Update: 100 Salads of Summer

Last week, I started picking my way through the list of 101 Salads for Summer that I previously posted about. I decided that I'd just randomly move through the list as my taste buds see fit. The first two I picked out were:

# 2. Mix wedges of tomatoes and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red-pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing.

My notes: I love that these "salads" can be served alone, or work great as a side dish too. I think I'll have a better understanding of how to pair veggies, fruits, oils and ingredients after this. It's hard, however, to figure out the proportions of these salads since each "recipe' is just an ingredients list. I thought the red onion WAY overpowered this salad; next time I'll use way less. The cilantro is also powerful, and the red pepper didn't stand out enough. The colors in this salad are simply amazing though! Red, green, orange, yellow, purple! I threw mine over some quineau and served it with chile lime verde crusted salmon.

# 3. 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.

My Notes: Who doesn't love cucumber! I once again guessed on the ingredients - and didn't put enough Dijon mustard in the cider vinegar. But this was super easy breezy. I served it with a portebello mushroom Garden Burger over a lettuce leaf, sprinkled with pepper jack cheese. Kinda random, but I'm cutting out carbs this week to make up for all the wine I drank last week! (I had two wine tasting events I attended. Uber fun; but that much wine is terrible for the waistline).

The next two I'm going to try:

6. Sichuan slaw: Toss bean sprouts, shredded carrots and celery, minced fresh chili, soy sauce, sesame oil and a bit of sugar. Top with chopped peanuts and chopped basil, mint and/or cilantro. (The full trio is best.)

14. A classic Moroccan thing: Thinly slice carrots, or grate or shred them (the food processor makes quick work of this). Toss with toasted cumin seeds, olive oil, lemon juice and cilantro. Raisins are good in here, too. There is no better use of raw carrots.

(I have a box of fresh cilantro now that I'm trying to use up!)

Currently Feeling: Over packed with all this volunteering I'm doing - but at least I'm staying busy!
Currently Anticipating: The season opener of Top Chef 6 tonight! There are two Seattle chefs on it this season, and I've met one of them!
Currently Needing: To stick to my 5K training program. (Don't laugh). I finally registered for one in September, so I can cross it off my to-do list for 2009!

Trimming down my lady bits

I posted a couple weeks ago that I was trying a Summer Slimdown diet I found on Pretty in the City. I spent tons of money on fresh ingredients and special Tupperware for my salads, breakfasts and snacks (Um, if you haven't seen the Fit N Fresh Tupperware, you must seek them out immediately. They come equipped with containers for dressing, silverware, frozen ice pack, etc. AND I found mine at Ross). Anywhoo. I did the diet for only a week, but I didn't have as hard of a time with it as Karyn from Pretty in the City. I didn't find myself headachy or starving. But then again, I try to keep a low sugar, healthy diet anyway. I liked the food, and I lost two pounds in the first week. (Water weight, but at least the scale was moving down!) Then it just became a little too hard to maintain with all the summer fun, barbecues and, ahem, wine. The lack of variety got to me (you can only have olive oil or guacamole for dressings or dips), so I eventually lost track of it as my healthy ingredients started to rot. I will say, if you decide to try it - I added a couple squirts of balsamic vinegar to my salads. Salads with just olive oil? Yuck! AND the Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar's are Aaaa-mazing. Did anyone try it and succeed? Karyn has lost somewhere around 15 pounds, and I'm totally jealous.

Moving right along... I'm trying something new - but not a detoxish type thingy or pseudo fad diet. I'm going to do something FUN. I was reading Sweats in the City, and she posted an article in the New York Times with 100 quick and easy summer salads. How cool is that!

Francesco Tonelli for The New York Times

I'm always wanting to expand my salad options... I'm super uncreative and usually just eating sliced grilled chicken with some veggies and a random dressing. So, I decided that I'm going to try out two salads a week until I get bored with it. I haven't decided yet if I should jump around, or start at 1 and work through... No diet. Just a little healthy food adventure I'm creating for myself. I'll share the ones I super duper love here!

Currently Feeling: Surprisingly fresh even though I went to bed at 4am last night cause I was uploaded photos and writing blogs. WTF?
Currently Anticipating: Walking down to Purple Wine Bar & Cafe to meet Paolo, Cari and Al for lunch - and taking some pics of Seattle along the way!
Currently Contemplating: Finding a digi cam class to take.