summer salad recipes!

Now that school is out and I have more time to get creative in the kitchen, I've been whipping up some yummy (most of the time) new vegan recipes!  The temperatures here in Michigan have been hot hot hot lately, so I've taken advantage of the beautiful weather and come up with some different salad recipes I've been eating nonstop!  Enjoy :)

Lunch

organic dark leafy greens (I love arugula and spinach!)

chopped watermelon

balsalmic vinaigrette dressing

toss and serve with hummus and pita chips

Dinner

1 cup cooked quinoa

1/2 cup sautéed asparagus

1/2 cup orange bell peppers

1/4 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed

let cool and refrigerate (optional, I just like it better cold, especially on hot days!)

1/2 cup halved grape tomatoes

1/2 avocado, chopped

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp balsalmic vinegar

toss and enjoy immediately :)

vegan.

So my dear friend Alina and I have decided to go vegan.  I experimented with the notion for the week following spring break as more of a detox, and found that I felt a lot more energetic and healthy.  I also discovered that by eliminating animal products from my diet, my running improved, and in JUST ONE WEEK!  I was only set on eating vegan for the week following spring break, so I transitioned back to eating omnivorously again afterwards.

I've been feeling weak and sluggish again lately and didn't really make a connection with my diet, I just thought I might be stressed with finals coming up and term papers due.  Today is officially day 2 of my vegan-again lifestyle (strictly dietary -- can't say I could ever give up leather) and I'm already feeling great!  I've always known I am slightly lactose-intolerant, but was never terribly bothered as long as I avoided drinking milk straight or eating it with cereal.  Perhaps the dairy I was eating hidden in foods, such as cheeses put in sauces, skim milk in my coffee, or the cream hidden in my all-time favorite tomato basil bisque, is the secret culprit?  I suppose I shall see.  I'll continue posting my progress, as long as what I'm eating and how I'm running.  Any other vegans out there?

Day 2:

Breakfast -- coffee (black)
Lunch -- Naked brand Green Machine juice, roasted red pepper hummus with pita bread
Dinner -- (Seva's restaurant) Tempeh burger with daiya and basil-cashew pesto and sweet potato fries.
Dessert -- unsweetened applesauce

Run -- 9.2 miles in 84 minutes

leftovers.

This is one of my favorite ways to use leftovers.  We went to a steakhouse for my mom's birthday, so I sliced up my leftover filet mignon and laid it out over a bed of arugula, cucumbers, red onion, and cherry tomatos.  Leftovers can be far from boring!

Playing with Flavor

Don't think this is turning into a strictly food blog, but I write when I'm inspired, and currently I'm thinking of a great dinner for tomorrow night to celebrate finishing my DAT.  When I'm cooking I typically like to keep things simple.  For starters, I'm in college (aka broke as hell) and I simply cannot afford to keep a pantry/fridge fully stocked at all times.  Also, when too many different flavors are combined together, I typically tend to get overwhelmed (reason why I am not partial to Ethiopian food).  Therefore, I like to keep some basic essential ingredients on hand, as well as a good rotation of new fruits and veggies to try.  Some things I almost always have at home are: feta cheese, black beans, canned corn, tomatoes, live sprouted bread, worchestershire sauce, and white wine.  With these staple ingredients, I find I can usually bring a few new ingredients to the table (no pun intended) and come up with something edible, if not surprisingly fantastic.  I'm a huge fan of vegetables, and they're the main part of most of my dishes, so I love walking into a farmers market or store and picking out things that catch my eye.  One rule of mine: Never be intimidated.  If you don't know how to cook something, or how to work it in with other flavors, google it.  You're bound to learn and 9 times out of 10 it's not as scary as it seems.

This brings me to my next topic:  mixing flavors!  Like I said before, I like to keep it simple.  Also very important is using what YOU have.  If I'm following a recipe and it calls for a lemon garnish and I happen to have a lime in the fridge, I'll try it.  Start with a little and you can always stop of you don't like where the flavor is going.  So when I'm putting together a meal, I try to have a veggie/fruit with a carb/protein.  I also like to mix sweet and salty or spicy.  So if I'm making an arugula salad, the spicy peppery flavor is a little intense for say, an italian dressing..or at least for me.  Instead, I might use just a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette and garnish with fresh raspberries, walnuts, and a mild goat cheese.  Yum!

What are your favorite combos?  I love trying new ideas!

Bethenny

I recently bought the book Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel, used of course (yay for recycling!) and I can honestly say it's beginning to change my relationship with food, even after only four chapters! I've spent my whole life dieting, or thinking about diets, just like most girls my age. Not only is it not satisfying, it's usually not successful. Bethenny's #1 rule is simple:
treat food like your bank account.
What the eff does that mean? Well, you don't want to "spend" all your carbs/fat/sugars at once...and you definitely shouldn't! It's alright to splurge once in a while, as long as you save elsewhere. Have that cheeseburger at lunch! Just don't get the fries.. Just like dropping all your cash at one store and having an entire mall to go! And if you do eat the cheeseburger (or the fries), balance the fat and carbs with a salad with grilled chicken and veggies for dinner.

and never feel guilty. if you honestly crave something and only eat a few bites (savor them!), no "damage" will be done.

This is only a portion of the book, and already the woman's got me convinced. I'm excited to read the rest :)