Whole Foods Inspired Layered Salad with Orange Ginger Dressing

Ok, I have a confession to make...

I got really, really excited about this salad.

But I live in a house full of boys.

Boys that like to eat, but who do NOT get excited about new recipes. Boo.

So after making these salads, I drove to my friend Mel's house so that I could show someone else this salad! So dorky! But for me, part of the joy of doing something fun is sharing that with people I love! So, poor Mel was accosted by me and my salad....

I stand by my excitement though. This salad is fabulous, healthy, filling, and convenient!

See? The dressing is in the bag inside the jar! You just pour the dressing onto the salad when you're ready to eat it, shake, and eat the salad right out of the jar! Super cool!

Whole Foods Inspired Layered Salad with Orange Ginger Dressing

From Oh She Glows

• 1 cup uncooked wheatberries (makes 2 & 1/4 cup cooked)
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa (makes 2.5 cups cooked)
• 1 cup edamame
• 1 cup diced carrots (about 2)
• 1.5 cups diced red pepper (1 large)
• 1.5 cups diced green pepper (1 large) (I used yellow because I think raw yellow is better than raw green)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley (I used cilantro, I'm not a huge parsley fan)
• Herbamare or kosher salt, to taste (I used sea salt)

Rinse and cook the wheatberries and the quinoa according to package directions.

I bought shelled edamamae, then cooked those as well.

Then chop all the veggies, and set up your assembly line!

for the dressing (makes four 1/4 cup servings):

• 2/3 cup 100% pure orange juice (I used freshly squeezed)
• 1/3 cup 100% pure apple juice
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp fresh minced ginger
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil (the original recipe didn't call for this, but I felt like it was needed to balance out the citrus)
• kosher salt, to taste (I used 1/4 tsp)

Your kitchen smells awesome when you're making this!!

I bagged the dressing in sandwich Ziplocs.

Layer the jars (I used wide mouthed quart jars so that there was room for the dressing, and to shake the salad) like this: 1/2 cup wheatberries, 1/4 cup yellow peppers, 1/4 cup red peppers, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/4 cup carrots, 2 Tb Parsley (or cilantro), 1/4 cup edamame. I added the bag of dressing right on top!

Deliciously amazing!! I added a bit of chopped avocado to the top! It was SO yummy!!!

Happy eating!

Freshly Roasted Beet, Gorgonzola, and Toasted Pecan Salad

Have you ever worked out really, really hard and then consumed a meal that barely hit your teeth? (If you are one of those people who eats like half a sandwich and then declares what an absolute pig you are, and how stuffed you feel, don't tell me that. I may mock you. And secretly envy you.)

Well, since I knew I was that hungry when I made this salad, I ate a few things beforehand, so that I could actually enjoy the salad, and....you know.....taste it.

So you are super lucky today, because you get a 2 for 1 special- a recipe, and a fresh beet-roasting tutorial. I know, I know. It's a dream come true.

I had one bunch of beets that I had purchased at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. I gave the beet greens to my mom, she loves to eat them. So I took a piece of foil and put it on a cookie sheet and plopped the fresh beets on the foil.

Then I drizzled them with a bit of olive oil.

Then wrapped them entirely with foil. I had been a bit stingy with the first piece, so I added another. Then, put them into a 350 degree oven for an hour or so.

I usually take them out of the oven and let them sit for another hour or so. Then open up the foil and let them cool down before you peel them. Peeling them is simple.

Basically, you grab the beet and sort of squeeze it, and the skin comes right off!!

The peeled beet

Then your hand looks all awesome and stained. What you should do at this point (this is especially fun if you have a teenager in the house) is go up to your kids and stick your beet-y hand in their face and yell AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Just to see what their reaction will be. Like I said, this is quite popular with teens. They love it. Oh wait. Maybe not. Maybe they get annoyed. Either way, it's good fun.

It's not messy when you use the foil, I just ball up the foil and throw it away. Often the cookie sheet doesn't even have any beet on it at all.

Then I slice the beets into rounds and keep them in a container to eat for the week with salads.

So now for the salad- I started with a bed of mixed greens:

Toasted a handful of pecans- stick them in a pan for a few minutes until they smell toasty and you can sort of see some oil on the outside of the nut.

I used 2 Tb of crumbled Gorgonzola cheese. That stuff tastes SO good.

And a few of the sliced beets! I also threw on a handful of dried cranberries. I love the saltiness of the cheese with the sweetness of the beets and cranberries. Mmmmmmmm...

I used this dressing- it's also GREAT with Ranch too. I think the Kraft Light dressings taste the best! You could also do a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil if you don't have dressing. But seriously, who doesn't have dressing?!

And if you've never had fresh beets, you should try them! They seem like they would be gross, but they're really tasty and good!

