Salad week, day 5

Much more successful today, though I did have some cheese and crackers thanks to my friend the Book Glutton...

Jumped straight into lunch today with a big quinoa salad with green cabbage, black bean, tomato, cilantro, cucumber, lime, avocado.

Then, a snack of Bittman's #38, except... tragedy struck! Green mold found its way into my kalamata olive stash, so I had to go without. I was terribly excited to try this salad of watermelon, olives, red onion, feta, mint, & lemon juice. And it was delicious, even without the olives. But my goodness, the watermelon feta combo is amazing and I bet olives would just bring it to a whole new level.

And then, for dinner, Bittman's #21-- avocado, cucumber, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar. I added some of the soy & sesame marinated chicken leftover from day three's "Chinese" chicken salad. It was truly out of this world. So much yum.

Salad week, day two

Today was a bit trickier. I had to go over to my friend Wendy's and drink some wine and sangria and eat some empanadas and sweet potato taquitos and pie.

Still, I ate a lot of salad.

Kashi for breakfast. A couple of black apricots, which are just fuzzy mini plums, and thus a hoax. Plums are the lemons of the stone fruit world, which is to say they are not versatile and amazing like real lemons, but instead are like metaphoric lemons that cars can sometimes be. Anyway, back to salad.

Leftover cucumber salad from yesterday for morning snack.

For lunch, this salad:

Bittman's #25-- tomatoes, corn chips, peppers, chili, onion, cilantro, lime. Good, but not great. Corn chips added nothing, but then, we have a lot leftover so it was good to use them.  It was, however, filling.

I brought this to Wendy's. My own creation. Quinoa, cucumbers, peppers, chili, mango, corn, black bean, tomatoes, cilantro, onion, lime. Nom.

 

Salad week, day one

Salad # 1: Slightly modified Bittman's #20: Shred cabbage (I used green. Napa would have been better) and radishes. The dressing is roasted peanuts, lime juice, safflower oil, cilantro, an unseeded serrano chili and a couple of shakes salt and chili flakes, all whizzed in a blender.

Salad #2: This one is scaled down from here: halved grape tomatoes, cannellini beans, basil, lemon zest, salt, olive oil.

Salad #3: Adapted from epicurious. Cucumber (salted and drained), red onion, unseeded serrano, two garlic cloves, mint, lime juice, nam pla, rice vinegar, a little sugar.

Salad #4: My Sonoma Diet Standby-- Beans with Greens and Artichoke Hearts

Other things I ate today: a bowl of Kashi GoLean Crunch with skim milk, a handful of roasted, salted almonds, a slightly under-ripe black apricot, some strawberries, a glass of white wine, and you can bet your sweet ass I'll be making some popcorn this evening-- the first disc of True Blood arrived today.

You might wonder why I ate 4 salads today. Well, salad #1 was leftover from dinner last night, and I wolfed that down after I got home from yoga at 11:30. Then, an hour later, I made salad # 2. Then around 3, I made Salad #3 as a snack. I ate about half, and will eat the other half tomorrow. Then, finally, the dinner salad, #4, which Bill and I ate around 6. So you see, perfectly reasonable.

Sorry for the shitty photos. I'll try harder tomorrow.

Salad week begins tomorrow!

And now I am collating some recipes.

I will definitely make my two Sonoma Diet standbys:

• Greens with Beans and Artichoke Heats (mixed greens, 3 oz chicken, 2 canned artichoke hearts, 1/8 cup cannelloni beans, 1 tablespoon goat cheese, 1/2 tablespoon toasted pine nuts, Italian parsley, red wine vinaigrette. Yum!) 
• Sonoma Salad with Tomatoes and Feta

I will hit Mark Bittman's 101 salads list hard:

• I am making #3 now, to use up a cucumber: "A nice cucumber salad: Slice cucumbers thin (if they’re fat and old, peel and seed them first), toss with red onions and salt, then let sit for 20 to 60 minutes. Rinse, dry, dress with cider vinegar mixed with Dijon mustard; no oil necessary."
• I will definitely make (err, probably not all of these in one week...):
• #7 & #14 (basically, carrots)
• #8 (radishes, mango, lime, cilantro & mint)
• #15 (an intriguing tomato/soy sauce combo)
• #20 (a peanut-y Asian-style slaw)
• #21 (cucumbers, avocado, soy/mirin/vinegar)
• #25 (bell peppers, tomato, onion, chilies & tortilla chips)
• #38 (watermelon, feta, mint, olives)
• #39 (corn, chili, lime, tomatoes)
• #41 (avocado, black bean, cheese, tomatillos)  
• #54 (roasted peppers, mozzarella, white bean)
• #56 (salade niçoise)
• #74 (bell peppers, sausage)
• #79 (steak, kale, olives)
• #95 (quinoa, fruit, onions)
• #97 (barley, grapes)
• #98 (bulgur, tomatoes, chickpeas)
• #99 (quinoa, apricots, cherries)

 I will also make my own favorite quinoa salad: quinoa, black beans, onion, peppers, roasted corn, cilantro, lime.

Suggestions? I am very excited to go to the farmers market in a few hours to load up on some components.