Improv Salad

Tonight was one of those nights I experience all too frequently when finals are rapidly approaching. By the time I'm ready to eat dinner, it's much later than I expected. Not wanting to fall victim to fast food and delivery, I often find that it's best to improvise something based on the contents of my fridge. The result of tonight' improv was a spinach salad with pear and warm polenta.

In retrospect, I should've put some goat cheese on it. Regardless, it was delicious.

Recipe: Teriyaki Tofu Salad

I recently discovered a packet of simply asia teriyaki marinade in the back of my pantry. Naturally, I felt an urge to put it to good use! I've been feeling the urge to make more tofu-based dishes lately, so I marinated some extra-firm tofu in the marinade, then lightly pan-fried. I then combined the tofu with some baby spinach, chopped carrots, red bell pepper, and cucumber to create an asian-esque salad. I topped the salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Making Use of Leftovers

I always prepare my lunch for days that I go to my school the night before, since waking up at 6AM only allows me an hour to get ready for the day before commuting for 35 minutes. I originally planned on defrosting some of my leftover bulgur chili that I froze last week for today's lunch. But when I opened my fridge, I noticed all of the fresh produce I had in there that I did not want to waste. This feeling was brought on by the fact that I recently had to throw out an entire cantaloupe that fell victim to mold.

Using the cherry tomatoes, arugula, and goat cheese I bought for last night's dinner, along with some berries that I bought to mix in with my yogurt that I eat for breakfast at my school, I came up with one hell of a good-looking salad. (I'll post a picture on here when I have it for lunch later). I even threw in some sliced mushrooms that I found in my fridge from last week, too. My dressing of choice is Walden Farm's no-calorie raspberry vinaigrette. My hope is that this combination will result in a sweet-salty salad of perfect proportions.

To me, the trick in creating the perfect salad is making sure that it is the correct size portion-wise. Portion-distortion is a huge problem in our society, and my family and friends are no exception to this. I don't eat out at restaurants as often as I used to, but I've developed a habit of ordering from the appetizer menu instead of the entree menu (not only are the portions smaller, but it's cheaper). The thing is, we don't need to eat more to feel full. In a recent study I saw on the news, people reported feeling full when eating a smaller portion than they were used to. It's all a matter of how our brain perceives what's on our plate.

In making this salad, I used the following measurements:
1 cup arugula leaves
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 tbsp blueberries
1 tbsp goat cheese crumbles
2 medium strawberies

I originally planned on using 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes, but I realized that I didn't need that many as I started slicing them.

So I'm curious: how do you like to make use of leftover ingredients?

Americorps Week

Today marks the start of Americorps week. The theme for this year is community gardening, so I am hosting a potluck at growing power tomorrow.

Because I have an excessive amount of gorgonzola cheese in my fridge from that pasta recipe, I'm making a salad based of a recipe I found on allrecipes. The recipe on the website calls for mixed greens, dried cranberries, gorgonzola cheese, candied walnuts, and a dressing that is a mixture of raspberry vinaigrette, white vinegar, and olive oil. I am changing this up a bit. I am using dried bing cherries instead of dried cranberries, because they aren't sweetened with added sugar. I am also candying my own walnuts. It's pretty simple, actually. It's one part walnuts to half part sugar combined in a frying pan and stirred constantly over medium heat until the sugar starts to caramelize, then you put in on a baking sheet to cool. I am using one cup walnuts and a half cup of sugar. I am also just going to bring a bottle of raspberry vinaigrette with me to the potluck instead of doing their mixture. It's just easier that way.

I spent a total of $16 at whole foods on the ingredients I didn't already have for this (walnuts, cherries, and mixed greens). This salad makes 8 servings. pretty good deal in my book.

Recipe: Almond Strawberry Salad

Sorry for the poor photo quality...I took the picture with my phone in the dark staff lounge. I managed to brighten it a little bit on photobucket, though.

I made this as part of a dinner for me and a friend on saturday night and it turned out incredible. I threw in a granny smith apple when I made it on saturday, but this time I threw in half a kiwi (both of these fruits were purchased at growing power). I will not be including these additions in the recipe, but both times turned out successfully!

Ingredients:
3 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1/4 cup blanched slivered almonds
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp sugar

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds.
In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the vinegar, honey and sugar; shake well. Drizzle over salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

serves four

Recipe: Spinach and Mango Salad

(sorry for the terrible photo quality, I had to take the picture with my phone in the dark staff lounge with no overhead lights or windows at my school)

When I first saw this recipe, I didn't think it was enough for four servings, so I decided to made more sense to make 2 servings for myself. About half way through ripping the spinach leaves, I realized I was wrong. this recipe definitely makes four servings! That being said, it's delicious and I love that I now have a great recipe for homemade balsamic vinaigrette! The original recipe called for maple-infused balsamic vinegar, but I used regular balsamic vinegar instead because I couldn't find any that was maple-infused. I did find some flavored with raspberries and pomegranate, which I'd like to try when I make my own dressing in the future.

the most time consuming part of this recipe is probably dealing with the mango. I'm no professional when it comes to cutting fruit like mangos or melons, so it takes me some time to get it done.

my favorite thing about making this salad? when i eat it right after toasting the almonds. they're still warm, which adds an interesting sensation to the salad. Of course, it works great as leftovers for lunch the next day. The teachers at my school couldn't believe that I made the dressing myself!

ingredients:
3/4 cup blanched slivered almonds
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp mustard (I used dijon, but the orig. recipe called for dry mustard)
salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch fresh spinach-rinsed, dried, and torn into bite sized pieces
2 mangos-peeled, seeded, and cubed

directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Arrange almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and lightly toasted.
In a small bowl, mix red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, mustard, salt, and pepper.
In a medium bowl, toss the red wine vinegar mixture with the spinach and mangos. Top with the toasted almonds.

serves 4