Avocado Salmon Caprese Salad

When I was in Togo, Africa, my husband made me a salad with avocados, tomatoes and smoked fish.  It is one of my favorite ways to eat avocados.  This week I changed it up a bit and added mozzarella cheese and basil ~ now I have a new favorite salad for the summer.

Coffee Rubbed Steak & Cashew Salad #CIC

It is the 20th of the month and that means time for Crazy Ingredient Challenge.  Each month we pick two ingredients from a list and the ingredients with the most votes are the ones we make a recipe from.  This month's winners are  Coffee and Cashews.

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Granola

I was given a bag of Golden Girl Granola - Creative Cranberry to make this recipe.  When I received the granola we had a hard time saving enough to make this recipe.  It was so delicious.  This recipe will be entered into a challenge that is sponsored by Golden Girl Granola.

Crazy Ingredient Challenge - Lemongrass and Quinoa

It is time to think outside of the box and use ingredients that you may not think go together or that you may not ever tried before.  This month's ingredients are Lemongrass and Quinoa, two ingredients that I use frequently, although the Lemongrass I usually only use for tea.

Walnut Grape Salad

This recipe is awesome as it can be used as a salad or you can use it as a dessert.  It is sweet with just the right amount of crunch.  It is easy to make... What can be better? especially during the Christmas season when you are so busy.

Citrus Breaded Tilapia with Citrus Salad ~ CIC

It is time again for our Crazy Ingredient Challenge.
This month our ingredients are Orange (or Citrus) and Breadcrumbs.

Crazy Ingredient Challenge - Cranberries and Shallots {Quinoa Kale Salad}

Once again it is time for our Crazy Ingredient Challenge.  I missed last month's challenge as June seemed to be so busy for me... so something had to give.

Quinoa Salad and Sunbutter Dressing

I was given the recipe for the Sunbutter Dressing from a friend and decided to make a Quinoa Salad to go with it.  The dressing makes about 2/3 cup and I only used a small amount for my salad.

Berry Salad with Basil Chia Vinaigrette

I love summer and fresh fruit.  We have a small strawberry patch that this year is producing very well.  Or at least I think so.  I have also been able to get to them before the critters which helps.  Before this year, I would pick and throw out the strawberries that had bites taken out but this year I decided to leave them.  Low and behold they seem to be coming back to eat the strawberries that they had already started to eat~ I do hope this continue and they don't go for the new ones.

I decided to make a salad with the strawberries and a dressing.  My basil is also starting to come up and basil and strawberries go so well together so came up with this recipe.

Berry Salad with Basil Chia Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

sliced strawberries

blueberries

pomegranate seeds  

assorted lettuce or spinach ( I used romaine and spinach)

glazed walnuts

sliced chicken (optional)

for vinaigrette: 

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

2 tsp fresh minced basil

1 tbsp chia seed

1/2 tsp honey powder (or you could use what ever sweetener you like)

 Directions:

Make vinaigrette by mixing all ingredients together and let sit while you prepare your salad.

Assemble lettuce, add  fruit, walnuts and chicken.

Drizzle vinaigrette over salad and enjoy.  

Vinaigrette will keep in the fridge for 3-7 days depending on what you put into them. With fresh herbs, I have read that they don't last as long.  I do keep mine longer but I don't recommend it to others.  I throw them out when they start smelling bad.. that is my clue that I need to make some more.

Links:  Foodie Friends Friday, Thursdays Treasures

Related articles

• Strawberries and Vinaigrette. Posh job!
• Healthy Blueberry Chia Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Apple Gorgonzala Salad

,

I always take vacation between my husband's and my birthday.  Our birthdays are five days apart and many years.  And yes if you have seen pictures of us, I robbed the cradle, am a cougar as he is many years younger then me.  

Anyways this year was no different, I took the time off.  As hubby is living and working downstate for the summer I had to travel there this year.  I did miss his birthday as I got off that morning but we were able to celebrate my birthday together and that is what matters RIGHT?

For the weekend we went to my brother's in Indianapolis.  As my brother's birthday is also in June, we headed over to Buca di Beppo  to celebrate all our birthdays.  This was the first time I had been to this restaurant and I loved it.  We had Fettuccine Alfredo, Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken, Quattro al Forno and Apple Gorgonzala Salad.  Everything was superb and we ate to our fill and had leftover in all except the Apple Gorgonzala Salad.  This salad was so good that we lapped it all up.

I wanted to try to make this salad recipe.  The ingredients for the salad were easy ~ lettuce, dried cranberries, walnuts, gorgonzala and granny smith apples.  The hard part was the dressing.  On their menu they had our signature Italian Vinaigrette.  So I made my own Signature Italian Vinaigrette .  The salad still tasted good, although not quite the same but close.

