at Creative Juices when I was 16, I have been obsessed with smoothies.  There is an art to it.  I recently decided that buying frozen fruit is expensive.  So instead I have been buying a can of crushed pineapple and then freezing it in individual sandwich bags to use in my smoothies.  It works very well and since the pineapple is crushed, you don't get big chunks in your smoothie.  The key to smoothie making is making sure you have blended everything together perfectly.  Feel free to take the blender cup off the blender and shake it around if things aren't blending properly.  Chunks are bad.  Your smoothie is done blending when your smoothie spins around in a circle that dips into the middle (while the blender is still going).  Like the bottom of the blender is sucking down your smoothie in a circular motion.  You will know it when you see it.  Trust me.  OK onward.

Women's Health Smoothie....
-1 small container of vanilla yogurt (6-8 oz)
-a splash of cranberry juice (or any juice really)
-1/3 of a frozen banana
-1/5 of a can of crushed pineapple (frozen in little plastic baggies, throw away bag though, don't blend)

Blend it up until it's smooth (see above) and drink it out of a beer glass (if you want to and you have a bunch of beer glasses).  Good stuff.

Then I decided to make a spinach quinoa salad.  Spinach is a super food and all.  The key to this salad is this......

Jarred grilled veggies.  You can get these at Harris Teeter (in a smaller jar, near the canned vegetables, might be roasted instead of grilled) or at Costco in this giant jar that I have.  This jar has zucchini, red peppers, eggplant and artichokes in a vinegar and oil mix.

Power Salad

-cooked quinoa

-jarred grilled veggies

-balsamic vinaigrette (whisk canola or olive oil, a spoonful of mustard, a spoonful of honey, and some balsamic vinegar together-just add stuff until you like the taste and consistency or just mix any oil and vinegar together to get some sort of dressing to mix in)

-bag of baby spinach

Mix the cooked quinoa with some of the chopped veggies (add in some of the oil from the jar of vegetables for extra flavor) and then add some vinaigrette.  Then get a large bowl of baby spinach and add some of the quinoa mixture to the top.  Mix it so that the spinach gets coated with the quinoa vinaigrette mix.  Good stuff.

If you make and eat these two recipes you will grow up to be healthy and strong.  Probably.  Maybe. 

Do you like spinach salads and smoothies?

What do you eat that makes you feel healthy?

The Best Food I Made This Weekend-Shrimp, Avocado and Tomato Salad with Quinoa

I made several food items this weekend but my favorite was the Shrimp, Avocado, Tomato and Quinoa Salad that I made Sunday.  I got the inspiration from this salad I found on Pinterest then I made some changes and additions.

I forgot to upload the photos I took so here is a photo of my inspiration
salad from here.  Mine had quinoa though.

Shrimp, Avocado and Tomato Salad with Quinoa and Lime Vinaigrette
1/2 pound of shrimp (I like easy peel)
cumin
chili powder
garlic salt
olive oil-for cooking shrimp
1/2 cup quinoa
1 small lime
2 tablespoons olive oil (can vary depending on how you like your vinaigrette)
sugar
2 small avocado's (or 1 large), cut into small bite sized pieces
a cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 small red onion, chopped

1-Peel shrimp and sprinkle with a little cumin, chili powder and garlic salt.  Cook these in the olive oil and set aside to cool.  Once cooled, cut the shrimp into smaller pieces.
2-Cook quinoa per directions and let cool
3-Make a vinaigrette by whisking together the juice of one lime, the olive oil, a couple sprinkles of cumin, chili powder and garlic salt.  Add a small sprinkle of sugar.  You can adjust this all to your own taste and preference.  I mix it and taste it and add more as I go.
4-Add veggies to the vinaigrette and then add in the shrimp and quinoa once they've cooled some.  Mix everything together and refrigerate before serving.

This is a very refreshing and healthy summer salad!

What's your favorite summer salad/dish?

Potato-less Salad...

