The Endless Possibilites of Salad

Holy cow, it has been one crazy busy day. I felt like I was running around like a headless chicken at work all day, but on the bright side, the day did just fly by. (Never a bad thing on a Friday)

I couldn’t believe it when I looked at my clock and noticed it was 12:30pm. My stomach was screaming for some food at this point, so I took 15 minutes to wolf down my lunch, in my car, while driving around preparing for an event. Good thing I packed a wrap today (easily consumable). The crack wrap was so good, the best thing I have ever eaten, and I know I am just saying that because I was starving beyond belief when I ate it. It was comprised of a WW wrap, hummus, Dijon , spinach, roasted red pepper, and pickles. What an excellent combination!

I also had a small side salad that was also extremely wonderful; however, a bit hard to eat on the road. I think I missed my mouth a few times and ended up with some avocado on my black pants! Darn, slippery little things they are. The salad was romaine, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, avocado, a few orange pieces (leftover from yesterday’s orange at lunch), and blueberries. Fantastic!

After reading Tina's post on her salad rut, I started thinking about how I could probably eat just about anything in my salad. The best salads are the ones with a vast combination of all things- veggies, fruits, healthy fats, and some kind of crunch. Lately, I’ve been re-introducing beets into my salads and forgot how much I LOVE these little additions. One time, my friend looked at my salad and said “Lauren, I want to eat healthy but I just can’t bring myself to put those nuts and fruits in my salads like you do.” Haha! Are you kidding, those are the best parts! :) Oh and by the way, I always say, the very best part of the salad, is the last bite. The last bite seems to soak up all of the wonderful flavors so I am always sure to savor this part.
You will never get tired of eating salad, so long as you have enough ideas to spice them up and let me tell you, the possibilities are endless when you have a bowl of leafs to start with.

Well I was on my own tonight. Toly was at his aunt’s 50th Birthday Party, Russian style, in Baltimore but I had to work late. Since it was such a long day and it was getting late, I wasn’t much in the mood to spend an hour in the kitchen making my own dinner, so I pulled out something from the good old freezer (something I rarely do). I forgot I had another Kashi Mayan Harvest Vegetable Bake stashed in the back. I’ve tried this one other time and was soooo impressed. I heated up the last of the broccoli as well and also threw together, yet another salad. Since I wimped out on my main course, I thought I should put some love into the salad tonight.
First, I roasted diced butternut squash in a little honey and balsamic. Then, I dressed some greens with chopped apple, cabbage, raspberries, shredded zucchini, crumbled goat cheese, and a little maple fig vinaigrette and added the warm squash at the end. Amazing salad, once again!

I’m exhausted and plan to sit my booty on the couch, pour me some wine, give myself a pedi and work on my “maybe” new blog page.

We have a great weekend planned. There will be a wedding, some shopping, homemade pizza….. Can’t wait!

Hope you all had a wonderful week and are looking forward to an even better weekend