DINNER TONIGHT:

~Meatball Subs made with Make Ahead Meatballs

on French Bread Sandwich Rolls (and I use a few slices of Provolone or Jack cheese on each)

~Salad

~Watermelon

CRAVE-able Chinese Chicken Salad

This is one of those dinners that, when I make it, Wade, the boys, and MY DAD are stoked. My parents live next door, so my dad will join us for dinner occasionally. I will make a huge pile of this salad, and we very rarely have leftovers. It is tasty. Another reason I love this salad is because you can make it all ahead of time, and when it is time for dinner, you just have to toss all of the pre-prepared ingredients together!! I love that!

(Ok, seriously, I have got to lose my retro green Tupperware)

(This is not a chicken murder scene. That is soy sauce.) Sorry this pic is atrocious. So what I do is throw one large boneless, skinless chicken breast in the oven, with a sprinkle of soy sauce, and bake it, covered with foil, at 375 for about 45 minutes. Cut it and make sure it's done. After it's cool, shred it, and put it in the fridge for later.

Then you want to fry up some yummy, crispy, crunchy won ton strips for the salad. You can buy these in the produce section (Don't ask me why they're in the produce section. Also, don't ask the produce guy at my Stater Bros. He will just look at you as if to say, "lady, leave me alone!") They are usually next to the bean sprouts.

So, I use one full stack from the package. It comes with two full stacks. I slice the stack into 4 strips like this, and then heat up a few inches of oil in a frying pan. I drop a tiny piece of one of the strips in the oil, and if it immediately starts cooking and floats to the top, the oil is ready. fry them in 2 or 3 batches, and drain on a paper towel.

I let the kids steal some and act like I don't see. It makes up for the times I holler at them for no reason, right??

Here's my dressing recipe, I got it from an AWESOME lady that used to be a youth group leader at my church when I was in High School. Love you Linda! Here's what you need in case you can't read the photo:

• 1 Tb Sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 Tb rice vinegar
• 1 Tb sesame oil
• 1/4 cup salad oil (I used canola)

This is the sesame oil I use- it's from Trader Joe's. You can find sesame oil in the "Ethnic" section of your grocery store, if you don't have a Trader Joe's where you live. Also, you should move if you don't have a Trader Joe's where you live.

So I mix up all the dressing ingredients and stick that into the fridge also.

So at dinner time I take out my chicken

And my big old bowl of shredded lettuce (I usually use iceberg but it looked sketchy at the store, so I used romaine with a little cabbage thrown in), some slivered almonds, and the won ton strips. You could also add mandarin oranges and green onions, if you don't live with Wade.

So toss all the "stuff" together, then pour the dressing on and toss it again!

Yum!

So, today is grocery day! Thus far I have made it the last two budget cycles with sticking to my $250 (for a two-week period) grocery budget!! So I have kept to $500/month! This is REALLY exciting for me, because since I don't work to earn money, when I can reduce our spending I feel like I am sort of contributing to the household income. (Does that make sense? I feel like when I make the most of what we have, I am doing my part and I like that!) I have just started exploring more with coupon websites, but still haven't done a ton with it. I use coupons, but I know I could save more! I am going to really work on that this summer.

Have a great day!!

Make Ahead Lunch- Quinoa Greek Salad (what the heck is QUINOA?!)

Ok, I don't like to go overboard, but this salad ROCKS! It really is DELICIOUS! And it's full of healthy, good-for-you ingredients!

I love to have stuff in the fridge for lunch. Especially lately. I have had a little problem called "I keep gaining a pound here and there", and I have had to watch my calorie intake more strictly. When I get hungry, I can easily plow through 800-900 calories before I even come up for air if I don't have a healthy choice ready to consume. I like to have something that is packaged in individual servings, and can be ready to eat in a few minutes.

So, for this week, I made a batch of Quinoa Greek Salad. Have you heard of quinoa? Here's some information from Livestrong.com:

1. The Gold of the Incas

Over 5,000 years ago, high in the Andes mountains, the Incas began to cultivate quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) as one of their staple crops, believing that it gave power and stamina to their warriors. Quinoa was also used in their ceremonial rituals. When Spanish conquistadors arrived in South America in the sixteenth century, they burned and destroyed the quinoa fields as part of the effort to annihilate Inca culture. But quinoa survived by growing wild in the mountains or by being cultivated in secret in small quantities. In the 1980s, two North Americans stumbled upon this ancient, super-nutritious food and began cultivating it near Boulder, Colorado. Since then, quinoa's popularity has exploded worldwide.

2. Getting to Know Quinoa

Although it is cooked and eaten like a grain, quinoa is technically a seed, and is related to spinach, chard and beets. It grows best in mountainous regions, 10 thousand feet or more above sea level, and thrives in poor soil, thin air and extreme weather. Quinoa stalks are 3 to 6 feet tall, and each plant can produce up to a cup of seeds! The seeds are round, about the same size of millet or sesame seeds, and come in a rainbow of colors, from red to purple to green to yellow, but the quinoa that is most commonly found in stores is an off-white color. Look for quinoa in the bulk section of natural food stores, or in the organic section of conventional supermarkets.