The other night I found myself with an abundance of cauliflower.  I was going to make this broccoli/cauliflower salad but the broccolli appeared to be pretty old so I tossed it.  So I was left with cauliflower.  I decided to 'google' it up and find something I could make with cauliflower and the stuff I already had in my house.  I really wanted to make this roasted cauliflower soup but I didn't have half of those ingredients.  Then I found this recipe.  To be honest with you, I thought it sounded kind of gross but it was pretty much the only thing I had most of the ingredients to make.  So I went for it.

It's basically a potato salad but instead of using potatoes, you use cauliflower.  I had to make a few changes and substitution (took out the hard-boiled eggs, cut the mayo down, etc) and I know many of you are going to think this is really gross but I actually ended up liking it.  I would definitely use it as a potato salad subsitution at a picnic or what not.

Cauliflower Salad (adapted from here )
1 head of cauliflower (rinsed and cut in to bite sized peices)
handful of frozen peas
1/2 red onion chopped
2 dill pickle spears chopped
1/2 cup of mayo
1/4 cup mustard (any kind but I used honey mustard because I like it a little sweet)
salt and pepper

1-Boil the cauliflower for 10 minutes until it's tender
2-Mix the mustard, mayo and salt and pepper together
3-Add everything else and mix

So, this wasn't bad for a kitchen experiement (again, I know some of you will think this sounds disgusting).  And I didn't have to waste my cauliflower. 

Have you ever made something weird just to use up ingredients you had in the pantry?

Vegan Quinoa Salad

L-Fab decided that I should make some sort of salad with chickpeas in it.  So I went a head and decided to make a vegan recipe this week.  I went with my old standby vegetarian grain, quinoa.  This is similar to a salad I made before but I went ahead and took out the cheese and added some other healthy stuff.

Vegan Quinoa Salad-
1 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth or water
2 roasted red peppers (I used the jarred kind)
cherry tomatoes (a handful)
1 medium sized cucumber
1 can chickpeas (or less, probably less)
1/2 of a medium sized red onion
4 teaspoon olive oil
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 of a lemon
4 teaspoons honey mustard (I used Maille, I love that stuff)
2 teaspoons minced garlic

1-Cook the quinoa according to directions in the broth or water.  (My quinoa said to use 2 parts liquid to 1 part quinoa and to put them both in the pan at the same time and bring up to a boil.  Then turn down to a simmer, cover, and wait for the liquid to evaporate which was about 15 minutes)
2-Chop up all the veggies (ie-quarter or halve the tomatoes, chop the cucumber, red pepper and onion into small pieces) while you are waiting for the quinoa to cook.
3-Mix the olive oil, vinegar, juice from the lemon, honey mustard and garlic to make a dressing.
4-Then mix your quinoa, veggies, chick peas, and dressing together.

I chilled mine for about an hour before serving.  The only change I would make would be less chick peas.  Apparently I do not like chick peas that much.  I mean some are ok but a whole can was too much for me.  As far as the dressing goes, I just mixed the ingredients until I liked how it tastes.  If you don't like it sweet you can use regular mustard or change the ingredients based on your taste preferences.

OK, so this has to be healthy, right?
Do you ever make vegan dishes?
Does cheese really make everything better or is some stuff ok without it?

OMG and who is super excited for the LIVE 30 Rock episode tonight and the return of Jan on The Office?  I am!

Mini Greek Pita Pizzas

I had some hummus left over from the wine fest/picnic that I went to this weekend so I decided to make something Greek/Mediterranean themed out of it. I like the idea of combining cultures to make a new dish. Instead of having a traditional Italian themed pizza with mozzarella and tomatoes I made Greek Pizza with Hummus, Feta, and Greek Salad on it.

I saw these mini pita pockets and the grocery store and knew I had to try them. I love mini stuff.

