
One of my favorite dishes on Ruby Tuesday's Garden Bar is the ham and pea pasta salad. From talking with friends, I found that I'm not a lone. Lots of people hit the salad bar for that pasta dish. Some even confess to skipping the greens on the bar to save room for that pasta dish. Tickled to have found a copycat home version for it, I ended up taking it as an entree salad for lunch at work two nights in a row.
Continue reading "Copycat Ruby Tuesday's Ham & Pea Pasta Salad" »
When I saw this recipe in the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook I knew I had to try it. It's so different! Sweet Potatoes and Cucumbers? Interesting pairing. I made this the other night when when Colleen and Matt and the kids came over, along with Rodney and Aunti Miranda. I knew Aunti would go along for the tastebud ride with me! We each ate a large serving of it, tasting and comparing to other food combinations. Our final evaluation was that although we didn't out and out love it and vow to make it once a week for the rest of our lives, that it is different and interesting and a nice balance of sweet, savory, salty, and sour, and full of textures.
Continue reading "Eat Clean Diet: Sweet Potato/Cucumber Salad" »
I'm crediting this recipe to Eat Clean Diet. I could have sworn I found it, or something very similar, in either one of the ECD books/cookbooks or on the ECD web site, but going back, I can't for the life of me find it again. Wherever in my brain, on the net, or in an ECD book it came from, this is what I wrote down so I know wherever the original recipe came from, this is how I ended up making it.
Let me give a caveat. This is not your grandmother's cole slaw but it is very good, much cleaner and crisper tasting, but you have to go into it not expecting the same mayo-tongue feel. The bite of the yogurt is a perfect match with the other ingredients and it was wonderful on top of a pulled pork sandwich and as a side to meatloaf. It's lightness and bite worked in its favor with the heavier meat entrees I ate it with.
Continue reading "Eat Clean Diet: Cole Slaw" »
Another recipe I made from the Ciao Italia: Five Ingredient Favorites from the other night that was somewhat a hit at our house. The salad is great. The dressing was simple and fantastic. The only problem was me. Fennel is one of those vegetables I try really hard to like but I just don't care for the taste of licorice so it's not the recipe's fault. I will make the salad again except I'll probably substitute jicama or chopped celery or maybe even cabbage but still use the carrots, apple, and the dressing.
Continue reading "Fennel, Carrot, and Apple Salad" »
I love traditions and so for years I've tried to be a good little New Year's girl and eat my black-eyed peas but the truth is I don't really like 'em. Until now. I finally found a recipe that I feel like enhances the taste so that I'm willing to down them not only on New Year's Day but on other days of the year as well.
The recipe is called Cowboy Caviar and there are a million variations. This is mine. I tailored the idea of a cold bean salad to accommodate my personal tastes and to incorporate some of my new eating principles. There are beans, veggies, and olive oil, a trifecta of good for the body and a treat for the tastebuds. I served this as a side dish on New Year's Eve but we also played around with it as a salsa-type appetizer eaten with tortilla chips, and I mixed some with some cooked brown rice I had in the fridge that I'll be taking in my lunch box at times this year as an entree and eating for lunch on New Year's Day today. Yummy and versatile.
Continue reading "Did You Eat Your New Year's Day Black-eyed Peas? Cowboy Caviar" »