3. A Complete Protein and so Much More

Quinoa is a complete protein, which means that it contains all the amino acids necessary for our nutritional needs. Complete proteins are rare in the plant world, making quinoa an excellent food for vegetarians and vegans, or for anyone looking for healthy protein source. It's also high in iron and calcium, and is a good source of manganese, magnesium and copper, as well as fiber.

4. Cooking With Quinoa

Most commercially available quinoa has already been cleaned, but you should still give it a thorough rinsing before cooking to be sure to remove any remaining saponins, a soapy resin that protects the seeds while they are growing, but can impart a bitter taste if not removed. Combine one cup rinsed quinoa to two cups water or broth, bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the seeds become translucent and the germ of the seed uncoils to form a little "tail." Quinoa has a light, slightly nutty taste and a fluffy texture. It makes a tasty porridge or casserole and can be added to soups and stews.

5. The Gluten-free Grain of Choice

Quinoa is naturally gluten-free, making it an excellent food for celiac patients or other people following a gluten-free diet. Quinoa flour is great for baking cookies, breads and muffins, and quinoa flakes are a perfect substitute for oatmeal.

Wow!! So, obviously, it's a great choice for a salad, filling, and full of great health benefits!

So here's what you need:

• 1 cup Quinoa (I got mine at Trader Joe's, it it usually sold in markets by the rice/grains)
• Feta cheese
• cherry or grape tomatoes
• kalamata olives
• lemons (Meyer lemons are AMAZING.... I am obsessed with them. My friend Ron usually keeps me stocked up- thanks Ron!) 
• a can of water-packed artichoke hearts (I think it was 14oz, Wade took the trash out before I took a second look at the can!)
• olive oil
• salt, pepper, and dried oregano.

So, first measure out a cup of quinoa (and please don't spill it all over the counter like I did- it gets into the grout lines and then you have to get it all out.....) Then you want to put it in a sieve and rinse it really well. I rinsed mine for 2 or 3 minutes (or, however long it took Nicholas to tell me about the trick he was about to show me on the trampoline, then show me the trick)

Then put the quinoa into a medium saucepan, add 2 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat so that it's simmering, and simmer for about 13 or 14 minutes.

While it's cooking, you can make the dressing and chop the other ingredients. To make the dressing, first juice lemons to get 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice. As I said before, I used Meyer lemons, and it took 3 smallish lemons to get the juice.

 Do you have a reamer? It's one of my favorite handy kitchen thingies. You can easily juice citrus without having to drag out the juicer. You are supposed to hand wash it, but I always throw it in the dishwasher, and 5 years later, it's still fine.

Then you want to pour in 1/2 cup olive oil:

Then add 3/4 tsp salt (sea salt is good), a few spins of freshly ground black pepper, and a few shakes of oregano (I would say if you want to measure because you get all freaked out about guessing, I used about 1/4 tsp each of the oregano and pepper) then give it all a quick whisk with a fork:

Now, get the other stuff ready. Now, I just made up this salad, so the other stuff isn't set in stone! Use what you have, what you like, what will make the salad yummy to you!! I used the can of artichoke hearts, drained and quartered, a cup of grape tomatoes that I cut in half, and about 1/4 cup of sliced kalamata olives. Oh, and a cup of feta cheese. If I didn't have breath-conscious people here, I would have added some red onion .

Ok, so now your quinoa should be done cooking, dump it in a big bowl to cool a bit (just enough so it doesn't melt the feta cheese. Then put all your other ingredients in the bowl, and pour the dressing over it all.

Doesn't that look YUMMY????? And now I have it all ready to go in the fridge, so if you make some, you can just throw it in a lunch pail if you take packed lunch, or just grab it when you get hungry so that you don't eat half of the kids' lunch while they're not looking! I will probably eat  mine over a bed of spinach, so that I can get even more iron into my diet. Stupid anemia....... :)

So, I am starting week #2 of weight lifting today!! Last week I lifted weights 2 times, this week I am shooting for 3 times! I was SO SORE last week (mostly my legs) that I could hardly walk for a day or so. I was thinking, "what the HECK??!! I am IN SHAPE!! Why am I so stinking sore??" I was really excited that the second time I did the workout, I was less sore afterward. Hopefully this week will be even better. I was really excited because yesterday, after my long run, my hamstring and IT band were pain-free for the first time in a loooooooong time. The only thing I did differently was the weights, so I'm hoping that's what helped! I told Wade so many times that he was like, "ok, ok Shari, I get it. You're happy!!"  Ha ha.

Have a great Monday!!

DINNER TONIGHT:
Grilled Chicken
Brown Rice
Salad
Watermelon