Mini Greek Pita Pizza's
Mini Pitas or Regular Sized Pitas
Olive Oil
Pre-made Hummus (or you can make your own)
Lettuce-of your choice (I used baby romaine leaves)
Tomato
Cucumber
Red Onion
Feta Cheese

-Split pitas in half and drizzle a little olive oil on them. Toast them at 400 degree F for about 10 minutes. Just watch them to make sure they don't burn.
-Let them cool for a couple minutes and then top them with hummus. I had five pepper fire roasted hummus. It was really good. Also spicy.
-Make a Greek salad with the lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion and feta cheese. You can add those Greek Olives if you have to or any other vegetable you want.
-Toss salad with your choice of Greek Dressing. I used Girard's Greek Feta Dressing.
-Top Toasted Pita's with some Greek Salad.
-Enjoy!

Do you like Greek Food?
What is your favorite non-traditional Pizza?

Last Chicken Post For Awhile aka How To Make Some Pretty Awesome Chicken Salad.........

I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons I am married today is because every now and then I take some time to rip apart a rotisserie chicken and make this delicious chicken salad for my husband. That sentence sounds kind of gross. I don't actually rip apart the chicken. I just tear pieces of the breast meat into small bits. I prefer to make this on New Years Day (my husband's Birthday) or on Sundays b/c Harris Teeter sells cooked rotisserie chickens for like $4 dollars (something like that) a piece. (This week I actually used regular chicken breasts and cooked them, ya know b/c of that HT chicken sale I keep talking about.)

Good Chicken Salad (adapted from a recipe that my mom got from somewhere)

-1 Rotisserie chicken (or a couple cooked chicken breasts)
-chopped celery (include some leaves, they add flavor)
-toasted almond slithers (you can buy a bag of almonds and toast them in a little butter or oil over the stove, get extra, I always, always burn the first round)
-dried cranberries
-mayo
-honey
-salt and pepper

Now I don't ever measure this exactly. But the idea is to get a bunch of chicken in a bowl. Then add however much of celery, cranberries and almonds that you like and then coat that with a honey mayo mixture. I would say about 2 parts mayo to 1 part honey. I mix these two things together until I like how it tastes. Also I like sweet stuff. Some people don't like sweet stuff that is traditionally savory (again, Beezus5, I am looking at you). So mix the honey and mayo together until you like the taste and then mix it in to everything else. Alter the amount depending on how "dressingy" you want you chicken salad to be. Add some S&P for extra flavoring.

So anyway, if you've been dating your boyfriend for like 3 years and he enjoys sweet savory stuff, make him this chicken salad and you are on the road to a happy marriage. Seriously. Or if you are single and ready to mingle go ahead and get some Tupperware and head on out to the bar with this. Or if you not in the market for a husband or are already taken just go ahead and take this to your next work function and or Easter Lunch.

****Disclaimer******-this stuff doesn't work on people who don't like "sweet" chicken salad

Do you like chicken salad?

Do you like sweet chicken salad?
Do you have a recipe that made your boyfriend propose to you?

Danger! Garlic Overload.

So my husband goes out of town a few times a month for work and when he goes out I like to experiment with food. So the other night I decided to try to make some garlic salad dressing because I had some that was really good at a party I went to. I think I may have slightly overdone it with the garlic but it was still pretty good. Tangy. Maybe a little too tangy. But still. Tangy. So if you are brave and if you are home alone you might want to try this. You will probably smell like garlic for hours though so seriously wait until your husband, boyfriend, roommate or special friend goes out of town. If you live alone, you are good to go. Garlic is good for you, right?

Super Garlicky Salad Dressing (makes about 4 servings)

1 clove garlic

1 squirt mustard

2 tablespoons oil

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

a little salt

Wisk it all together and toss with your favorite Salad ingredients.

I also decided that for some reason radishes would be amazing in a salad. They were ok. I think I like them better when they are sliced super thin. The mushrooms and peas were good on the salad though. Frozen peas are my friend. I like to add them into all sorts of stuff. Regular Salad, Pasta Salad, Curry Dishes, Pastas, etc.

So do you like to get crazy when your roommate/boyfriend/husband is out of town?

What do you do?

How do you feel about garlic? Radishes?