Apple Gorgonzala Salad

A copy-cat recipe from Buca di Beppo

Ingredient:

Varied types of lettuce (I used Romaine as that is all I had)

Granny Smith Apple- cut in slices

dried cranberries

gorgonzala ( you could also use feta)

walnuts (I used glazed walnuts in the original there is spiced walnuts)

Italian Vinaigrette 

Home-made Italian Vinaigrette

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

3/4 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

pinch black salt (I used black smoked black pepper butcher grind from My Spice Sage)

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp dried mustard

3/4 tsp fresh thyme

1/2 tsp  hot pepper

Mix all ingredients together in blender until smooth.

To make salad:

On dish, place washed lettuce cut in pieces.  Wash and slice apples and layer on top of lettuce.  Add cranberries, walnuts and gorgonzala.  Drizzle with Italian Vinaigrette and enjoy.

Pair this salad up with some bread and it makes a delicious lunch.  You could also add some chicken and it would be a wonderful simple dinner.

Waiting patiently for our meal to come

and so that you know I was really there, here is a picture with me in it.

I loved all the pictures that they had on the walls.  If you were tired of talking to your companions or had nothing more to talk about, you didn't just have to stare into space, you could check out all the fabulous decor.

Link: In and Out of the Kitchen ,  Simple Supper Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Wednesday Extravaganza, Random Recipe Roundup, Swap and Share Sunday

Related articles

• Recipe of the Day: Chopped Apple Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette
• Recipe: Pear & walnut salad
• Have you been to a Buca di Beppo lately?

Heart Healthy and an Avocado Salad.

Heart Healthy

Today is the last day of February, the shortest month.  February is also Heart  Healthy month. It seems to me that this month contradicts itself as Valentine's Day is this month with all it's chocolates and candies and then we have Heart Healthy.  I guess if we ate low or no sugar candies and dark chocolate we may be on the right path.  If you are  anything like me then you don't like dark chocolate ~ I guess it is to healthy for me.

Last week I wrote an article for the Daily Dish about February is Heart Healthy.   In this article I wrote about the foods to eat to help your heart and what to do per the American Heart Association to keep your heart healthy.  So I won't go into any more details about those things. This article is going to be about keeping a healthy emotional well-being.

To me having a healthy emotional well-being is the first step to having a healthy heart.  As loving yourself and feeling proud of yourself and your accomplishments will only help to make your heart stronger.  Eating good food and exercise are only part of the whole picture.

Things to do to help your emotional well-being

• Express your emotions - allow yourself to feel both positive and negative emotion.  Do not bottle these emotions up.
• Focus on the positive.  A tip to help with this is to everyday write down three things you are grateful for.  They need not be big, they may just be getting out of bed today, seeing the sun.
• Respect and Accept Yourself.  We need to love ourselves unconditionally as we love others around us. We are in most instances our own worse enemy.
• Practice yoga, meditation and or deep breathing.  This allows us to find peace, energy and improve our concentration.
• Enjoy some alone time.  Take and make time for yourself even if it is only a few minutes during the day.  Lock yourself in the bathroom ( your children will probably still be at the door when you open it).  
• Foster creativity.  Start a hobby.  This is my way of stress reduction, writing my blog and reading other blogs.  Other things you can do is crafts, gardening, exercise (if that is your thing), cooking.
• Avoid black and white thinking. You may have to think outside of the box.  Often thinking things are either right or wrong my bring disappointing.
• Laugh loud and often.  Laughter is always the best medicine even if it is at at time that you don't think is appropriate.

These are just a few of the ideas that I remember after reading an article about this in our local newspaper. During the winter months, I feel that my emotional well being takes a big drop.   My thoughts are this happens because we don't see the sun so much, it is cold and we are stuck inside.  It is important for you whole well being to try and keep your emotional well being in check  When you do feel that you have depression like symptoms or just feeling down, it is important to talk to someone, be it your family doctor or a close loved one, or even someone you don't know.  I have often written  my feelings on articles that I have read in other blogs, this helps me to get them in the open.  It is not that they need to be read or even commented on but it is my way of doing my well-being check for me.

Heart Healthy~ Avocado Salad

1 Avocado cut in slices and each slice cut into two or three

2 -3  Roma tomatoes sliced

1/4 cup sliced red onions

1/4 lb smoked  salmon

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy.  You can add some salt and pepper to taste.

  

This salad is very tasty on it's own and is a good lunch meal with a slice of French Bread.  The first time I ate this salad was when my husband made it in Togo, shortly after we got married.  All the ingredients were fresh and he went and bought us a loaf of fresh made French Bread... Heaven. 

Let us all take some time to treat ourselves 

 Let me know what you have done for yourself today

✻ღϠ₡ღ✻   Marlys

(¯`✻´¯)
`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻ Enjoy your day....`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻

Links:  Gluten Free Fridays

Related articles

• The Good Fats: Benefits of Eating Avocado (weightloss.answers.com)
• The Health Benefits of Chocolate (berries.com)