Apr 18, 2010 | Recipes, Sides & Salads
I LOVE the beet salad at Ya-Ya’s, a restaurant my honey and I go occasionally, usually sans kiddos. The last time we were there I thought, “This has got to be the easiest salad on earth to make, why don’t I ever make it?”
So tonight:
Beet Salad
- Spring Mix of lettuces and arugula (whatever greens you have)
- Goat cheese, queso fresco, or feta (I’m using chevre)
- Some pickled beets (The recipe I found online used roasted beets, but I don’t have any so I used the pickled.)
- Slivered almonds (roast til light golden brown)
- Section or slice an orange (or tangerine, or clementine…)
- chopped green onions or sliced red onion
For the dressing I took:
- Juice of one orange
- Juice of two lemons
- 2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil (more or less)
- Salt and pepper
- fresh parsley
*Mix the dressing with a whisk and chill.
I tossed the greens and almonds with some dressing (yes, I used too much- will know better next time.) Then I finished it with the beets, cheese, and oranges.
It was almost exactly like the restaurant! (Much cheaper!)
Salad with Yummy Cornbread Hits the Spot on a Spring Night!
Apr 16, 2010 | Uncategorized
I am so snick of sickiling sick of sniffling!
Our family is divided into two definite allergy camps:
The Spring Snifflers
and
The Autumn Achoo-ers
I myself, fall into the Spring Sniffler category along with my oldest son. We have been miserable for a month now. I am hoping for rain to wash away this oak pollen, but imagine it will be at least another week. The pollen has been record breaking here this year (honestly.) My black van is covered in yellow pollen no matter what I do. I wash the window and it’s yellow in less than an hour!
Pollen on my porch (The floor is normally red!)
My problem is that I love the beautiful sunshine and can’t stand to be cleaning house inside. I’ve been really trying to get the garden going strong and the yard cleaned up (which is really hard with 3 kids and a 100+ lb dog who likes to tear things up.) I’m really paying for it!
No, not a swamp but my lovely pool (We filled it up two weeks ago- why?)
Not going to clean it until this is over!
My theory is that the earth is getting back at us.
They say if global warming continues the pollen counts will be insane. (Aren’t they already?) Look at all the earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions in the last few years.
Isn’t that a clue?
On a sort of related side-note:
We recently watched No Impact Man. I admit, I’d heard of this guy, Colin Beavan, and the controversy over what he was doing, etc. but had never read his blog. But, after watching the movie, I really admire what his family did. I don’t get the anger some people felt over what he was doing. I mean -honestly? people! Who would be upset with a family who was trying to get out of the shopping/credit frenzy, trying to live a greener life for their daughter? Maybe they had no clue when they started, but doesn’t that make them even more admirable? And so what if they made a living off of doing it? Just shows they are smart folks. What a HUGE step for people who only ate take-out before the project? Kudos to the Beavans.
My family lives a pretty green life and I don’t know if I could do everything they did. (No toilet paper or electricity? YIKES!) I think everyone should try something similar (if not on this scale) for a week or two just to see the garbage we generate as humans.
Apr 14, 2010 | Uncategorized
Some pictures of my day. If you’ve posted comments in the past few weeks they have mysteriously disappeared and I apologize. I installed a comment widget wrong and then lost everything!
Apr 11, 2010 | Uncategorized
What a difference a little sunshine can make!
I don’t think I realize how down the dark days can make me until the sun comes back around.
Rosebud tree
This has been a nice weekend, I don’t want it to end! We went to the Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn yesterday with some great friends who’d flown in from California to see Zenyatta win her 16th consecutive win. It was truly beautiful to see her glide down the track. What a gorgeous horse…
Mike Smith and Zenyatta
I got the garden started yesterday (thanks to my awesome man for tilling it up a few weeks ago.)
I had rescued a broken wooden baby gate from the side of the road and he made a cute pea/bean trellis for me. We have the rabbit hutch planted with it’s roof garden (which actually seems to be working!) I put portulaca, mint, and oregano on top because they have shallow roots, and the roof planter is not very deep. We also moved it to the garden. That way our sweet bunny can help me with the weeds! (She LOVES them!)
Now, we’re going to figure out which chicken coop we want. Hubby has lots of wood he found from his garage clean-up yesterday that he says will do. I am thinking I’ll get Rhode Island Reds if I can find them, maybe 4?
Maybe this one?
Apr 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
I saw some adorable flip-flops at Target for $13.
(Sorry, but there is NO WAY I’ll spend that much on a pair of flip-flops.)
They were really cute though, and instead of plastic between the toes (I honestly hate ANYTHING between my toes, except sand) they had straps made from satin.
I wanted to make some cheap beach shoes for our Cape San Blas trip,
At the dollar store I found some flip-flops for the kids for $1. (You could use some you already own also, but we had none.)
Also found a pack of bandannas (2 for $1)
and a crazy tie for (yes) $1
You could use any old scraps of fabric you have too.
Grand total on my son’s flip-flops (or chancletas as we say in Panamá.)
I cut the plastic straps out of the bottom of the shoe. I saved this to use as a measurement for
the straps I made.
I cut strips from the bandanna about 1/2 or so wide. (You could use any width you wanted but this was for my 5 yr old.) I took three of the strips and braided them together into a stronger strap.
Using the Y strap I cut out I constructed a similar one out of the braided straps by taking two braids and knotting them right where the two met. I wasn’t sure what to do under the shoe, but ended up just knotting it once under and cutting pretty close to the bottom.
It worked!
(Sorry the quality on the picture is so bad. I took it with my phone, and for some reason my phone won’t upload my pics! I had to email it to myself to get it off the dumb iphone…)
They lasted, which was what I was worried about, and even in the water on the beach.
I’m going to make my daughter some from the old tie, and will post pics if they are cute!
