I'm calling this my wistful summer salad because I really can't wait for the warmer season to come. Although we've been getting little whispers of spring here and there, I'm ready for the real thing.
Strawberries and avocado make me think of my favorite season, and I was inspired to create my take on this beautiful salad that I originally saw on Pinterest by way of Farmgirl Gourmet. She in turn got it from Lauren's Latest blog who found the recipe on Two Peas & Their Pod blog. And so the story goes...
While I didn't use kale as my base, since I already had it this week, I replaced it with fresh baby spinach and also added tomatoes, which go so well with avocado. Switching up the dressing from Lauren's creamy poppyseed to a mixture of tzatziki and vinegar, also worked out really well. And in case you're wondering, those delicious, well done pieces of cured meat are Spanish chorizo that I got from Despana Foods. It was a tasty way to go and provided good wishful thinking to welcome summer. Well almost...
Strawberry Avocado salad recipe as seen on Lauren's Latest blog
After a long, hard day, with feeling under the weather to boot, I needed something warm and comforting for dinner. I wanted it to be healthy too, as I've been eating out a lot and last night's feast at Koliba didn't do much good for the waistline.
I decided to go for a simple, but quite delicious (and nutrient rich) dish with chicken sausage, mushrooms, fresh spinach and quinoa. Even though the recipe called for farro instead, I opted for the quinoa, as it was cheaper and provided some nice texture from the crunch of the light and dark kernels.
Getting big praises about this from Dan, he thought it was very flavorful and tasted healthful too. It did a nice job of filling us up and because I made a generous amount, we'll have it for tomorrow's lunch as well. Let the goodness continue...
Sausage, Mushrooms and Spinach over quinoa - adapted from a Whole Food Market recipe
I'll start with the first part of my obsession, which is a fabulous site called Gojee I discovered just through browsing through the Google Chrome store. I simply love it, as first off, it's picture based and is a fabulous aggregation of all different food blogs. You simply type in the ingredients you're craving, and it does the picking for you. I was amazed at all the enticing food images it produced when I typed in "arugula" and the one that most immediately caught my eye was one for ricotta & spinach gnocchi (with arugula too, of course).
I clicked on the recipe link, which led me to a lovely blog called "fresh 365." The recipe not only seemed doable, but was explained in a friendly, approachable way that immediately inspired me to get to work. If the thought of making your own gnocchi intimidates you, this recipe will no doubt change your tune. It's not incredibly labor intensive, uses healthy and readily available ingredients, and not to mention it's absolutely superior to the store bought alternative.
As I made a pretty big batch that can feed about 3 or 4 hungry people, I froze most of my gnocchi and ended up cooking it later in the week. It was a sound approach and a fabulous way to get dinner on the table in about 5 minutes. Serving it on a bed of fresh spinach (or arugula if you want), I seasoned it simply with olive oil and pepper and put some shredded pecorino cheese on top too. Delish is an understatement. Go gojee, thanks for showing me the way!
Recipe for Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi
